We watched last night. Here's the video. He was speaking in the White House dining room, without an audience, and he used the style of teleprompter reading that has him looking to one side for a while and then to the other, as if he were addressing a roomful of people. I guess there were people in the room, technicians and advisers, but we TV-watchers were the audience, and the side-to-side business felt evasive. He looked and sounded half robotic and half scared.
I don't know what was really going on in his head...
... thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food and water and facing almost certain death.... operations to help save Iraqi civilians stranded on the mountain... hiding high up on the mountain, with little but the clothes on their backs. They’re without food, they’re without water. People are starving. And children are dying of thirst... descend the mountain and be slaughtered, or stay and slowly die of thirst and hunger... on that mountain -- with innocent people facing the prospect of violence on a horrific scale... what we’re doing on that mountain....The vision of children dying of thirst on a mountain haunts the President, but not unmixed with the nightmare of the looming fall election.
... the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye. We can act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide.Doing nothing is not an option, but we also cannot do too much. Obama is trapped on his own mountain, but what he owes us — we who have put him on the mountain — is to do what is right, without taking any account of the fall elections, but you can see in his face and hear in his voice that he won't do that.
... targeted airstrikes, if necessary.... humanitarian airdrops of food and water... consulting with other countries -- and the United Nations -- who have called for action....That's not much, and it must cheer the enemy in Iraq. Instead of explaining why he wouldn't do more, he spoke next to Americans he pictured thinking even this is too much:
I know that many of you are rightly concerned about any American military action in Iraq, even limited strikes like these. I understand that. I ran for this office in part to end our war in Iraq and welcome our troops home, and that’s what we’ve done. As Commander-in-Chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq. And so even as we support Iraqis as they take the fight to these terrorists, American combat troops will not be returning to fight in Iraq, because there’s no American military solution to the larger crisis in Iraq. The only lasting solution is reconciliation among Iraqi communities and stronger Iraqi security forces.I picture the enemy watching this video and laughing.
ADDED: "U.S. military jets carried out two airstrikes Friday on Islamist militants outside the Kurdish capital of Irbil, hours after President Obama authorized attacks against the Sunni extremists advancing on the northern Iraq city."
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201 comments:
1 – 200 of 201 Newer› Newest»Our president is a fool and I hope the history books veritably shout that out.
Israel did not want to be dragged into fighting another war either. Sometimes you have to face down evil.
Spending ten years and a trillion dollars trying to build a France in Iraq = bad idea.
Killing murdering Islamic terrorists = good idea. Anywhere he wants to go to kill terrorists is a good idea.
Does he need any Congressional approval for this? (Answer: LOL).
that right left look while speaking has bothered me since 2 months in. Reagan didn't do it...i watched old video for reference just to be sure.
a president speaking on camera ought to speak mostly to the camera even if there are people in the room. that's the larger audience. just my humble opinion.
Well, with his penchant for saying one thing while doing another...
You really believe that Obama cares about something besides himself, don't you?
He looked and sounded half robotic and half scared.
I saw a flicker of recognition from a normally unthoughtful man that his antiwar ideological righteousness didn't bring peace to the world.
Or recognition that he's now George Bush.
"I picture the enemy watching this video and laughing".
And you would be right. Putin is also laughing, Ukraine not so much.
Duh, Obama is Lebron and ISIS is JV. Shut your racist piehole if your attempts to think end up causing a different conclusion.
These ISIS idiots can put on a Kobe jersey and take over Iraq, but they still can't rape teenagers in Colorado fool.
Obama is Lebron.
Obama is Lebron.
Obama is Lebron.
Obama knows optics too, doesn't care about style points, and hence is the greatest ass kicker of all time.
He has got a gift.
The right-left delivery has always been distracting but in this case it particularly felt to me that he couldn't look us in the eye.
This the man who is so far over his head that he is drowning in bullshit. He is learning that talk is not the answer for everything, unlike community organizing.
Perhaps if he had followed through on Iraq instead of turning tail and running, we wouldn't be dragged into another war in Iraq. If only Iraq had a few golf courses then he might care.
Sucks when you actually have to work at your job.
"Or recognition that he's now George Bush."
He would do better to find his inner George Bush right now. Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do.
