Rudderless in the White House
Reuters has put together a timeline of the White House’s various and varied responses to the ongoing political crisis in Egypt — and it’s worse than you think.
Obama doesn’t get around to taking anything close to a firm stance or decision until Day 7, when he dispatched Frank Wisner as Special Envoy. On day 11, the White House calls for “concrete steps” to a transition. The very next day, Wisner flatly contradicted the new policy and is called back to the U.S.
On Day 14, “State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, acknowledging doubts about the credibility of the transition process, says: ‘Our advice would be: test the seriousness of the government and those who are participating to see if it can deliver.’” I don’t know what that means. Nobody knows what that means.
On Day 15, “Vice President Joe Biden speaks again by telephone to Suleiman, stressing U.S. support ‘for an orderly transition in Egypt that is prompt, meaningful, peaceful, and legitimate.’”
On Day 16, “After appearing to throw its support behind a transition process led by Mubarak’s new vice president, Omar Suleiman, Washington shows growing irritation, saying it has still not seen ‘real, concrete’ reforms.”
Then of course yesterday, CIA Chief Leon Panetta said Mubarak was probably on his way out, right up until Mubarak said he was staying. Power, however, seems to lie with the Army and Vice President Suleiman — who has held the three-decades-vacant office by appointment for all of twelve days. One wonders if this is what Biden considers “meaningful” or “legitimate.”
And then there have been things like the false assurance to Congress by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that the Muslim Brotherhood is “largely secular,” and Biden’s insistence that Mubarak is not a dictator.
Things didn’t get really bad, however, until Obama began insisting, quite publicly, that Mubarak take all those “concrete steps” to leave office. It’s a generally accepted rule of diplomacy that you don’t make demands in public unless you know in advance the answer is Yes, or that you have the means to enforce your demand if the answer is No.
We saw this same behavior when the administration was young and still trying to find its footing. Remember when Obama traveled all the way to Denmark to win the Olympics for Chicago, only to get rejected in the first round of voting? Same thing now. If you’d been hoping Obama would grow into the office, those hopes just got dashed against the stones of the Presidential Palace in Cairo.
Instead, we have a president determined to prove to the world that he and his administration are ignorant, indecisive, and impotent.
Let’s call them the Three I’s of the Obama Doctrine.
UPDATE: The New York Times app just flashed that Suleiman just announced Mubarak has stepped down. No doubt, the White House will claim this is a great victory for its Egypt policy — but which policy?
Grow into the presidency? I was waiting for him to grow into adulthood.
Or at least grow a pair.
Grow a pair, that would be a tall order. I would be satisfied if he showed just one.
He has a pair, they just haven’t dropped yet.
I gotta tell you guys, that I have some brass ones that are bigger than any he will EVER have. He’s a narcissistic shallow immature little boy who would be king. He is a major embarrassment.
“It’s a generally accepted rule of diplomacy that you don’t make demands in public unless you know in advance the answer is Yes, or that you have the means to enforce your demand if the answer is No.”
You’ve written a very good distillation of the larger issue with our current foreign policy here, but it deserves a caveat. One can afford to venture into the unknown if one has the moral confidence to be bold. Think of Reagan in the 1980s – he couldn’t end the Soviets, but he told them that they needed to end themselves at every turn. Similarly, the President could have told Mubarak to go if they had lain the groundwork to boldly support a new Middle East without dictators.
He made half a feint in that direction during his SOTU, when he announced support for the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia. But years of ignoring the Revolution in Iran, and his lukewarm response to the revolution in Egypt proved his SOTU comments were just words, and he had assumed no moral authority.
This is another victory for Sarah Palin. She proved here in the US and again in Egypt that a corrupt, non-responsive government can be stopped by well organized citizens. Luckily, here in the US we have non-violent mechanisms, i.e., elections, that allowed us to do what the Egyptians took massive riots to accomplish.
Knowing that Obama fellow-travelers Ayers, Dohrn, and the Code Pink flakes were recently over in Egypt changes the color of my opinion of how this administration is handling this crisis.
