The thrill of victory or the agony of defeat?
Reuters reports that President Obama has virtually admitted that the Copenhagen conference was a failure.
President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that disappointment over the outcome of the Copenhagen climate change summit was justified, hardening a widespread verdict that the conference had been a failure.
“I think that people are justified in being disappointed about the outcome in Copenhagen,” he said in an interview with PBS Newshour. “What I said was essentially that rather than see a complete collapse in Copenhagen, in which nothing at all got done and would have been a huge backward step, at least we kind of held ground and there wasn’t too much backsliding from where we were.”
Sweden has labeled the accord Obama helped broker a disaster for the environment, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the summit was “at best flawed and at worst chaotic,” and climate change advocates have been even more scathing in their criticism.
That’s not the way he presented it when he flew back in supposed triumph from Copenhagen. Using terms like “unprecedented”, “breakthrough” and “beginning of a new era”, Obama speaking in Copenhagen seemed to be describing something utterly different from the result he now believes emerged.
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The President probably understood, even as he spoke these words, that the conference had ended in a catastrophe for those who had organized it. Of course there is the possibility that he didn’t realize it was a failure until he thought about it more recently. But the balance of probability is that he spun the setback as a victory because he could not admit so thorough a defeat. What else ain’t so?
It’s not the “Climate Change” miscalculations that are really scary. If the foreign policy judgments are of the same quality then 2010 is going to be an interesting year. Michael Totten reports that Assad, after having been defanged by GWB, is now back as the strong horse. And he’s causing problems in Lebanon.
Hezbollah and its sponsors in Tehran and Damascus have forced Hariri to do a number of things lately — to give it veto power in his government’s cabinet and to surrender to its continuing existence as a warmongering militia that threatens to blow up the country again by picking fights with the Israelis.
Hariri and his allies in parliament resisted an extraordinary amount of pressure on these points for months before caving in, but cave in they did. They didn’t have much choice. … No one has Hariri’s or Lebanon’s back, not anymore. He and his allies in the “March 14″ coalition have sensed this for some time, which is why Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has grudgingly softened his opposition to Assad and Hezbollah lately. When Hariri went to Damascus, everyone in the country, aside from useless newswire reporters, understood it meant Syria has re-emerged as the strong horse in Lebanon.
Part of the reason for Assad’s resurgence is that he has been let out of his cage by the administration, which has decided to “engage” him, rather than contain him. Totten continues:
The U.S. and France did effectively isolate Assad with Saudi assistance when George W. Bush and Jacques Chirac were in charge, but presidents Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy think they can save the Middle East by “engaging” its most toxic leaders. Syria, therefore, is no longer isolated. Lebanon’s little anti-Syrian government doesn’t stand a chance under these circumstances, especially not when Hezbollah is the dominant military power in the country. …
It did make the Syrians behave a bit for a while, but now the U.S., France, and Saudi Arabia are bringing Assad in from the cold and giving him cocoa. His influence, naturally, is rising again, in Lebanon and everywhere else. That’s good news for Hezbollah, of course, which means it’s also good news for Iran. It’s bad news for the Lebanese, the Americans, the French, the Saudis, and the Israelis. None of this was inevitable, but — in Lebanon, at least — it was predictable.
“None of this was inevitable”. But it’s reasonable to ask whether the possible incompetence or self-delusion of the current administration is causing a number of self-inflicted wounds. From the stimulus, to the Olympics, to Copenhagen, to the agonizing delays in Afghan policy and its ambiguous result, to health care “reform” and beyond, the administration is showing the world its moves. And the results so far have been far from impressive.
The real significance of Copenhagen may be that it provides a transparent proxy indicator of the quality of the administration’s management. Unlike other policies whose outcomes are still being awaited or are invisible to the public, Copenhagen was a public demonstration of the administration’s prowess. It’s results are visible to all. Even though President Obama tried to put the best construction on the events, they are clearly unflattering. And yet he is in the process of re-architecturing American security, diplomatic and economic policy. He is not only re-tiling the floor, he is re-setting the foundations. How good will he be?
One of the most interesting self-inflicted catastrophes in World War 2 involved the loss of the Japanese fleet carrier Taiho. It had been moderately damaged by a torpedo from the USS Albacore, but the damage hardly slowed it. What did the Taiho in was inept damage control. Fuel from cracked fuel lines caused a buildup of vapor in certain compartments. Anxious to get rid of it, the damage control people pumped the fumes into the ships ventilation system.