Transcendental Peace Man says:
People, we have not given ISIS the time nor the healing space required to reflect on their actions. Bombs will not stop them, only their own hearts. Let your Love help create that healing space: ignore the Jews.
You really believe that Obama cares about something besides himself, don't you?
At some point that does get pretty special, doesn't it?
On the other hand, I've been assuming since he started running for President that Obama can be treated as a standard-issue con-man who happened to be in the right place at the right time, and nothing that's happened since contradicts it.
Con men are paranoid, with good reason.
He probably really does fear impeachment, and solidly republican majorities in both house must scare the bejeesus out of him, whether its a realistic fear or not.
Transcendental Peace Man says:
To the people on the mountain I say this: you have a wonderful opportunity to not starve but rather to fast and purify your essences. Take this time of uncertainty to reflect upon the certainty of Love, and pray for the people of Gaza.
Transcendental Peace Man says:
To those men and women in the bombers: let the Universe in. Your bombs only create unneeded turbulence in the healing space of Love. Imagine ISIS looking up in the sky at bombers that have chosen not to drop their bombs: such a statement would have the immensity to change hearts and to promote the introspection that begins true healing. We are not Israel.
When it comes to foreign policy, the Democratic Party still seems stuck in its 1960's anti-Vietnam mindset. The old geezers that control the party, Clinton, Kerry, Biden, Reid, Pelosi all got their start during that era.
As a result, the party sees every foreign policy decision as if it's still 1968. They want our military to be a Peace Corp with guns.
Transcendental Peace Man says:
To those trapped and surrounded by ISIS: do not take false succor in the delusion of self-defense: your use of guns will only make you more like them. Do not let them poison your hearts, for that is the only way they truly win. You can choose peace: it is not too late. Unless you are Jewish.
We live in a distinctly swaggery age.
Killing murdering Islamic terrorists = good idea. Anywhere he wants to go to kill terrorists is a good idea.
I'm with Tank. I'd carpet bomb those islamic terrorist Jihadi a$$holes while they were out in the open in their technicals. The only good ISIL is a dead ISIL. I feel the same way about Boku Haram.
Half-hearted bombing of the road to Damascus is not a policy nor a strategy.
In Iraq Obama can now choose between helping the followers of al Zarqawi or the Ayatollah Khamenei.
The Obama administration have got themselves into a situation where they have no power of their own in the Middle East, and no allies anywhere because everyone looks at the U.S., shake their heads, and look for someone else to gang up with.
Leon said...
that right left look while speaking has bothered me since 2 months in. Reagan didn't do it...i watched old video for reference just to be sure.
You'd think that the WH, who is so controlling of POTUS imaging would set up a pool camera and put the teleprompter above the camera, like all your TV anchors use.
and I suspect Reagan used
"I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq."
For Obama's anti-war base, it's...
Kind of a Drag
That's what I want Obama to do.
Might as well want wishes to be horses.
Ann Althouse said...
"Or recognition that he's now George Bush."
He would do better to find his inner George Bush right now. Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do.
Or a President McCain, or Carter, LOL.
what happened to Responsibility to Protect? Is that only if the killers aren't Muslim?
Or is it only if the victims aren't Christians (or another Muslim hated group?)
I can not imagine another President in the 20th century sitting on his hands....
Progressive wants reality to be a certain way. Reality does not cooperate. Progressive ends up being "trapped" between wish and fact.
Progressive wants to keep spotless conscience. Reality shows high-minded anti-war stance was wrong. Progressive is "trapped": R2P self image or actual lives?
Barry's advantage over regular Progressives is that he has no conscience, so the constraints of any trap depend entirely on political calculation.
Why half measures in fighting your mortal enemies?
Feckless to the core
The observations about Obama in this post made me think of Colonel Cathcart in 'Catch 22'. He saw everything as either a "black eye" or a "feather in my cap".
Seems like every time Obama reaches up to stick a feather in his cap, in his eagerness, he somehow gives himself a black eye.
Transcendental Peace Man says:
To the People of the World: do you not realize that ISIS is nothing but a deception organized by the Jews to distract people from Gaza? Do not fall for this cunning: keep your hearts true.
Transcendental Peace Man says:
To the People of the World: if ISIS had a nuclear weapon do you think they would really use it anywhere but Israel? Put your minds at ease.