I would like to learn more about the who, what, where, when and why of those visits and how, if at all, they are tied to Mr. Obama.
Speaking for myself, I do not trust that man one single bit.
Obama, the pathological narcissist, will of course claim credit. He’ll also, like Mubarak, take a paternalistic tone to the Egyptian demonstrators, informing them that He knows they will ‘continue to support the rule of law and democracy’..[as if he's their Wise Man and as if democracy is exclusive to the US].
The credit for this monumental change goes to: the Egyptian people, who decided that they’d had enough of dictatorship..and wanted freedom.
I have no problem with Obama taking credit for the ouster of Mubarak – since republicans will make him eat his words in 2012, when “largely secular” Moslem Brotherhood is running Egypt to the ground.
Egypt only? Close the Suez?
To ensure world peace, i.e. world without the war mongering US military: 1. close the Panama canal (owned by a Hong Kong Chinese tycoon) 2. close the Suez.
Jimmy relinquished the Panama Canal, Barak is surrendering the Suez. The defanging of the Great Satan is almost complete.
Nonsense to both ‘hyphenated American’ (why, can’t you be a whole American?) and ic. Are you seriously suggesting that the only means to keep the Suez Canal open is via a dictatorship???
Do you really believe that the Egyptian people – who have voiced their rejection of dictatorship, repression, brutality and a corrupt govt that prevented economic growth – have any agenda of closing the canal? It brings in 4 billion a year. Why should they close it? Why?
And the Egyptians haven’t chosen the Muslim Brotherhood; they don’t want another fundamentalist dictatorship.
“It brings in 4 billion a year. Why should they close it? Why?’
Why?
So the Muslim Brotherhood can extort 50 billion to open it back up.
And use THAT to help fund world wide Jihad against the INFIDELS WHO BUILT IT…
Kinda like what the SAUDI’s do with all their OIL REVENUE.
Deee Youuuu freaking Atchhhh, Spells “duh”
(but with little extra contempt)
No good ever comes from the tribes of Mohammed…EVER
“And the Egyptians haven’t chosen the Muslim Brotherhood; they don’t want another fundamentalist dictatorship.”
That may be true, but it will choose them. Or a ‘secular’ dictator will choose them. Watch and wait.
They have no credible leaders on their side. No core group to work with their government structure and the army to transition past Mubarak, and it looks like the army might have chosen the replacement to their liking (Suleiman). As for the muslim brotherhood, it will be up to the army how much influence they end up having I think. Co-opt a few key leaders, say ‘This is good for Egypt!’ and well…
His life history has been to take multiple positions on every issue.
It’s a strategy, not incompetance. His only life skill is lying. And he is a master at it. He isn’t a reactive liar. He is a proactive liar. In other words, everything he says or does is laying the groundwork for a future lie.
From the national platform of the white house, no matter what happens, he will be able to claim that it was what he wanted. And he will have the sound bites and news articles to back it up. The ones that contradict the final outcome will be ignored by the white house and the press. The ones that cannot be ignored will be spun and discredited.
And with the full compliance of the hollow-cheeked press, he will convince a lot of people that he did indeed control the process and get a successful outcome. No matter what happens.
All the man does is lie and create/encourage chaos. Period.
Followup.
Everybody assumes that whatever diplomacy that happened was in behalf of the US and that he is incompetent at it.
But he doesn’t view it that way at all. Diplomacy is far subservient to the more important goals. His power. His glory. His mission.
I wouldn’t say that Eqypt is a pawn because he doesn’t have to instigate events to be able to take advantage of them. If it’s not Egypt, then it’s Tucson, or it’s an economic crisis, or something else. The events occur of their own accord. But whatever they are, he can exploit them. For him, uncontrollable events are only meaningful insofar as they are useful to himself. They happen all the time.
This just happens to be an extra juicy one.
Agreed – Obama, as a pathological narcissist, and I really mean that term of ‘pathological’ has only one focus. Himself..as Himself (and I mean that use of the capital letter).