Taiho’s chief damage control officer eventually ordered the ship’s general ventilation system switched to full capacity and, where possible, all doors and hatches opened to try and rid the ship of fumes. This resulted in saturation of areas previously unexposed to the vapors and increased the chances of accidental or spontaneous ignition exponentially. Taihō became a floating time bomb …
About 1430 that afternoon, six and a half hours after the initial torpedo hit, Taihō was jolted by a severe explosion. A senior staff officer on the bridge saw the flight deck heave up. The sides blew out. Taihō dropped out of formation and began to settle in the water, clearly doomed. Though Admiral Ozawa wanted to go down with the ship, his staff prevailed on him to survive and to shift his quarters to the cruiser Haguro. Taking the Emperor’s portrait, Ozawa transferred to Haguro by destroyer. After he left, Taihō was torn by a second thunderous explosion and sank stern first at 1628, carrying down 1,650 officers and men out of a complement of 2,150.
Let’s hope the administration’s fixes work a little better.
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It’s weird seeing no posts. Itz like attending a lecture when you’re the only one attending, other than the speaker. Hi Wretch, how ya doing? Is Obama a split personality? Or does he tailor his message to the current audience/interviewer. I’d cast him as nothing more than a run’o the mill politician were it not for his anger at America and it’s history. I tend to beleive Whiskey when he starts going off because sitting in with Rev Wright for 20 years had to have left itz mark.
The is the brilliant speechifier we were sold? He reads like everything is in phonetics and the language is Japanese. He doesn’t even seem to know what he is talking about. He breaks in odd places where a person who is thinking about the sentence would not. Obama appears disconnected from reality. He went to a meeting without knowing the result. As someone who is supposed to have been a lawyer he should know that is as foolish as asking a witness a question in front of a jury without first knowing the answer. It may be possible at some time for a President to conduct personal diplomacy to achieve a breakthrough on a life or death issue. Any equating of the climate negotiations with such an occasion would in itself be evidence of a delusion. Even if you believed in the underlaying precepts behind AGW theory there was no reason to have Obama do anything other than show up to cut an opening ribbon or arrive to take credit for an agreement that was already in the bag. Anything else is simply insane.
Is he next going to personally sit down with the heads of each State’s education department to oversee the rewriting of curriculum? If he decides that the planets biggest problem is the “Digital Divide,” and it can be solved by cutting the price of the X-box in half, will he then chase Bill Gates down a corridor yelling “I want to talk to you?”
People like Obama collapse when other people start to ignore them. He is like the bully your mother told you to walk away from. He is already becoming a joke and the late night comics are a following not a leading indicator. They are not brave souls speaking truth to power. They kick dogs who are down.
Wretchard, as someone who has lived under tyranny, apparently, as I’ve read on this board, what is the progression going ahead. I’m under the impression that Hopenchange healthcare will pass, and the country will slide to itz ruin slowly, like socialist Europe or Detroit. Will the last one to leave please turn out the lights? I guess maybe I shouldn’t worry too much about the future, just try and do the best I can while protecting my liberty. Also, have you written a book on your travails/exploits? As for the alluded to IJN carrier, God Bless the honored dead and may our “leaders” have a better understanding of damage control.
The players of the world have taken a measure of the person that now inhabits the position of POTUS. Everything about the “Obama” is a photo-op. There are only 3 possible reasons. He doesn’t get it, He does get it and actually hates the west and America or He really looks in the mirror and recites “I’m the one I’ve been waiting for”
Lebanon’s President just visited the USA and of course the “Obama” was full of smiles and dialog, but shortly after the visit? The President of Lebanon signed a mutual defense treaty with Iran and Syria…. And THEN? Declared the UNSC resolution 1550 to cease…
The idea of course is to legitimize Hezbollah’s militia’s status and then to IN THE OPEN allow iran and syria to stockpile Hezbollah with EVEN more weapons…
Thanks Obama…..
I disagree with Whiskey because although his analysis has some appeal neither race nor feminization explain why:
1. Europe is messing itself up so badly;
2. The Islamic world is in such a hole.
The simplest analysis, I think is stupid is as stupid does. There is rational public policy and there is lunatic public policy. And rather than look for racial or gender explanations it is simply easier to ask ourselves when confronted with a choices, “does it make sense?”
