Waltzing Matilda
John Kennedy‘s bold assertion in his inaugural speech “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty,” has been replaced by another implicit message from the current administration: count on us to let you down.
It’s not just Japan that is having second thoughts about American commitments. Australia is also examining re-examining the wisdom of relying on America instead of China. John Lee at the Wall Street Journal writes:
In a matter of weeks, the Australian government will release a White Paper entitled “Australia in the Asian Century.” According to my sources, the report will look at how Australia can best exploit future economic opportunities in the region focusing on China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and India. Conspicuously absent from the primary analysis will be America.
This should raise alarm bells in Washington and the region. It signals that America’s staunchest ally in Asia may be losing faith in the revival of the U.S. economy. If so, steadfast support for the alliance will not be far behind.
It’s not that America is not wanted by its Asian allies. It is wanted more than ever before. But they’ve got to face the facts. How can you rely on a styrofoam pillar for support? Lee writes:
It’s true that the American strategic presence in Asia has never been more welcomed than it is today. America has deepened its bilateral alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and the Philippines in addition to its de facto alliance with Taiwan. It maintains a close security relationship with Singapore, a long-standing partnership with Malaysia, and is reforging ties with Indonesia.
These countries offer America generous access to their bases, ports and sovereign sea-lanes, and openly support America’s military and diplomatic presence in the region. Even former adversaries in India and Vietnam are welcoming the Seventh Fleet with open arms.
The New York Times reports that Secretary Panetta is heading for Asia with the express goal of assuring America’s allies that its defense cuts don’t mean anything and that the administration’s assurances are as sound as dollar.
He will be working to dispel skepticism that the administration’s new Asia-Pacific strategy is an emperor with no clothes, and so is certain to offer rebuttals to those who say the regional “rebalancing” remains more rhetoric than reality.
At the same time, he will have to convince a specific audience — in Beijing — that relocating resources to the region after a decade of combat in the Middle East and Southwest Asia is not meant to confront China.
It’s the Obama doctrine: apologize loudly and carry a small stick.
The Republicans have taken the opportunity to remind the President that you can’t keep taking bullets out your gun and still impress the potential adversary. At some point it’s no longer bravado. You’re just out of ammunition.
The Republicans used their Saturday radio address to pressure President Obama over possible defense cuts.
Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., identifying himself as a “United States Representative and Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel,” said the defense cuts in the sequester “would essentially hollow out our armed forces,” and he blamed Obama.
“Mr. President: for you — the Commander-in-Chief of our Armed Forces — to sit idle and do nothing while this dark cloud hangs over our military, it is shameful, it is irresponsible, and it is wrong. It is dead wrong,” West said.
But the White House argues that it’s all Romney’s fault — or at least Paul Ryan’s. The cuts are the result of a refusal by the Grand Obstructionist Party to raise the debt ceiling. “The sequester of defense and domestic cuts kicks in early next year if the White House and Congress are unable to agree on a plan to reduce the federal debt by $1.2 trillion.” Give Obama what he wants and the military can have its budget.
Buzzfeed recently bannered a headline describing what would happen if there were debt limits. “Sequestration Would Slash Funding To Security At Embassies, Report Says.” Did you think the attacks on America’s embassies were al-Qaeda’s doing? Hell no. It’s Romney’s fault. It always is.
A Congressman calls it “blackmail”. Virginia Republican Rep. Randy Forbes said, “he wants to use this [sequestration] to blackmail Republicans into raising taxes on the American people, he doesn’t care if it is going to cost 700,000 jobs, that is his motivation and that motivation is clear, I think, from the OMB director’s testimony.”
The problem arises from the Budget Control Act that the debt reduction super committee passed last year. The super committee’s deficit reduction plan, which Obama signed into law, put in place a trigger that will automatically make steep cuts – about $110 billion – to the Department of Defense budget come Jan. 2 if no alternative is adopted. By Defense Secretary Leon Pannetta’s own admission, these cuts – if not stopped – will cause about 1.5 million people to lose their jobs over the course of 10 years. In total, the job losses would add about one full percent to the unemployment rate.
In addition, about 200,000 of those lost jobs include active duty troops who will be forced to retire early. To put that in comparison, 200,000 is bigger than the entire Marine Corps.
Perhaps Japan and Australia are right in having doubts. But they are probably just not smart enough to see the deep game. As Jay Carney said after the attacks on American Embassies in the Middle East “we’re very proud of the president’s record on foreign policy and are happy to make the case at the appropriate time.”
