[tinyowl]

It's worth noting the contradiction in the statement as well:

“This is not some superpower chessboard contest. And anybody who frames it in that way isn’t paying very close attention to what’s been happening on the chessboard"

So, O, "it's not a chess match, if you think it is, your not paying attention to the chess match?" Is that it?

The guy can't stop himself from double-speak because he thinks in double-think.

[caww]

Maybe they aren't playing chess anymore and it's moved to the golf course???

[Milton Miteybad]

“We’re not going to make Syria into a proxy war between the United States and Russia,” Obama insisted during an afternoon news conference at the White House. “This is not some superpower chessboard contest. And anybody who frames it in that way isn’t paying very close attention to what’s been happening on the chessboard..."

This is almost as dumb as when he said "Don't call my bluff, Eric" to Eric Cantor a few years ago, apparently because he didn't understand enough about poker to realize that a bluff doesn't work if you tell your opponent you're bluffing.

Even G. W. Bush didn't come up with stuff this stupid.

[21twelve]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/19/remarks-president-middle-east-and-north-africa

He had a different view in 2011, the Arab Spring was to be his crowning glory.

Excepts (MAN that was a long speech!):

I count on Hillary every single day, and I believe that she will go down as one of the finest Secretaries of State in our nation’s history.

The State Department is a fitting venue to mark a new chapter in American diplomacy. For six months, we have witnessed an extraordinary change taking place in the Middle East and North Africa....And though these countries may be a great distance from our shores, we know that our own future is bound to this region by the forces of economics and security, by history and by faith....

The question before us is what role America will play as this story unfolds.... I believed then -– and I believe now -– that we have a stake not just in the stability of nations, but in the self-determination of individuals....

So we face a historic opportunity...

.... At a time when the people of the Middle East and North Africa are casting off the burdens of the past, the drive for a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolves all claims is more urgent than ever. That’s certainly true for the two parties involved....

.... And now we cannot hesitate to stand squarely on the side of those who are reaching for their rights, knowing that their success will bring about a world that is more peaceful, more stable, and more just.