Copenhagen never made sense. That should have been obvious to anyone with a modicum of intelligence. Watching our dear leaders work through this one is like watching one of these failures in a singing contest screech through a number. Face it bub, you ain’t gonna be the next Pavarotti.
If a limited person knows his limits he can still be successful. We are all ignorant to some degree. The important thing is to know it and find someone who knows what he’s doing. I hired the gas-man when I had the oven installed in the kitchen. Can’t fool around with that. It’s the guys who think they know something or even everything and insist on doing it incompetently themselves because they like to occupy center that are the real dangers.
Wish fulfillment.
This could be used to describe both the Obama Administrations overall philosophy and the majority of the people that voted for him.
Get rid of the unpleasant Bush, the Republicans, and his successor, McCain. Palin deserves special approbium because she is so unapologetic about herself and her country.
Apologize to any and all agrieved parties. That will make the world like us.
Get rid of those nuclear weapons, because they cause wars and bad feelings.
Start to believe in your own press and media reports, and the omniscience of your own spoken word. I can do anything, I am invincible.
Around the edges, the fantasy world of those that are obsessed with wish fulfillment is beginning to crack. Too many real people with real power that is independent of the American media, electorate and the general propaganda have witnessed the abilities of Obama and come to a conclusion.
Whether it was the clown show in Copenhagen or the possibility of a real unraveling and tragedy in Lebanon, more that a few people are beginning to realize that there is no unicorn, only a ragged pony with a painted ice cream cone glued to its head. The dream of Obama senior, was, after all, a socialist society.
If middle class Americans think it’s going to be bad if they lose equity in their homes and see their 401K’s stagnate, this is nothing compared to the ugliness that will appear in places where the peace was roughly maintained because of the possible threat of American military power coming to bear.
A hundred brush fires will be lit in places all over the world. Nothing IS inevitable. Not order, not peace, not war, not prosperity, not success or failure. But absent a will to create order, chaos will reign.
Someday order will probably be restored, but it will not appear to be the hoped for order of free nations with popularly elected governments which was a part of the now deceased “Bush Doctrine”.
It will be a harsh peace maintained by various spheres of influence by a host of emerging thug nations.
What is “Ocuppation” @#4
it would seem that might have been the point of the meeting. Can you post a link perhaps to the article? I would like to read it. Maybe he gave them “weapons free” status, as far as the U.S. is concerned, to deal with Israel should Israel decide to go after Iran. Btw, isn’t there a revolt currently underway in Iran. I saw a blurb about it on NRO via Twitter but nothing else all day.
Points well taken Wretch and thx for the response. I can’t help you with your gas stove but I am in school for HVAC after leaving the nursing field. So, of you fall off your roof and injure yourself, I’ll gladly patch you up AND fix your AC unit. Pro Bono of course as long as you take me sightseeing of the beaches and Aussie women!!
“…. only a ragged pony with a painted ice cream cone glued to its head.”
Too funny E. Nigma
You say this like it’s a bad thing.
Since Clinton, we’ve had weak presidents, either weak personally or weak politically. Better a weak clown than a strong one. The more Obama cranks his pseudointellectual act, the more self-centered and self-aggrandizing he is, the more he appalls foreign leaders – the better! One can even throw a pop psychoanalysis and say he does it on purpose, at least subconsciously. Failure to avoid blame for a strong initiative, is a very common organizational behavioral trait.
I’m not saying it’s good, just let Barack Hussein Caligula get on with whatever he’s good at.
Who remembers how President Obama offered to talk to Iran, North Korea and everyone else without preconditions? Who remembers how he forebore to criticize Iran for its crackdown because there was a supposed deal in the works? Who remembers how Andrew Sullivan claimed “we have a President” when he took months to review and finally criticize his own Afghan policy? The one he reached after long and arduous study.
Who remembers how he was going to send Richard Holbrook and Hillary Clinton to create a regional deal in South Asia? Who remembers the Roadmap for Peace of which the Cairo peroration was part?
Lest anyone think that nobody has given the President the time of day, there are hints that the lack of public response is because something even more comprehensive, more marvelous, more unprecedented is in the works. It’s because we don’t know how subtle the President is that we are tempted to think they’ve hung up the phone on him just because they aren’t answering. And because we have no access to classified, well OK, we give the President the benefit of the doubt.
But what if they’ve hung up on him? How would we know? I think 2010 will bring a reasonable answer to these questions.