Or as Rahm Emmanuel put it: “We faced a once-in-a-generation moment in American history. Fortunately for all of us, we have a once-in-a-generation president.” Amen brother. By the way, can you still say “amen”? A cynic might conclude that Panetta’s Asia trip is simply an opportunity for Obama to send out another one of his patented “boyfriend” speeches. A radio talk show host characterized President Obama’s constant pleadings with those of deadbeat suitors who promise to bring back the magic.
HE was there to lean on in times of need. Then he subtly talked smack about his competition. You don’t want THAT guy, do you? He then went quickly into, “it’s not about me, it’s about you”, filling your head with empty platitudes about how great you are and how much you’ve contributed to the relationship. And then he reasserted himself as THE boyfriend. The one who had to put up with all your crap when you were cranky, doing the heavy lifting so you didn’t have to. Then there was the misty eyed hope about our future. He lays out how he wants to get married, and can’t wait to have children, even though nothing he’s said or actually done to this point indicated this previously. And he wraps things up with the “give me another chance and everything will be different this time” spiel and the speech was over.
Yep. It’s a pretty old spiel.
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If this “once-in-a-generation” userper, his TOTALLY inept Secretary of State and his completely racist and lawless attorney general were to be found guilty of treason and dangled from lamp posts would THAT cement their place in American history? Won’t happen but it IS a satisfying dream.
The 0bama Doctrine seems to be; ‘Pander softly and carry a big schtick.’
“It’s the Obama doctrine: apologize loudly and carry a small stick“.
Well said. Truly, there’s nothing like letting the Left run the country (and America’s portion of the World) for four years to remind one what the abyss really looks like.
All througout the election of ’08, we we’re constantly reminded that “The World” vastly prefered Obama and wanted desperately for Americans to elect him.
We should have known why: “The World” thinks of America essentially as a giant udder, and Obama is the President most likely to keep the milk (and the apologies) flowing freely, with the fewest complaints.
It was famously said many years ago that Korea was a dagger pointed at the heart of Japan, leading a wag to characterize Australia and New Zealand as a dagger pointed at the heart of Antartica. I never thought I would see the day when it could be said that The United States was a dagger pointed at the heart of Australia and New Zealand.
Seems to me that the motto of {}bama (and just about everyone in the “upper echelons” in the UK too, to be fair) is “shout loudly and carry a toothpick”.
5 @Fletcher Christian
Null-bama? Nice.
So cuts in defense are GOVERNOR Romney’s fault? Governors make national policy now?
Are Americans really that dumb.
Apparently the answer for those on the left is, yes.
If we keep going down this unsustainable spending/printing path, even if Mittens gets in and starts blustering but can’t turn around the economy or stop the dollar from circling the drain, then, “Dobre pozhalavut Tel Aviv, Mr. Putin!” and its equivalent in Chinese will become Israeli slogans.
I know Mittens advisors won’t believe that until the IAF jets are refueling in Azerbaijan, and even then they’ll deny there’s been a deal cut behind Washington’s backs (which the FP leaks whining about ‘Israel buying an aircraft carrier called Azerbaijan’ were designed to scuttle, but perhaps to no avail).
The people who consider themselves to be Israel’s biggest supporters on the neocon D.C. Right (and some here at PJM) probably never imagined even such a close U.S. ally could decide it needed to cut deals with ‘geopolitical adversary no. 1′ behind their backs. Sure maybe the Israeli ambassador will tell Frank Gaffney or someone else that IAF jets blinded the Russian radar at Gabala with jamming pods. It will be a lie but one the hardcore niks will have to believe lest their heads explode from cognitive dissonance.
Thus this is just the beginning of all this ‘we won’t be thrown under the bus’ moves, that the Cold Warriors here never saw coming. Japan doing direct trade in yuan and Germany ditching the dollar for yuan and rubles is just the beginning. You cannot fund a trillion dollar a year military by printing a trillion dollars of funny money from Uncle Ben’s magic e-press. “There is no stash” applies to both the MIC and the projects, people.
Noticed the title of a piece on Real Clear Politics, “Why is Muslim World so Easily Offended”, but did not read yet.
It should be clear, at least to folks at BC, that it’s not about Muslims being offended. It’s about domination requiring obeisance. Resistance is futile. All your minds are belong to us. You will bend to our rules, under threat of death.