As you point out, “For him, uncontrollable events are only meaningful insofar as they are useful to himself.” Exactly.
Obama will utterly, totally, ignore events that are not useful to him, or that he feels he cannot make useful to him. Remember he ignored the demonstrations for freedom in Iran. Why? Because he was uncertain that they would succeed – and so, he sided with Power. Not with principles of freedom and justice. Power. He’s actually quite similar to Mubarak.
In the middle of all the contradictions one point stands:
this administration has legitimized the muslim brotherhood.
As usual, this administration succeeds ONLY in what is bad for America.
No, the Muslim Brotherhood are not ‘legitimized’. They weren’t behind this revolution. The ordinary people – not members of the MB – but the ordinary people who had no future, no work, no freedom – they were behind it.
The MB is certainly trying to take advantage of it and claim they had something to do with it – just as Obama is trying to take advantage and take advantage of the Egyptian people. Both are self-serving agendas and both are totally false.
Why is it so hard to accept that a people could reach a ‘tipping point’ against brutality, repression, lack of freedom? Why does freedom have to be rejected, by us, and instead, we focus on ‘they must really want yet another form of dictatorship’? Why?
NOT legitimized ? Read this:
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/31/world/la-fg-us-egypt-20110201
“January 31, 2011|By Paul Richter and Peter Nicholas, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Washington — The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.”
AND
I wasn’t even discussing the whole matter of the Egyptian revolt, I was discussing what this administration has done: it has publicly accepted to deal with the organization that is directly or indirectly, the mother of hamas, hezb’allah, alqaeda.
And we don’t need to discuss about Egypt: the future will tell.
My apologies; I misread you; I thought that ‘this administration’ referred to Egypt.
I agree: Obama has indeed ‘legitimized’ the MB – including himself or his spokesmen referring to the MB as valid players in the new govt of Egypt.
Obama really has no choice.
MB is going to be part of the Egyptian political process whether anyone likes it or not. The surest way to radicalize any group is to suppress it.
The old middle east saying applies, ‘keep your friends close, your enemies closer’
Why?
In a single word..
Mo
Ha
Med…
The original terrorist…a theiving, looting, genocidal mass murderer, is their ‘Ideal Figure” to emulate…its a form of insanity, or evil, take your pick, but either way…
If its culturally acceptable to name your kid after this guy, you’ve just proven beyond any doubt I cannot, and SHOULD not, trust you…
Ever
harrywr2,
They’re already radicalized! The Germans let the Nazis be part of the political process too. How’d that go?
Eerie patters of behavior are now clear in Obama’s repertoire :
Ram it through. Upon Epic Fail, declare victory. Repeat.
Another variation:
Claim victory for someone else’s accomplishment, such as “Victory in Iraq”, then move on.
Another variation:
Promise to “focus like a laser beam”, then completely ignore. Express surprise (“declare unexpected”) when nothing happened, then promise to “focus like a laser beam” again. Repeat until…?
How long will the media allow him to play this floridly incompetent farce?
The underlying pattern is that if he says it, he’s lying.
I honestly don’t believe that he even has a concept of truth. In his mind, truth is a completely malleable thing. Something can be true and untrue at the same time, because he will need to reinterpret what he said at a later time to align it with whatever the outcome turns out to be.
Bubba was a master of spin, but he’s penney ante. Little lenin doesn’t say a word that doesn’t lay a foundation for a future set of lies. His entire life is a lie, an invention in progress.
“It’s a generally accepted rule of diplomacy that you don’t make demands in public unless you know in advance the answer is Yes, or that you have the means to enforce your demand if the answer is No.”
So did Reagan know in advance that Gorbatsjov would “tear down this wall”? Or did he have the means to enforce it? Would he have attacked the Berlin wall with bombers? The above quote is an absurd and stupid statement. The POTUS is not a diplomat. And this is exactly why pundits make for bad politicians. I have seen one show after another with pundits and talking heads praising Ronald Reagan and his principled stance against the Soviet Empire one second. And the next second turn around 180 degrees and recommend an unprincipled opportunistic cynical approach to the Egypt situation. And they are all completely blind to their own hypocrisy and lack of a moral compass.