Oh yes, speaking of which, how about this half-assed apology to the Jews by the White Obama, on the occassion of his grandson running for the state senate in a district with a large jewish community.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091224/ap_on_re_us/us_carter_jews
“We must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel,” Carter said in the letter, which was first sent to JTA, a wire service for Jewish newspapers, and provided Wednesday to The Associated Press. “As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so.”
Concise translation: I’m sorry you’re such SOBs.
Wretchard – if I may be permitted to summarise your points… Obama is full of merde. So much in fact that there is no room for aything else in there.
Merry Christmas all from Sydney, Aus, I am off to a Christmas Eve bbq where I expect I shall have to refrain from political discussions, lest I spoil it for everyone.
Ashen @ 1
What had more impact on Barack? Twenty years with Rev. Wright or his seventeen year marriage to Darth Vader?
Aristide @13
Obama’s married to Dick Cheney?!
I keed I keed.
As for Mrs. Obama, evry time I’ve heard her speak it sounds like whining to me. I’ve never heard audio of her damning America tho, not explicitly that is.
Whatever anyone thinks of Barack Obama, his troubles are completing a decade long demolition of the prestige of the American Presidency. Prestige is a shorthand for legitimacy. Nations and governments do not predominantly rule by force. They rule by common consent. The American President had the power of perceived superiority.
President Bush was unremittingly depicted as an idiot by the press. And while he may have had his defects, he was certainly no worse than Lyndon Johnson and probably a good deal better. Now with Barack Obama, the Presidency may be occupied by someone who is exactly as incompetent as Bush was portrayed to be, and may be judged as such, despite every assistance from the press.
But there are no winners in this race to the bottom. Even if Obama is somehow impeached or the Democratic party is trounced in 2010 and 2012, the damage to the Presidency and prestige of the US will take decades to repair. The political struggle to oppose Obama will damage the institutions almost as much as not opposing him. Either way a steep price will be paid.
What’s hard to factor in are emergent events. Some damned fool thing in the Middle East, some horrible attack on a Western city, maybe the economic collapse of China — something unforeseen but perfect predictable in retrospect — may occur in the next two years. And it’s difficult to image how a weakened Obama will respond to it. Incomptence, political paralysis, sheer lack of money will all conspire against a successful crisis management. Ask not for whom the bell tolls …
At each turn in a crisis the terrible dilemma will be the same. Cooperating with Obama may cause as much or more damage than opposing him. Necessity will pull people in two different ways. Some genuine patriots will opt to bury the hatchet and prop up a weak man in what they think is the public interest. And they may be right, depending on the circumstances. Others will want to replace him. Parliamentary democracies can change leadership in an afternoon. Presidential systems require a much slower, but more fundamental turning.
I’ve never heard audio of her damning America tho, not explicitly that is.
Never heard audio of her saying Barack’s election was the first time in her adult life, etc?
The time for talk is over … at least until the next Climate Change convention …
Maybe they should change the name again. Global Warming didn’t work, and Climate Change is losing its luster fast.
How ’bout Three Card Monte?
Prestige is a shorthand for legitimacy.
Ohhh, I dunno. Head of the administrative branch of the government can be a drab bureaucrat, he doesn’t have to read about himself in GQ. OK, hard for a drab bureaucrat to be elected, but isn’t that another matter? Conceivably a low prestige nerdy guy could be elected and hold strong legitimacy, I think.
They say every pronouncement that leaves Obama’s lips has an expiration date. Anyone notice how the time until expiration seems to be growing shorter and shorter?
Christian Toto,
Maybe they should change the name again. Global Warming didn’t work …
Hot Air is taken.
Aristede,
his seventeen year marriage to Darth Vader?
The Secret Service must draw short straws to get assigned to her. If we locked Michelle Robinson Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in a room together who would you put your money on? She served a purpose as a rally point for whiskey‘s fan club. Not true Sex in the City fantasy women but the Oprah fans. By that I mean lonely grievance collectors who more than physically are emotionally a size 14 and larger and willing to believe it when a magazine tells them that MRO is glamorous.
wretchard,
his troubles are completing a decade long demolition of the prestige of the American Presidency
The question is how deeply structural are America’s problems? There are clearly some weaknesses for the acolytes of Alinsky to exploit. The problems that are manifesting themselves as a draining of American power, the withdrawal of the physical tools, weapons, industry, skilled labor, innovative and risk taking researchers, creative capital formation and plain self confidence, that are needed to successfully engage a world in crisis and defend the fragile gift of liberty from the forces of totalitarianism and thuggery and fraud, are still I would hold largely self inflicted.
