Wait - Huh - No - They're Doing What?

I think “what the hell is going on with John Kerry and Barack Obama?” is a fair question to ask after reading how they’re going about brokering whatevs with Egypt:

“ElBaradei was the wrong guy to negotiate with, but ‘S’ believed he would be able to convince Mansour and [General] Sisi. State worked almost exclusively through the guy that ended up resigning after 30 days on the job,” said the official, denoting Secretary Kerry with the State Department’s standard, “S” referral.

While Kerry instructed State Department officials to focus on appealing to the former UN official-turned-failed-presidential candidate, the U.S. Department of Defense officials dealt with General Sisi, the top military official. Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham flew to Egypt and met with Sisi in early August for what one official described to me as “an early attempt to show the U.S. was united.” Following the meeting and in the eight days leading up to the August 14 eruption of sectarian violence, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel reportedly called Sisi upwards of 11 times to try and calm the situation while Kerry continued to work ElBaradei. Neither was successful in their efforts.

Yet the Obama administration pressed on — or rather, failed to press on with their diplomatic strategy of going through ElBaradei. President Obama and the first family began their eight-day vacation to Martha’s Vineyard on August 10 believing the Secretary Kerry-VP ElBaradei gamble would work. Though it was clear by the time Obama finished his first round of golf that Kerry’s strategy was failing, the President decided to stay with the Kerry plan.

Imagine if Joe Biden had resigned in February of 2009, while the United States descending into civil war. Now imagine the Chinese or the Russians using him to try and get a peace settlement.

It’s usually about now that I’d take this post in one of two directions. Either I’d write something snide, or go into a longer discussion of the flaws of the President’s policy.

But I’m out. I’m tapped. The well is dry. There’s no more fun to be had while one of the cradles of civilizations tears itself in bloody two. And there’s no more dissecting a foreign policy built on ego, hubris, wishful thinking, and head-up-the-assedness. We have the foolhardy attempting the impossible to the delight of the murderous.

It’s just not amusing any longer, and there’s no more use trying to apply logic or reason to this seriously unfunny theater of the absurd.