Unfortunately, for the tens of thousands of victims of Obama's feckless foreign policy, the evil don't practice affirmative action.
I sincerely believe, or try to believe, that Obama is completely out of his element. It appears that his whole life, all that has been required of him is to show up and talk confidently. President of Harvard Law Review and Senior Lecturer at Univ. of Chicago Law School (with Judges Posner and Easterbrook) for 12 years yet never published an academic piece. Now that he is being ignored, or worse than that, laughed at, he is devastated. Some say he doesn't care what others think of him but I think it's the opposite - that's just about all that he cares about. For the first time in his life, he is being graded on his true performance and he is totally unequipped to handle it.
He looked and sounded half robotic and half scared.
Money quote.
And so even as we support Iraqis as they take the fight to these terrorists ,
The only lasting solution is reconciliation among Iraqi communities and stronger Iraqi security forces .
Terrorists or Stronger Iraqi security forces, which is it?
For once, I wish he would just STFU and quietly make tough decisions.
He can't pretend that this snuck up on him. Mosul fell two months ago. We *should* have had instant on-call packages in place by now to have mobilized in defense of the Kurdish front as soon as it looked shaky. We *should* have been letting the Kurds sell their tanker full of oil and sold them their munitions and resupply on credit weeks ago. We *should* have been supporting the Kurds irrespective of whatever the hell Maliki and his coalition of self-dealing Shia tribal jackasses ended up doing, or not doing as the case may be.
He thought he could piss around until his problems died with the men causing them, but then the Yezidi got through the "we don't give a shit about Christian foreigners" media wall, because they were brown, victimized, and of an exotic religious faith. Now he has to scramble and *do something*.
@Althouse: You may want Obama to "find his inner George Bush", but that assumes that there IS an inner George Bush inside Obama, and there isn't. There's nothing in there but pretension and self-delusion. The "tell" is Obama's claim that he ended the war in Iraq. In fact, by the time Bush left office, the war had been won. What was left to do was to secure the peace, which Bush knew required continued US military presence in Iraq, but Obama ignored the need to secure the peace, and so is faced with a crisis of his own making, for which he does not have the character to take responsibility.
Transcendental Peace Man says:
To the People of the World: once you recognize the Jews as the root cause of ISIS your Path to Truth becomes much clearer. Israel will not stop until they are the size of Lake Michigan.
"Putin is also laughing, Ukraine not so much."
If you're referring to the Ukrainian people, they're not laughing because they are now ruled by a cabal of anti-semitic neo-Nazis we helped put in power.
And again, to show their hypocrisy, lefties will applaud Obama for "doing the right thing", where they would excoriate Bush or Romney or anyone else with an R after their name.
" You really believe that Obama cares about something besides himself, don't you?"
From the very beginning she has terribly misjudged him.
But that's not surprising as in general she is clueless about men...how they think, what makes them tick.
That's what I want Obama to do.
Yes, you mentioned back in 2008 that you wanted the Democrats to own the tough foreign policy decisions that Bush was making. But what you thought Obama would do and what you want Obama to do are one thing. What he will do is another.
To paraphrase one of Glenn Reynolds' favorite tag-lines, all is proceeding as those of us who correctly evaluated Obama's character in 2008 and 2012 have foreseen.
Not for nothing do real men call him the "ditherer in chief."
Transcendental Peace Man says:
To the People of the World: when ISIS finally takes over the whole Middle East think of the possibilities: there then would only be One Voice for us to Communicate with, and wouldn't that be much easier? One plus One equals Peace.
"Our president is a fool and I hope the history books veritably shout that out."
I have little doubt that the history books will treat him much more harshly than the contemporaneous press. Partly, because all the consequences of his actions will be known then. Unless, of course, we're a de facto one party state by then and history books won't be free to tell the truth.
"Doing nothing is not an option, but we also cannot do too much."
That's a few degrees away from "We shall fight them on the beaches...", no?
"He would do better to find his inner George Bush right now. Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do."
Obama has been George Bush almost from the beginning of his first term, and, as with Bush, the consequences have been disastrous.
I doubt that Obama has an "inner George Bush." He has positioned himself as the anti-Bush so long that he is probably immune to Bush-like impulses.
"Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do."