If the public turns, a very big if indeed, then America’s stature could change dramatically. If the financial crisis was artificially induced and if there was foreign manipulation involved and if that manipulation was aided or instigated by agents of a foreign government, all very big ifs indeed, then the question of debt and the limitations that it imposes takes on a whole new perspective. At this point I think it is even money that in 2012 we may elect a President Petreaus or Giuliani or Cohen or even Dick Cheney or another who would tell the world again that adults are in charge. We could build 12 more army divisions and another 300 ships and 500 F-22s and 2,000 more nuke warheads. At this point I give our odds on doing that as no worse than 1 in 10. There may even be a 1 in 200 chance that something serious unravels the whole administration, not a birther scenario but as power ebbs stories will come out.
If the Iranian regime implodes then the file cabinets in Tehran may not get burned fast enough. Fascinating things were found in the Stasi files.
To be blogged under the title “Any Odds for Adults Again?”
Pardon the OT post – not sure if the previous thread has been abandoned in favor of this one – I responded to one of NahnCee’s posts there – want to be certain she saw it:
@53 NahnCee
“…the way things are going, if the motive is money, they’re doing a piss-poor job because EVERYthing — real estate, the stock market, coal, a Harvard education — that used to be worth anything is now useless.”
Watching the Left shove so-called health care reform down our collective throats in the face of unbelieveably abysmal poll numbers has confirmed for me what I’ve long suspected about them: Their entire existence is about the acquisition and maintenance of power. They wish to be a serially re-elected aristocracy… until they can dispense with elections.
Their single greatest obstacle is a somewhat affluent middleclass – as long as a majority of us are capable of taking care of ourselves, we will not willingly hand over ANYTHING we now control in our personal lives to government.
The last 15 months, for lack of a better phrase, have freaked-out a clear majority of the population – we have (someone has these numbers – apologies that I can’t remember exactly) seen literally a trillion-plus dollars squeezed from private citizens – crashing home values (bye-bye equity that many built up over DECADES of sober living), retirement accounts chopped in half or worse (again, built up over decades of sober living), family budgets squeezed to the bone by over the top gas prices… I could go on.
Bottom Line: We have far fewer personal resources upon which to rely, and the ongoing effect is that every day, more of our fellow citizens find themselves in desperate circumstances… A drowning man will accept aid and rescue from anyone, including the nasty next door neighbor who shagged his wife and destroyed his family, principles be d@mned… the Leftist goal is to force us all to become that drowning man, at which point they will, in the form of a government program/agency/bureaucracy/etc, offer us their “benevolent” assistance… but only if we willingly surrender whatever freedoms they (govt) cannot abide… unless of course, you’re over 55, at which point that nasty neighbor will stand on the shore and let you drown, hurrying immediately afterward to your govt-approved shack for another quickie with your newly-widowed sweetie.
I have NEVER been this angry.
Triton
w,
“because something even more comprehensive, more marvelous, more unprecedented is in the works”
It’s not for us mere mortals to understand how the gods work.
Josh @16
yeah I’ve heard that. I was referring to Rev. Wright’s explicit wording. I admit the overall message, despite the wording, is the same.
Something else to worry about.
Wither Sovereignty Executive Order Amended to Immunize INTERPOL In America – Is The ICC Next?
I’m starting to think something really bad is going to happen really soon.
Have as a Merry Christmas as you can and pray for your family and for our Republic.
Papa Ray
Europe is messing so badly, but, but that was already in Roosevelt and Churchill agendas, in 19441 at the first meeting for transatlantic alliance
Lifeofthemind @ 2:
Operative word bolded and underlined = Reads => No teleprompter! TOTUS was AWOL that day and it shows. The guy then comes across as bumbling and semi-literate which may actually be the case!(?) Just WOW!
Papa Ray @ 24:
To quote a recent jokes’ punch line, ” …and then the fight started!”
4. What is “occupation”:
Who says that it can’t be a bit of all three?
Wretchard:
The real significance of Copenhagen may be that it provides a transparent proxy indicator of the quality of the administration’s management. Unlike other policies whose outcomes are still being awaited or are invisible to the public, Copenhagen was a public demonstration of the administration’s prowess. It’s results are visible to all.
