Obama’s worst day
It’s hard to overstate how bad February 10, 2011, will rank among the worst days of Barack Obama’s administration. Earlier today CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress that Mubarak would announce his departure today. That didn’t happen. Now our intelligence agencies are scrambling to understand what all this means. This catastrophic intelligence failure is the worst since 9/11 (rivaling even the 2007 Iran National Intelligence Estimate).
Then Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in response to a question by Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) that the Muslim Brotherhood was “largely secular,” despite the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood lists as its two “key pillars” the imposition of sharia law and the reestablishment of the global caliphate — in English on the Muslim Brotherhood’s official website. This is the same organization that has as its credo, “Allah is our goal. The Quran is our constitution. The Prophet is our model. Jihad is our way. And dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.” A bastion of secularism, apparently. (Brian Fairchild has more of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “largely secular” greatest hits.) Understandably, Clapper’s media flacks are now trying to walk back his statement.
But you can’t blame just the intelligence community for this administration’s worst catastrophe (so far, yikes!). While many were pointing fingers at Panetta and Clapper, this is as much, if not more so, a failure of the State Department. How exactly did our embassy in Cairo not know what Mubarak was going to say? Hasn’t Hosni Mubarak been our closest ally in the Arab world? Didn’t Obama go to Cairo at the beginning of his administration and vow to improve the United States’ diplomacy in the Middle East. What’s the status of that now? Since this crisis began a few weeks ago, this administration has taken virtually every possible position including their open willingness to throw Mubarak under the bus. Is there a reason why any of our allies in the Middle East should trust a single word this administration says?
The short and long-term fallout from this diplomatic breakdown, the State Department’s ineptness, and the intelligence community’s cluelessness may be beyond estimation. Last week Sarah Palin said that Obama got the 3 a.m. phone call and it went to the answering machine. What we learned today is that the 3 a.m. phone call to Obama was met with the message, “This number has been disconnected.”
God help us all, because it could get worse.
A less know-it-all president would have negotiated for Mubarak’s exit with Mubarak himself, the Saudi king, the Jordanian king, and the Israel PM behind the scene before making pronouncements. A president who won only 50 states instead of 57 would not have humiliated an ally by calling him to step down in public.
Reagan withdrew supports from Marcos after Marcos lost an election.
Obama wanted to get rid of Mubarak before an election. Seems he wants a civil war in Egypt.
W eased out the Haitian strong man by telling him the Marines were leaving if he would want to come along or face the people on his own.
O wanted to reinstate a Hugo-wannabe in Honduras.
Hope and change?
This administration looks so inept, I think even the Egyptian protestors are laughing.
Trump, Rummy, and Cheney to join Mubarak in Fuhrerbunker.
This is so embarrasing.
Suggestion: Title should read:
“Obama’s worst day – YET”
Barry and the boys will have to go a ways to top this but I have faith.
The main question is whether Obama is delivering on his Nobel Peace Prize which was awarded to him “in prospecto.” My analogy would be awarding the Horseshoe of Roses to the favorite in the Kentucky Derby six months before the race is run, and then the “Nag don’t leave the gates.” HA!
That is funny, Edmund!
Oh, please. His worst day has yet to come.
Everybody keeps repeating that this is embarrassing – I think the phrase should be ‘extremely dangerous’. Our enemies are now more embolden than ever and we have the three stooges ad infinitum in charge of our economy and foreign policy – if you’re a praying kinda of person now would be the time to pull out the stops. Maybe we should conduct a massive protest and demand that the man-child president and his minions leave office before the next election – maybe some foreign rulers would encourage him to do the same.
How exactly did our embassy in Cairo not know what Mubarak was going to say? Hasn’t Hosni Mubarak been our closest ally in the Arab world?
Well after Obama’s dictates to leave immediately could one possibly imagine that Mubarak’s crowd would wish to clue him in?
Just the name, ‘Muslum’ Brotherhood, tells anyone of us in flyover country the organization isn’t secular!!! OMG!!