But Obama doesn't live in the real world. He lives in the ivory tower. And staying out is the right decision in the ivory tower since there are no actual consequences. By his lights, he made the right decision. Doing anything, anything at all, in Iraq is already a concession to the wrong way of thinking.
"the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye".... any longer. Our policy until today was to turn a blind eye and blame it on Maliki (not unfairly).
You can't airlift supplies to the mountain top forever, so yes, something more has to be done.
" I ran for this office in part to end our war in Iraq and welcome our troops home, and that’s what we’ve done."
Yes, even if it was a bad policy. I did it anyway. I poison pilled the SOFA, so we could blame it on the Iraqi government. Andeven though Hillary and Petraeus wanted to leave troops, I pulled them all out anyway.
"As Commander-in-Chief, I will not allow the United States to be dragged into fighting another war in Iraq."
...because that would prove how stupid my original policy was. So, I'm going to do a little here and there, consult with countries, maybe get Russia to broker a deal. Hopefully, the same success this tactic worked for Libya and Syria.
"Transcendental Peace Man says..."
First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is/First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is....
Nobody sane wants to be dragged into war. Sometimes you don't get a choice. But I don't expect anything but lip service and half-measures from the Disaster-In-Chief.
Althouse:
"Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do."
The media would not "beat him up all they wanted" if he shot the Pope.
Obama is the leader of half of the country. He only briefly pretended to represent us all. His "right decision" is solely premised on political calculations.
We won in Iraq until the democrats made a business arrangement with the terrorists.
You blow stuff up and we'll make a stink about we can't win the war because look they're blowing stuff up.
The terrorists were impressed. Hey we have a chance. Look at support for the winner crumble at this. More car bombs until they give up.
What's going on in Obama's head?
What's going on in any trapped weasel's head?
How can I get out of this trap I put myself in?
Otherwise--not much. And that's a steady state condition.
There is some good news out of the the Obama presidency.. America will never again elect a community organizer as president.
When innocent children are casualties of American bombing in Iraq, will we be hearing charges that Obama, like Netanyahu, is a Nazi, a murderer, and a war criminal?
I don't think so.
To paraphrase Leon Trotsky: Mr Obama may not be interested in war, but war is interested in him.
Just remember thatwith his approval rating, about 130,000,000 people are saying to themselves right now "that Obama, he's doing right by the country."
Obama has been George Bush almost from the beginning of his first term, and, as with Bush, the consequences have been disastrous.
That's a laugher. Bush put troops over there, Obama pulled them out. Obama has done the OPPOSITE of what Bush would have done from the day he got into office.
What planet do you live on?
Ann,
"I don't know what was really going on in his head...
...I picture the enemy watching this video and laughing."
I always wonder what's going on in an American's head when they talk like this. They're obviously the words of a civilian. Someone with no true idea of our power.
We could level Iraq - today - without breaking a sweat.
We also never get credit for not doing so - Hell, Obama can't even get credit for trying not to - showing how little respect we have for the whole endeavour of engagement.
Long story short - if the other side is laughing at us, that's a great image for those of us targeting them,...
Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted.
This is the money quote for me. Note the presumption that Old Media will "beat up" the President for doing the right thing. Why would Old Media do that? Why is that such an unsurprising presumption? What does that say about modern American journalism?
I picture the enemy watching this video and laughing.
And thanking Bush for making this all possible.
This was predictable and predicted.
Anyone who voted for this communist as our president has been finally shown to be a fool.
"I picture the enemy watching this video and laughing."
Whats scares me is that someone will push him too far and the fucker will drop the bomb to keep from looking like the pussy he is.
"If you're referring to the Ukrainian people, they're not laughing because they are now ruled by a cabal of anti-semitic neo-Nazis we helped put in power."
When did you get back, Cookie ? Who did you talk to ? Let us in on the real story will you ?
Robert Cook,
Why should the Ukranians care one way or another if their government is antisemitic? I can't imagine Nigerians worrying about what their leadership thinks of Brazilians, or Japanese about what their government thinks of Swedes.
Your other points - fair enough - but this right here is why Israel is losing a propaganda war to the Arabs of all people. Throwing 'antisemetic' into every charge, no matter how irrelevant even if it were proven true, only furthers the point that everyone else's group comes second to the Jews.