The tragic irony here is that Obama didn’t have to own the failure at Copenhagen…all he had to do was leave it alone, especially when it was clear that nothing substantial was going to come out. The problem with trying to be a hero is when events beyond your control work against you, you end up with a whole carton of egg on your face…at best.
One thing has become increasingly clear to me – Obama is NOT a lawyer, even though he and his supporters claim he is one. He is someone who got pushed into a prestigious law school by powerful backers who sat and smiled and shucked and jived his way through for 3 years while not actually accomplishing a single thing. (re: we’ve discussed before how he did nothing at all with his prestigious Law Review position except vote “Present”) Say what you will about lawyers, but they know how to protect themselves and they know not to walk blindly into a no-win situation. Obama doesn’t have a clue about any of that.
This is a man who got what was essentially a social promotion and given a piece of paper calling him a lawyer when he never actually learned a single thing. Anyone else notice that he was always unemployable in any private sector job? Why do you think a “Harvard Lawyer” ended up in a craptastic Chicago community organizer job. Altruism? HA!!!
Pity his students when this fraud received another social promotion to University Professor! What a sick joke!!!
And now he’s received the ultimate social promotion, all the way up to Dear Leader. And we are still surprised that he is so clueless?
Remember the debate some time ago which we had here, on whether Obama was a conniving monster or an incredible dunce?
I think the scales are tipping on the side of Obama turning out to be the most overhyped and incredibly ignorant dunce to ever occupy the office of the Presidency. An evil genius should have at least *one* significant win to his credit – in Obama’s case, every “victory” (Health care vote in the Senate) is just the pathway to even greater disasters in the future.
Some genius.
“The tragic irony here is that Obama didn’t have to own the failure at Copenhagen…all he had to do was leave it alone, especially when it was clear that nothing substantial was going to come out. The problem with trying to be a hero is when events beyond your control work against you, you end up with a whole carton of egg on your face…at best.”
Funny how this was exactly the advice given to Obama ahead of time by foolish, clueless, completely unfit for any office Sarah Palin. Imagine that.
Even funnier if this foolish, clueless, person actually realized that once she said it he *Had* to go just to prove her wrong, and thus may have played a part in ushering him onto the path of personal disaster. (don’ throw me in that briar patch, brer’ fox!)
Nah – she’s far too foolish to have figured that out ahead of time, it must have just been chance or serendipity or something. Certainly she deserves no credit for it. Naaaah.
If Obama is stupid, he’s stupid like the devil. Certainly he is immensely ignorant about many things. But what does that matter? He is merely the wind-up toy for other interests. As it happens, those interests align perfectly with Obama’s adolescent, deluded college freshman Leftism. It’s just like Matt Damon’s love affair with Chomsky and Zinn. Feed a self-important jackass a lot of propaganda and lies over which to become emotional and “outraged,” and you’ve created a very useful idiot for the puppet masters.
While I don’t feel Obama is a Muslim (his only god is the one in his mirror), he is like so many pathetic White Leftists who hate themselves as people of the (exploiting, destroying, racist, sexist, homophobic) West. As Whiskey has noted often, he is tempermentally aligned with the Muslims and the Third World in general. His my-brotha hand grab with Chavez has been, for me, the most astonishing tell we’ve seen yet, way more significant than his habitual bowing. His emotional solidarity is entirely with third-world thugs. In other words, he’s exactly like the clowns who write for the Nation or broadcast on Pacifica radio or fill the faculty lounges of our universities. Any friend of America is their enemy, any enemy their friend. (One wonders why he hasn’t pardoned the despicable Lynne Stewart yet.)
So his every instinct is against America. He can prop himself up and offer some vaguely patriotic sentiments as in his Nobel speech, but only a tool would take them seriously. He doesn’t give a damn about approval ratings because he remains immensely popular with the fawning constituencies that matter to him, and the MSM continues to lard praise and glory on him. What, he’s going to bother himself with the disapproval of the crackers that show up at Tea Parties? Hell, they only prove he’s on the right track.
And really, the Democrats are simply going for broke. They’ll get health care passed. First thing in 2010 they will go for amnesty, because that’s the magic sauce that will ensure them electoral victories. And there’s always the nuclear option of debasing the currency. It’s entirely possible that we all wake up one day and find that all our dollars are now worthless and must be turned in, to be replaced with Dear Leader Sheckles. Can’t happen here? Of course it can. And it will be sold to the rubes (by which I mean the “sophisticates”) as the magic cure-all for all that nasty debt we’ve accumulated thanks to eight years of George Bush’s terrible governance. We can all become entirely dependent on the government’s good graces over night.
