Joe Biden was wrong when he predicted that Obama would be tested by our enemies within six months. Seemingly only ten minutes after his election, and long before his inauguration, a resurgent Russia is on the move, first by stating it would put missiles in Kalinin, now by their president revealing his intention to visit Cuba and Venezuela — a symbolic, though still obviously small scale, reconstitution of the USSR.
Would this have happened if McCain were elected? I doubt it, because, regardless of the reality, that would have sent a signal that America would remain vigilant. Now, especially to the Russians, the opposite message has been sent.
I am not completely surprised they are testing this almost immediately. I know this sounds pompous, but I have some inkling of how they think. I have twice spent time in the Soviet Union with Russian writers and visited once after the break up and the introduction of their brand of capitalism. The differences were not as great as the similaritis). Despite the works of Chekhov, the Russians, particularly at the leadership level, have little interest in nuance. Russian life is very tough (considerably beyond anything in our normal existence) and a continual struggle. Everything is based on power relationships. You give an inch, the other will take it. (Ever been on line in a Russian market? It’s not Westminister.) Anyway, I wish Mr. Obama luck, for all our sakes. He is now living in the land of “Be careful what you wish for.”
Well, what can I say? A number of us accurately predicted that this would happen. Barack Obama is a self hating American. He is existentially committed to the notion that the United States is responsible for much evil in the world. Obama, after all, on a regular basis listened to the sermons of a racist pastor and was a friend of terrorist Bill Ayers. A lot of innocent blood will flow because he is our commander-in-chief for the next four years. Is buyers remorse starting to set in for the middle of the road voters who voted for Obama? The stock market is also significantly dropped this morning? Will Obama’s poll numbers be below 40% even before he is inaugurated?
“The stock market is also significantly dropped this morning?”
Gulp, this sentence should instead read: The stock market is also significantly dropping this morning.
The above mistake, however, allows me the opportunity to remind everyone that today is only the 14th of November. Barack Obama inauguration will not take place until January 20th. That is over two months from now! Obama’s presidency is probably going to be deemed a disaster before he even takes the oath of office. Middle of the road Americans are going to be enraged at the legacy media for hiding the truth from them. It’s going to get very ugly. We are also now guaranteed a deep recession because of Obama’s election. He is really going to screw up the economy—along with making the world a much more dangerous place.
A couple of UCLA economists released a report a little while ago showing that FDR made the Great Depression much longer and deeper that it would have been sans meddling. The Big O is much more of a confirmed Marxist than FDR was and already has the tools in place for truly MASSIVE interference with the economy (FDR had to invent most of his prjects). It doesn’t help the W has played along with the Bailout Bozos and pushed the Federal Govt into the banking industry.
This is what happens when people are inundated with the acceptability of passive-aggressive, non-confrontational, “mad at you for being mad at me” attitudes that manages to highlight failure as a high-ranking value. This is what happens to a nation whose popular culture has long embraced the ideal of dissent; an ideal spawned by inward focus and drug culture where it’s okay to be a terrorist as long as you’re fighting the establishment from within, then try passing yourself off as some champion for the little guy. Now that the bloom is off the rose, they want the entire bush, (no pun intended).
I didn’t vote for Obama, but I support him. I am, after all, a proud American who still believes in integrity, (even if often feel that I walk alone). Let me make a clear distinction between support and sympathy. If and when Obama screws up and screws us and he’s twisting in the wind, he’s every bit as much a pinata as Bush has been all these years.
It appears that a kind of polarity reversal has taken place, where the Republicans don a more “care enough to criticize” attitude and the Democrats seem to be saying “Love it or leave it, follow without question”. I’ve been saying all along that Hillary’s little “Right Wing Conspiracy” theory was a turn of phrase for a bigger, more sinister left wing conspiracy. Sadly, it’s been successful, especially with the inward-focused, internet dependent youth of America. It makes me wish that the power would just go out for a while.
One quick side note: in Los Angeles, somebody needs to inform supporters of Mark Ridley Thomas that the election is over and that he won. The fact that his posters are still all over town screams volumes to the irresponsible attitudes of his supporters, as if L.A. wasn’t already one big trash can.
Ah, don’t worry. Hillary will be Secretary of State, and she’ll take care of everything. (By the way, how many people ahead of her have to die for her to assume the office of president?)
Hmmm…didn’t some brilliant analyst say back in September that the Clintons were only talking with Obama to negotiate something for a post-election reward?
Oh, wait, that was me, on 9/15:
Clinton is the ultimate cynic; anything nice said about anyone is done with the conscious calculation of a payback with usurious interest.
Obama’s already demonstrated that he’s comfortable being in bed with machine politics, and the oil in that machine is patronage.
So there can be no question that Clinton and Obama have worked out a deal–Hillary as Secretary of State and Bill as Ambassador to the UN, or some other crazy idea.
When hyenas like this start smiling at each other, it’s only because they smell meat.
And I also said that same day:
Our next president had better be ready to *do something* (or a lot of somethings) – not give speeches, not take opinion polls, not look for someone to blame, not invent meaningless slogans, not count on personal charisma. The world won’t wait.