Wow. Literalism is this guy’s credo.
You actually believe that Reagan was giving Gorbie directions, don’t you?
Maybe RR should have asked for a sandwich at the same time. Then your point would make sense.
But little lenin was giving certainly giving directions to Mubarak. “transition starting immediately” is not a directional sort of statement. He probably specified ketchup or mustard in a separate fantasy order.
JL,
The difference is that the Soviets were not an ally and recipient of American aid (read bribes if you will, but effective bribes) for thirty years prior to being told to tear down the wall.
The proper analogy is Iran, where the first coming of Obama, namely Jimmy Carter, backed the “democrats” led by the Ayatollah. That didn’t work out too well for us, or for the Iranian people by my admittedly secular standards. Martyrs probably beg to differ, but I won’t argue theology.
I’ve written this before. It doesn’t pay to be our friend when the Democrats are in power. I suspect I’d get a lot of concurrence from the South Vietnamese, had they survived the cut-off of aid when the North invaded.
Mr. Vacuity is speaking again. I’ve gotta hurl.
Personally, I say let Obama and his administration gloat in the glory of the moment. The fiddler is still playing, folks still dancing and the party lights still burning. Lets revisit this party…say in 8 or 12 years max.
Few things turn out to be what they seemed in the moment of passion or superficially.
Two things are for certain! Islam globally and socialism in the U.S. have been on the march for some time. I don’t think either are planning a nap anytime soon.
The ill prepared ‘democracy’ folks in Egypt with NO organization, no strategies beyond ‘revolution’ have opened a huge door……..
One of the underlying contradiction points of all that Obama has said is, “FREEDOM”.
What a forked tongue, lying, rotten individual Obama is. He tries to make us think he is concerned for the freedom of the Egyptians while he is STEALING FREEDOM FROM AMERICANS with all of his regulations, Obamacare, high debit spending thereby stealing FREEDOM from our Grandchildren.
He speaks of freedom for others around the world to get the LAME STREAM MEDIA to portray him as a supporter of freedom as well as the brain dead Americans who do not pay attention to what he is doing to our Country. This monster …… Obama ……..needs to go just like he thought Mubarak should go.
There is hope the Egyptian revolution will bring other Arab dictators down and we will see the rise of democracy and freedom in a few more mid-east countries. It is even possible, if these democracies succeed, the Islamic fundamentalists might be stopped. The administration has played this wisely to this point and it seems we have neither betrayed our friends nor sacrificed those seeking freedom. The USA is blessed to have Obama as our leader.
What I always find fascinating, in a twisted way, is that for all the Sharia law crap, and all the rotten ways Muslims treat their women, Mohammed was initially SUPPORTED by his wife, who was a shop owner (or market shop owner). HE was unemployed. SHE was the breadwinner. It sounds small, but it always got me how women are treated in that ‘religion’ and yet a woman made part of it possible by supporting his butt.
I’m just worried our country is going to listen to Obozo and try and “understand” them until they come chop our heads off.
What Egyptian policy, the Obama team has no plan except to help the brotherhood gain control of Egypt.Obama has no foreign policy except run America down! Be sure to pay your taxes on time so Obama can send more of our money to the middle east to help kill our military personal.Just remember to be sensitive towards the muslim here in the US while these muslims plan our demise. Try and find out what the muslims are teaching their kids about America, at their schools and mosques.
Stephen, it wasn’t the WH that claims this as a ‘victory feather in their cap’, but, wait for it, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews claimed this to be… ‘due to Obama being in office’.
Not his trumped up, ahem ‘foreign affairs experience’ or faux ‘diplomacy’, but Obama being elected!
Chris Matthew’s is partying like it’s 2008.. still!
It’s truly frightening Matthews has a mike, let alone people who listen to his nonsense..