I don’t know what’s planned, or how it will all come down, but by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. That much I’m sure about.
Aristede @13: his seventeen year marriage to Darth Vader.
Darth Vader? Haven’t you seen her hair? It’s Chewbacca.
Wretchard,
I’m not sure that “stupid is as stupid does” is enough—it can explain why someone is rarely correct, but there are many possible ways to be wrong, why does a person not just often err, but always in the samw direction. It lacks the randomness you would expect from true idiocy. There is something else going on, which may or may not include being ignorant or unintelligent.
Had a converation the other day with a relative whose bright 12-year old is struggling in school for the first time, and that’s creating other behavior problems. My wife and I observed the old cliche that one of the problems reasonably bright people encounter is when they get to the stage where it doesn’t come easy, anymore. They have to learn how to work and apply themselves and deal with disappointment and maybe limits on their ambitions. Some people hit this when they enter school, some when they get to high school, some college, some their PhD dissertation, some their first job, or their first management job, or start a business… whatever. But it’s always very difficult.
It’s kind of like the Peter Principle applied to life rather than business.
Given how easy Obama had it all the way to November 2008, maybe that’s what he’s going through. All his life, people cleared a path for him; it’s not like he was, say, a tough, proven US Senator or a Governor who now has to cope with the next bigger job… I and several people I know (in Chicago) are of the opinion that Obama’s talents and credentials were roughly appropriate for the Illinois State Senator he was from 1997 to 2004. Bobby Rush crushed him when he ran for Congress in 2000, but his State Senate seat was secure and he always looked like he knew it was a long shot run, so it was no big deal, personally. His 2004 US Senate opponents slew each other or self-destructed in divorce scandals that were started and then inflamed by a sympathetic (to Obama) press (my wife sees Axelrod’s fine hand in getting “sealed” divorce records magically unsealed), and after September 2008 there was no way he could lose.
So let’s start with a guy who for the first time in his life has to actually work at it and not always get his way. Who everyone he ever asociated with told he was great– a guy with unearned self-esteem that’s off the charts. Then, add the pink-diaper childhood (mother, grandfather, Frank Marshall Davis) and later associations (Rev. Wright, Ayers, lots of other Chicago-Hyde Park people whose names you wouldn’t recognize).
Throw in abandonment issues as a child–never knew his bio father, had an Indonesian father for a while, then lost him, mother left him with granparents to pursue her career–an emotionally tough row to hoe.
A very dangerous stew in a President–not just a Lefty, but serious emotional issues on top of it all.
“Copenhagen never made sense.”
Of course it did. Don’t you think it was set up with malice aforethought as a money-making opportunity on the part of Yurp, Africa and the rest of the UN’s starving-to-death-in-splendor denizens? Forget the drowning polar bears. It was *always* about “taking from the rich (America) and giving to the poor (everyone else)”. The only problem is that it’s only now becoming obvious that “the rich” (America) isn’t any more, and both the drowning polar bears and the starving Africans will have to fend for themselves, because Joe Sixpack is unemployed and scrambling himself.
The question now becomes whether or not China is rich just on paper, or whether it really does have the resources to allow itself to be Robin Hood’ed to death by the UN and EU like America has been for the last 70 years (since the end of WW2).
Peterike @ 30
Christmas Eve. Just so.
Perhaps only a fool, and I am just such a one, presumes to argue with Shakespeare, but it has long been my understanding that wickedness is not a malevolent force that arrives among the virtuous but rather rises from among us when the weak get lazy and the strong lose heart.
There has been much mention of late, so for the traditionalists…speak of the devil.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLTTKwE_Lho
Heyyoukids
As president, Obama is the face the USA. Elected as representative of ourselves, his image is representative of us. But if as a nation we move to hobble or replace the guy, even if unsuccessful, his image can no longer be viewed as portraying that of a unified nation.
The divide will be used to further splinter and collapse our republic. The cause for injury being the celebration of calumny so central to Alinskiy, Ayers and friends. It cannot be anything but violent, unless it is overwhelming. If it is to be insurrection it will be bloody. If it is overwhelming disgust at what the democrat party has wrought, then the only danger is for the players at the end of rope in the hand of folks who submit to mob mentality.
If we as a people can take this administration down quickly and passively, the hurdles are still there, but international players would be less likely to try anything rash.