I’m not quoting myself to prove my cleverness; I wish I’d been wrong on all counts.
Scott
If I was the Big O the last living person on the planet that I would put in the line of succession behind me would be Hillary. I don’t think I could handle four years with my back to the wall and one eye open all the time. A lot of “accidents” happened to people when she was First Lady.
“If and when Obama screws up”
Barack Obama has already screwed up. His presidential campaign obviously committed rampant credit card fraud. When will the U.S. Justice Department begin the investigation? When will Obama receive a suppoena? Is it even possible that he should be going to prison instead of the White House? It appears that the Democrats are trying to steal an election in Minnesota. Has the United States already become a fascist dictatorship? The comparisons of Obama with Mussolini are disturbing to say the least.
I hope it’s not too pompous of me to say I too think I know how they think: when I was a child and my parents would go out and leave me with a baby sitter, I learned quickly how to size up the ‘opposition’ into several categories. The tough ones that I better be on my best behavior around or else (that would be the Bush/Cheney types), the easy ones you could test the limits with like Clinton, and the pushovers I knew I could get away with murder with. The only question in their minds is whether Obama is easy or a pushover.
We can only hope that this new president learns fast that the Neville Chamberlain approach got more people killed in the long run that we can ever calculate. And let’s not even talk about Jack Kennedy’s fiasco when Russia loved Cuba back in the 60s.
More to the point I wouldn’t want to be facing Iran and Russia with friendly fire from behind.
Now is the time for Governor Palin to give advice on how to deal with the Russians.
Roger, just wondering, by the same logic, are you giving credit to Obama’s victory to the sudden and long-overdue movement within Iraq on the Status of Forces agreement, which happened right after the election, and which seems hinged to the Iraqis releasing that there will indeed be a soon-ish American withdrawal?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
I mean ‘realizing’, not releasing..
There you go again. A vote for Democrats is a vote for death. That’s your core belief, Roger.
Admit it, own it, and while you’re at it, why not voice your support for permanent Republican control of the three branches of government?
It is a complete waste of avi jet fuel to even fly there.
Who cares?
This is a threat to America?
Please, Roger.
I think it’s even scarier than your babysitter analogy, Webutante. Remember that BO has friends who, in their younger years, sat around plotting how to divide the USA between the USSR, Cuba, etc. and how to kill those of us who were diehard capitalists. I would imagine–hope–that age has at least mellowed their morbid fantasies but I wouldn’t bet on it since lefties are–can’t help but be–fantacists. I don’t think it bothers
BO at all that the Ruskies are strutting their stuff again. The Commies aren’t scary to him, we are.
Webutante…your comparison may be a bit unfair…to Neville Chamberlain, that is. See shooting down missile defense.
Having lived in Russia (pre- and post-breakup), I can confirm what RLS has said. The Russians respect power and have contempt for weakness, in a way I doubt Obama understands (and that is strictly an opinion with limited basis–we’ll see). I would not be surprised to see them thrash Georgia. Obama could eventually find himself faced with deciding whether to go to war with Russia over (the) Ukraine.
Jay,
Who the hell are you to come here and order the writer to recharacterize his work to align it with your projections? Sod off, prissy little git. You clearly don’t pack the gear to participate in this discussion, otherwise you’d engage the author’s points instead of vomiting forth vague pabulum.
Well Obama might have offered the Secretary of State job to Hillary. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?
Don’t expect the Chinese to stay out of the party if they see Russia’s aggressive tactics working. Obama potentially could be facing a Russia angling to take back the Ukraine and a China eying Tawian at the same time, without even having to consider the options either of those countries have for mischief in the Middle East or with whackjob dictators wanting to tweak the U.S. while hiding behind someone’s skirt (Hugo in Venezuela — I’m sure many on the left would like him to just get away with his anti-American actions, but a team-up by Chavez and/or Raul Castro with Russia and/or China would leave Obama no choice but to act or give the GOP the chance to brand Barack as the wimpiest president since Jimmy Carter).
Seems that some 30 of 40 Obama hires to date are ex Clintonistas. This is pretty disturbing re relations w/ Russia –remembering that the dissolution of USSR, arguably the most momentous political event of the second half of 20th century, was by President Clinton blithely passed off to VP Al Gore, whose work in the matter, thru the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission<, did well and truly blow the whole western-democracy thing in favor of the red mafia oligarchs who to this day hold sway and create Kremlin grief & misery little different than did the USSR boys.
Now comes the other Clinton as sec of state, and where do we find Al Gore’s former chief of staff but back at work as new VP Joe Biden’s chief of staff? Some hope. Some change. Strangest of all is how unstrange it seems, and how ‘comforting’ Mrs. Clinton would be as a familiar face in this new administration. For sure, it’s dancing with the one you know, isn’t it?
oops –please exuse sloppy hyperlink & inadvertant bolding –i mus be drink or sumpin
Russia is going to start supporting Cuba again? With what? Seventeenth century Spain had a stronger economy for crying out loud. Certainly more competent leadership. I say we let Russia have Cuba, we’ll take the Cubans. We open up the borders for Cuban refugees and when the island empties out and Russia abandons it, we move in and provide some support for getting the country back in its feet. If Cuba ends up an American commonwealth, I can’t see as that’s hurt Puerto Rico or the Marianas any.