The Ukrainian government has responsibilities to exactly one group of people: Ukrainians. There views on the Jews, Nigerians, Mexicans, Japanese, et. al. is no concern of ours whatsoever.
You may want Obama to "find his inner George Bush", but that assumes that there IS an inner George Bush inside Obama, and there isn't. There's nothing in there but pretension and self-delusion.
Clint Eastwood's empty chair comes to mind.
So as to spare the lives of innocent civilians, the Obama campaign of bombing in Iraq will no doubt meet the Kerry-Standard for a "pinpoint operation."
We CAN act.
But we probably won't.
Can't fuck up tee time for the empty suit in chief.
At least Chamberlain didn't have Chamberlain as an example of what an idiotic policy Obama is pursuing.
That's what I want Obama to do.
That implies Obama is capable of coming to a concrete idea and plan, something he has never shown any affinity for to date.
Obama's asinine red line commentary about Syria (hey, notice that Assad WON THAT CONFLICT, BARRY?) with no discussion with Congress or follow up LED to this. God, what a damned moron we have in the White House.
Air drop arms and ammo in addition to food. Give the oppressed the means to fight back, not just sustain until the next slaughter.
Give regular folks arms to at least delay the march toward crucifiction or beheading. Apparently their military and "government" either can't or won't.
That's what I want Obama to do.
Votin "present" was an indication to many of us that this man is a chickenshit! Or maybe it was all that Indonesian he was speakin.
Any golf courses on a mountin that can host a chickenshit this weekend?
Sebastian said...
Progressive wants reality to be a certain way. Reality does not cooperate. Progressive ends up being "trapped" between wish and fact.
von Moltke the Elder said it as: "No Plan survives contact with the Enemy!"
Today's Army records it as: "The enemy has a vote"
Ouepr ememies weren't the only ones laughing, I roared when I saw the tag last nite. I almost shouted at the tv but was in public. Asshole was thought tho.
why does the President have to be dragged,kicking and screaming into
doing half hearted measures that accomplish nothing but prolonging the agony. He's always 3 months behind the power curve. Living in the mountains with meager meals and water is not my idea of the good life!
Barry should really stop his hatin on Iraq.
These bombings are just for show. His polling probably tells him that he had to do something in Iraq or suffer a further erosion of his approval numbers in the run up to the midterm elections. He has no strategic plan or foreign policy doctrine to guide his military intervention, ISIS will not be deterred, but only discommoded by random airstrikes.
Now if Obama had the guts to supply the Peshmurga with arms and air support coordinated by Special Forces cadres, that might actually make a difference.
This is exactly what people like me warned people like Ann Althouse about back in 2007 and 2008 and were derided as racist, naive or stupid for our efforts.
I hold people like Ann Althouse responsible for this mess for voting with their "hearts" instead of their heads.
Especially people like Ann Althouse who are supposedly TRAINED to use their heads.
Yeah Crack, Obama has em right where he wants em.
Swaggery-in-Chief.
Barack Obama, warrior princess!
"We can act, carefully and responsibly . . . ."
Translation: "We will act timidly and ineffectively."
This strike was simply symbolic. It was not an expression of the national will nor even of presidential resolve. It was at best an expression of Obama's personal distaste for having to deal with the whole situation.
It is an expression of typical leftist thinking about using military force: start small and taper off. It is the baseless hope that ISIS will point to the sky and say, "Holy crap! Two American fighters! Let's stop being ruthless murderers!"
The Obama foreign policy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbd4t-ua-WQ
Parachute George Zimmerman in there with a pistol in his hand and pointing toward that mountain and you will, by God, see some action from the U.S. of A. then.
"And thanking Bush for making this all possible."
Credit where credit is due...you always make the most counterfactual observation possible.
Never say never Lynch, of course they will and sooner than u think.
The fact is ISIS isn't the enemy, the republicans and the Constitution are. There's golf to be played, vacations to go on, illegals to legalize, mid-terms and elections to be won and a legacy to secure.
It's not his fault the world is a mess and he's too big for it.
And while we are on the subject of Barack Obama and public statements, I will repeat the advice I have given people from the first time I saw Barack Obama speak.
Do not waste your time listening to this man when he is reciting prepared statements. His words mean nothing. The only time his words mean anything is when he speaks extemporaneously or is caught off-guard and says what he actually believes.