The question then is how to show public opinion in such a unfriendly media world so the legislative efforts of those currently in office are rejected out of hand. The tea parties already showed what the majority felt, and the members of federally elective offices all know it, without exception. Yet they continue with this plunder of the nation.
What will it take for them to stop?
The ever-increasingly thoughtful analyes, here at BC and at other quality blogs, of what is really propelling Obama to do what he is doing has been the most engrossing subject on the net. What will happen in 2010 to bring the critcal pressure to bear on this administration is an important question. But it is not the key question IMHO. The essential mystery is who are Obama’s important supporters (both known and unknown)and do they constitute a power great enough to sucessfully deflect the great center-right majority’s reaction to the outrageous assault on American life? It depends on what form the reaction might follow. Do we have a real, shootin’ war revolution? Do we do just enough damage control in the 2010 election to staunch the bleeding? Do we find a genuine smoking gun crime that rise to the level of impeachment? This thread (as do most on this topic) ask: is he really that stupid or is he really 3 moves ahead on the board? Stupid we can handle. If its really a Soros-type conspiracy, We may have to resort to extraordinary means. By the way. Really enjoyed the Bob Hope clips some threads back. I caught the ’67 version at a FOB of the 1st Division. Merry Christmas and thanks to all of the smart people who post here.
LOTM @ 2:
The is the brilliant speechifier we were sold? He reads like everything is in phonetics and the language is Japanese. He doesn’t even seem to know what he is talking about. He breaks in odd places where a person who is thinking about the sentence would not.
Christopher Walken has made a career of doing this and I could watch him read the phone book and be entertained. Unfortunately, listening to that one raises my hackles.
novanglus,
Christopher Walken has made a career of doing this
You wait long enough and everything comes back. I remember when Saturday Night Live was funny. Good of Christopher Walken to pick up the sword. He is a serious professional. I read once about his monk like work habits in preparing for even the smallest role. Once I met him at the airport. He was unusually detached in his demeanor. You are correct that he did those voice patterns deliberately and I would like to hear from a professional, probably a neurologist, if they could mean anything in Obama’s case.
To be blogged under the title “Googly Eyes.”
M C:
Every time I have posted a reply to you in the past two days, the server has labeled my comments as “spam”. Perhaps it will be possible to reply later.
wws @ 29:
Shhhhh!
Richard:
Otoko-tachi no Yamato
In 15 parts on YouTube with English subtitles. Maudlin, but good special effects in places. Merry Christmas!
38 Alexis I am for nothing in your misadventure, may-be someone has enough of the same ol ranting
Christmas fest is over now, I just finished to clean up the dishes and prepear the place for tomorrorow breakfast
I had the chance to see my 2 sons, my grand daugter (1 year old) and my close step family.
Children enjoyed their presents, we enjoyed oysters, Riesling, Magret de canard sause à l’orange, haut medoc, bûche de Noël ala cream of chestnuts and of orange, Cremant de Moselle, expresso !
Hope you all have a nice Christmas eve too
The Servant When He Reigneth [A poem by Rudyard Kipling
<a href="http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-servant-when-he-reigneth/"Poem Hunter ^ | Rudyard Kipling
byo freerepublic
For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear. For a servant when he reigneth, and a fool when he is filled with meat; for an odious woman when she is married, and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress. — Prov. XXX. 21-22-23.
Three things make earth unquiet
And four she cannot brook
The godly Agur counted them
And put them in a book –
Those Four Tremendous Curses
With which mankind is cursed;
But a Servant when He Reigneth
Old Agur entered first.
An Handmaid that is Mistress
We need not call upon.
A Fool when he is full of Meat
Will fall asleep anon.
An Odious Woman Married
May bear a babe and mend;
But a Servant when He Reigneth
Is Confusion to the end.
His feet are swift to tumult,
His hands are slow to toil,
His ears are deaf to reason,
His lips are loud in broil.
He knows no use for power
Except to show his might.
He gives no heed to judgment
Unless it prove him right.
Because he served a master
Before his Kingship came,
And hid in all disaster
Behind his master’s name,
So, when his Folly opens
The unnecessary hells,
A Servant when He Reigneth
Throws the blame on some one else.
His vows are lightly spoken,
His faith is hard to bind,
His trust is easy boken,
He fears his fellow-kind.
The nearest mob will move him
To break the pledge he gave –
Oh, a Servant when he Reigneth
Is more than ever slave!