Evil, this!
On the Beach? I don’t think we are in that bad of shape.
The presidents reaction to the collapse of his middle-eastern vaudville show mirrors the line;
” And the thought of Englands shame
Nearly put me off my game”
Obama is unique in our history, really,in the history of the world.
I have racked my brain and I can’t think of another example of the most , powerful nation on the scene deliberately castrating itself, choking the life out of its own economy, throwing away every advantage in resources and native ingenuity in the fanatical belief that a better world will arise from the ruin. It’s like watching someone walk up to the top of a cliff, and you think – “Surely he’s not going to just walk off the edge”, and he does.
There are only two possible explanations;
Either he is the most ignorant fool ever to take the oath of office,
Or, it is his ambition to destroy this nation.
I have no trouble buying the former because I believe the surest sign of great intelligence is humility; I have not found the faintest trace in all of his utterences.
A year or two ago I would have dismissed the later out of hand, but now, I’m not so sure.
Wretchard “Australia is also examining re-examining the wisdom of relying on America instead of China.”
big whoop.At least they’re 8000 miles away. why do you think Harper is pushing the Northern Gateway pipeline to the Pacific so strongly? We ( Canada) can’t count on the US anymore.And as you have stated previously, it’s not Obama, it’s the millions of fools who voted for him.
so what if Romney wins, how can you trust in a nation that turns on its allies every 4 or 8 years.
It’s heartbreaking to see them turn on the Constitution that made them exceptional.
Thanks, Dworkin. I happen to think that the use of the symbolism for an empty set instead of the O in Obama sums him up rather well. Unfortunately, it won’t fly – too abstruse a bit of maths geekery, I suppose.
“On the Beach” was wrong. Tolkien was right. There will be a dawn after the night.
Our budget and economic problems have nothing to do with our military expenditures being in any way excessive. Anyone who pushes that line is a liar and the enemy.
“Our budget and economic problems have nothing to do with our military expenditures being in any way excessive.”
What part of bankrupt and $16 trillion in debt don’t you understand? Excessive military expenditures HAVE ABSOLUTELY bankrupted the country. How many trillions have been sunk in the sand just between Iraq and Afghanistan? Have the legacy costs to those wounded or killed been accounted for in that $16T? And after all those trillions we still have no idea what really happened on 9/11 except that “Obama got Osama” while Osama was conveniently murdered and his body thrown into the ocean? And do you really think that QE3 isn’t also about keeping the gravy flowing to the MIC as well as the banks? There are no longer enough suckers on the planet buying Treasuries to pay for the operation of this empire, so if Bernanke stops printing the empire will crash and burn, which is just a question of time anyway.
The question now is how many more US soldiers are going to be sacrificed to support the illusions of US exceptionality and invincibility? Afghanistan is likely to claim its third empire and thousands more of soldiers before the neocons and elites realize what an idiocy the entire boondogle was, but hey, Raytheon, Boeing and the rest of the MIC got rich off of it.
But the most painful legacy from these misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan is going to be paid by US citizens at home. All that know how, weapons systems, computer systems, mind control drugs, drones, sensors, etc. developed for urban warfare in the middle east is coming home to a town near you. And I doubt most BC readers are going to like it much more than the “Hajis” do now.
rebel @ 15 – I’m struggling to remember some statement made years ago at Clinton’s economic summit meeting. The young lady said something about the top three issues that needed to be controlled. I believe she said “entitlements, entitlements, entitlements” or words to that effect. Of course, that statement landed with a thud. Clinton quickly tacked to the left. You have to give him credit. He is very slick in public discourse.
The $4.4 trillion cost of the Iraq & Afghanistan conflicts are certainly significant in our overall debt. Then you have other issues like Bush’s unfunded prescription medicine plan.
One of the chief reasons for the surplus during the Clinton years was the Republican sponsored bill, part of the Contract with America, that limited the number of years recipients were entitled to assistance (The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996). Clinton sold the bill with the script “welfare should be a hand up, not a way of life”.
So it may be a bit disingenuous to lay all the blame at the feet of military expenditures.
The $4.4 trillion cost of the Iraq & Afghanistan conflicts are certainly significant in our overall debt
That figure is nonsense. You cited almost the ENTIRE DoD budget for the duration of those conflicts. The numbers for the two wars are still huge, but way short of $4.4 trillion. Why would you cite leftist talking points here?