There is literally no endeavor I can think of that is more worthless than listening to Barack Obama make prepared public statements. Nothing.
What a tragedy that you and so many other fools voted this man.
I too was confused by his style of looking from one side to another as if we was addressing a roomful of reporters ... I kept thinking "He's addressing the nation, look us in the eye, face the camera" ...
and what with the podium ? why not address the nation from behind his desk ?
and Presendent Obama, those people will not be "wiped out", they will be slaughtered in a genocide ... "wiped out" is a horrible sound bite to describe what is being done to them ... they are not some surfer trying to catch a wave ...
Blech I didn't read the entire post before I posted. The UN is calling for action?
Why, they haven't raped enough females?
What most American Presidents always fail to take into account in situations like this is that any potential bad actor has ALREADY, in anticipation of an American reaction, discounted any warning "shot-across-the-bow" retaliation by the US and found such "punishment" acceptable, so will be unlikely to be deterred in the slightest by any initial "warning" pin-pricks. FAR better to begin with the 2x4 to the side of the head, combined with the military equivalent of a serious kick in the nuts to get their attention and ratchet up from there, because they've already discounted the Stage I
slap in the face, so are unlikely to be persuaded to cease their actions by the usual "limited" American response.
Perhaps he's thinking that Code Pink will give him a good tongue-lashing at the next fundraiser dinner/peace-a-thon.
Or maybe he thinks he let his Mom down.
How do I know what he thinks?
Obama truly believing in his ideal (or paying lip-service to, such are politicians) would make some sense looking at many of his foreign policy decisions.
The consequences of those decisions however...
...perhaps peace activists think that if you just build a big peace campfire and invite all the world leaders and oppressed peoples to sing songs, it'll all work out.
That's the most charitable idea I can come up with.
Consequences, not intentions. Substance, not style. The more people project onto him, the more it feeds him. Just hold him quietly responsible for his actions.
These actions are deciding where we possibly go to war. Pretty serious stuff.
"Bush put troops over there, Obama pulled them out."
Bush negotiated the terms and the date American troops would withdraw from Iraq. Obama wanted us to remain, but Iraq required, as part of any new agreement that we stay, that American troops would be subject to the Iraq authorities and justice system if they broke any Iraq laws; Obama would not agree to this, so the Iraqis refused to let us extend our stay beyond the Bush-negotiated withdrawal date. They essentially threw us out.
Of course, Bush committed a war crime by putting American troops in Iraq to begin with.
"Obama has done the OPPOSITE of what Bush would have done from the day he got into office."
Has he? I see him continuing Bush's policies pretty much intact.
A fair-minded reading of the facts, I think, shows that when Mr. Obama was sworn in, the Iraq war had more or less been won. Things were fragile to be sure. But the errors that were made during the occupation of Iraq following the fall of Saddam, which were extremely costly, were corrected in 2007. That was when President Bush made what is in my estimation his most impressive decision. In the face of enormous political opposition, with the nation weary of the war, Mr. Bush implemented a new counterinsurgency strategy, dubbed the “surge” and led by the estimable General David Petraeus. It resulted in startling gains.
By the time the surge ended in 2008, violence in Iraq had dropped to the lowest level since the first year of the war. Sectarian killings had dropped by 95 percent. By 2009, U.S. combat deaths were extremely rare. (In December of that year there were no American combat deaths in Iraq.) Iraq was on the mend. Even Barack Obama, who opposed the surge every step of the way, conceded in September 2008 that it had succeeded in reducing violence “beyond our wildest dreams.”
Obama had inherited a won war, refused to reach a Status of Forces Agreement with Maliki because of his political and moral cowardice, and thus abandoned the Middle East.
Yeah, it's Bush's fault.
This is what happens when you elect the man who would be Prom King as President of the United States.
I'm sure he went golfing immediately after that speech and told the women surrounding him, "Take care of this for me."
Obama will do to little to late.
No doubt ISIS will have AAA set up (captured from the Iraqis) and when just one plane is lost Obama will turn chicken and say he 'tried'.
He will let Iraq fall with his 'tough love' strategy. For you see that is his strategy for the world.
He thinks not intervening will keep us out of war, but in the long run it will bring war to our doorstep.
"we who have put him on the mountain "
What you mean "we", Kemosabe?