The Russians want to waste time, effort, and hard currency on Cuba, let ‘em. The more they spend on Havana, the less they’ll have to spend somewhere else. Let’s be honest here, Russia isn’t even playing a zero sum game. Win or lose, Russia loses.
Tell you what; when Russia needs money to help pay for the support they’re giving Cuba and Venezuela, we let them have the money. In return for the Russian Far East. Lock, stock, and Kamchatkha. (Sakhlin we give back to the Japanese.) We could get two, maybe three states out of it. As Russia runs out of money again and again, we repeat the process further and further west. Putin’s oligarchy gets to survive for a bit longer, we get a place we can put our Mexican illegals instead of having to send them back to Mexico. (We’d have Mexican nationals lining up at border crossings just so they could hop over the border and yell out, “I’m an illegal, send me to Vladivostock!”
So let Russia back Cuba and Venezuela, like it’s gonna help them any.
“A vote for Democrats is a vote for death. That’s your core belief, Roger.”
Roger can speak for himself—but it is definitely my core belief that voting for the self hating American Democrats is a vote for death. They are dishonest quasi-pacifists who perceive their own country as a major cause of evil in the world.
Russia is like an over the hill boxer, it may not have the staying power it used to but it can still throw a nasty punch. Obama and his recycled Clintonistas think they can buddy-up to Putin, while Putin is looking to make as much trouble as possible in South/Central America.
Our inexperienced leader will be distracted by the trouble near home and not pay much attention to Russia grabbing bits of the Old Empire (especially all those places in Central Asia that have hard to pronounce names) while Putin will be able to distract his serfs with the reconquest of what he considers rightfully Russian.
NATO is a spent force, the old members have let their strength, morally as well as militarily, decay. The new members look fearfully at Russia while glancing nervously westward over their shoulder for some sign of help.
Putin would probably little mind if China gets involved in South America, he wants a distraction and if they are willing to provide for him all the better.
Maybe Castro will get his fondest wish before he dies. Imagine waiting 45 years for the missles denied him by JFK.
Carter was weighed and measured and found wanting. As a President, as a Commander in Chief, as a man.
However, what those of us who have steadfastly refused to buy the kneepads are struggling with…is coming to a conclusion as to where on the spectrum to the left of center…this coming administration is going to land.
Are we going to be led by the Kumbaya Corps of soft-hearted, tender souls…who only want peace and love to have a chance? One World singing folk songs in every language and holding hands? Free love for every adult and cotton candy for every child?
Hey, I’m all for it if they can pull it off…but, you have to get the guys with the bombs strapped around their waists to stop throwing acid in the faces of girls who aren’t completely covered from head to toe in burlap sacks and while we’re at it, I would keep them away from gay people for a while until they were completely indoctrinated in the New Coke hand holding experience.
I also would make sure that the old KGB crowd was “fully” engaged, you never know when they might test a little exploratory battle of wills.
And, the Kumbaya Corps has always left an open invitation for their brethren to the left of them…you might want to ask the revolutionary leftists to leave their plans for extermination of those who disagree with them back in their basements…along with their nail bombs and machete’s.
The greatest test of will that the new President-elect will face…will not come from Russia, the Middle East, Darfur, Columbia, Venezuela or Cuba.
It will come from within the ranks of his lifelong friends and supporters. The Kumbaya Corps vs. the Guevarians vs. (James M.) Coneheads.
Or Peter, Paul and Mary vs. Che, Billy and Bernardine, vs. Farrakhan, Wright and Pfleger in a Texas Death Cage match.
It may not be fun to watch unfold, but it should be exciting.
Roger,did you know that the life expectancy of a Russian is about 58 years..AIDS,alcoholism,and crime are rampant,and oil prices have plummeted…let Russia preen like a peacock…we are the eagle!
David Thomson is refreshingly honest.
should be “Kaliningrad.” (That odd non-contiguous enclave formerly Koenigsberg.)
I wonder what would happen if some army units from, say, Ukraine or Georgia, were rotated through some of the USA’s advanced training centers? No equipment, no airpower, nothing but training and doctrine adapted to their actual situation.
NJ;
Ralph Peters has pointed out that the Russian army is road bound and the Georgians could wreak havoc with some tactics and a little support from us. All that is missing is the will and that is nowhere to be found in Team Obama.
Obama’s best friend William Ayers, (Amazing that he has gone from just another guy in the neighborhood, to longtime family friend, immediately after the election was over.) is also a buddy of Chavez. Chavez will not be challenged by Obama, and will continue to seize property, eliminate civil liberties, jail his opposition, and support the FARC terrorists seeking to topple the Columbian government.
Obama’s UN Tax, the one he was pushing (but never mentioning during the campaign) will give billions of dollars to the UN (Think of the Paulson/Pelosi/Reid bailout, but without the ‘safeguards’), who will then turn right around and give them to Castro so that Cuba can rearm and prop up other ‘liberation’ groups.
23 David Thompson 2008-11-14 11:28PM
+1, sir.