Mohammed has gone to the mountain, and the mountain has come to Obama.........I think Obama and, to a lesser extent, Hillary are honestly befuddled. They were under the impression that the world's problems were caused by Dick Cheney and George Bush. Just the removal of those two men would go a long way towards establishing world peace......Obama is our Gorbachev. You can argue that Gorbachev was a decent man who acted in the interests of world peace, but you cannot argue that he made Russia a better place in which to live.
Looking back to 2009, our Nobel Laureate President was awarding the Peace Prize:
"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples"
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/
"Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do."
There is a certain liberation in knowing that you will be cast in the worst possible light no matter what you do.
It's the Democrat way of war:
JFK: "Just 'advisers'."
LBJ: "OK, 500,000 advisers..."
Obama, forced to strike a new pose, will rationalize this to himself as "The teabaggers want a war? OK, I'll give them a war." I fully expect him to redeploy our gutted army with its politicized officer corps and then say it's not his fault when things go badly.
Glenn Reynolds has an interesting roundup of the many Democrat lies about Obama's Iraq... http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/193063/
"Obama is Lebron."
Towel over his head, watching it all turn to shit while he sulks on the sidelines...
"Of course, Bush committed a war crime by putting American troops in Iraq to begin with."
A war crime endorsed by multiple UN resolutions and the 30 nations that went in with us?
He Whom I Cannot Name Said in a statement to faltering adorers:
"thousands of Iraqi civilians who are trapped on a mountain without food and water and facing almost certain death...."
Did anybody else think Masada when reading this? Does anybody else think of the other mountain in the region, Armageddon?
Enemies, Professor, enemies.
A wounded bull in the Yellowstone has no friends.
"We *should* have had instant on-call packages in place by now to have mobilized in defense of the Kurdish front as soon as it looked shaky."
Be realistic, the Pentagon has no time to waste planning for such unimportant objectives. They've still got a "gay outreach" plan and "Muslim Appreciation" Fleet Week to organize.
Paul is right. It's better to fight them over there than here, but out Southern Border is open because Barry cares so much it hurts him.
Remember, it's for the children.
"He would do better to find his inner George Bush right now. Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do."
Obama doesn't have an inner anything...
Grumpy Old Man said...
why does the President have to be dragged,kicking and screaming into
doing half hearted measures that accomplish nothing but prolonging the agony. He's always 3 months behind the power curve. Living in the mountains with meager meals and water is not my idea of the good life!
apparently we dropped 10000 MREs and about 10k gallons of water.
There are estimated 50,000 starving refugees on the mountain. a pint of water a day isnt enough
On the subject of ISIL AAA, the good news is that we can use GPS steered chutes and drop of 10,000 feet now, but the GPS kits arent cheap. When we use them in A-Stan, the US ground troops recycle them
Pres'ent Obama.
@mcenroe@10:57am
THIS^^^!!!
"There is a certain liberation in knowing that you will be cast in the worst possible light no matter what you do."
-- Well, if I'm damned if I don't anyway...
We had a perfect opportunity for another highway of death and didn't take it.
So here!s Meesh talking about women being the stronger sex and the third world? Iraq was a perfect chance to walk the talk. Maybe she should have advised him to not run.
Albright: it's a mess.
Hildebeast: what difference, at this point, does it make?
Maybe tie in another recent post about strong men?
Leon: the right left look whild speaking is Obama READING EVERY WORD OFF TWO TELEPROMPTERS located to his right and his left. You didnt know that?
30 more months to go until January 20, 2017.
@Michael K, Cookie has been watching RT TV.
virgil xenophon said...
If I were SecDef, I'd deploy a squadron of A-10's to Iril, which has 14,000 ft runways and state of the art Nav.
I'd fly in small arms and 30mm for the A-10s and then send them out hunting technicals, their natural prey...
oh, and a few SF teams to provide the Pesh Merga with some fire support.
Oh wait, the Air Force has decided A-10s cant be used against a high threat foe like China so we need to drop them. We'll save money by buying $150 million dollar multi-role F-35's in 2020... Duh. There will always be a need to low slow, accurate CAS.
On second thought, send a USMC Harrier squadron and zero out the USAF.
"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."-John Stuart Mill.
Wonder of Obama took a class that touched on him at Harvard, or is he off the curriculum?
Oh look, here is John McCain palling around with ISIS terrorists. What?
The Obama Administration is the worst administration of my adult life including Carter. President Obama seems to have bumbled and fumbled his way into disaster after disaster. American enemies are emboldened. American allies are scampering for new alliances.
The one benefit of President Obama's foreign policy snafus is that he has managed to create allies out of long term foes in the middle east. Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Jordan. Some countries worked with Israel before, but now they turn to Israel as the only responsible partner in a region of turmoil. A new alliance seems to be developing with America on the sidelines. Amazing.
How the country returned this man to office for a second term is beyond my comprehension.
Doug Santo
Pasadena, CA
Grumpy Old Man said...
why does the President have to be dragged, kicking and screaming into doing half hearted measures that accomplish nothing but prolonging the agony. He's always 3 months behind the power curve. Living in the mountains with meager meals and water is not my idea of the good life!
Long ago, when I was in law school, I had a great adjunct prof who one day gave us some advice (in I believe a sideways swipe at some of the tenured faculty).
He said that, in law school, you could get the idea that all problems can be approached by going to the library, doing some research, conferencing with others, then issuing a response (or a memo).
In real life, he said, one day you'll be sitting at a table (or in Court) and the other guy's lawyer will say x = 100, and your client will turn to you and say, is that right? So the lesson is sometimes you have to know something.
Obama is the tenured prof.
That was weird. No moderation.
@The Drill Sgt/
Have you seen the statements by Gens Barry McCaffrey and Jack Keane today? TOTALLY eviscerated Obama for his "pinprick" limited response.. hit Lucianne.com and hit the link to the Daily Mail..
Tank said...
That was weird. No moderation.
perhaps there is a trusted vendor setting :)
The Drill Sgt@11:23/
Naw, now you're talking lawfare here. Obama's lawyers/JAG will take AT LEAST 30 days to even get a TEMP "Status of Forces" agreement to allow such no matter WHAT the need or logic. And Maliki is stupid enough to drag out the bargaining even as ISIS is coming over the wire..ergo, use of carriers/US Real Estate
Last time Obama watched "the video", they did not laugh, and many people did cry.
I don't think poking them will help the Iraqi people or Americans in the long run. They will eventually, inevitably poke back.
That said, I actually agree with him. Following his premature evacuation, it is now left to the people of Iraq to determine and secure their fate. Many Americans have a notoriously short-lived enthusiasm for completing a task. Civilized society has ingrained a taste for instant or immediate gratification, which serves our allies poorly, and our enemies with hope.
"Credit where credit is due...you always make the most counterfactual observation possible."
garage is a unique and precious brand of customized aggressive idiocy.
When I was a 1LT, I used to work for Major McCaffrey, or at least I took direction from him.
Quite an imposing guy. Doesn't suffer fools lightly. He was the G-3 Operation officer in the 3rd ID.
missing a big chunk of meat out of his forearm BTW.
- Two Distinguished Service Crosses ( one level below the Medal of Honor)
- Two Silver Stars (two levels down)
- three purple hearts.
One gutsy smart SOB, a guy you'd either follow to hell or frag :)
"... the United States of America cannot turn a blind eye."
Why not? We seem to be awfully good at that sort of thing. What makes this time different?
garage is a unique and precious brand of customized aggressive idiocy..
Still can't admit what a colossal clusterfuck invading Iraq turned out to be? Remember when dirty hippies were warning you idiots something like this would happen? Heckuva jobs guys. Heckuva job.
Still can't admit what a colossal clusterfuck invading Iraq turned out to be?
Maybe it was. But the intent was solid, despite what you lefties said at the time. That said - what Obama has done is 10 times worse. By pulling those troops out BEFORE the peace was actually secured, the mess is beyond clusterfuck. Your side is to blame there.
But let's look at what would be different if Bush never went into Iraq. Terror groups would feel completely secure in knowing that the U.S. would NEVER do anything to actually stop them, so they could hide in plain view in a number of different countries, planning additional 911's.
That is what your side keeps ignoring, garage.
"These bombings are just for show."
Everything Obama has ever done is for show.
Iran is starting to worry about the Shia and so Obama will drop a few bombs. The mullahs have Obama's private number.
Something of this present tragedy was foreshadowed in the casual way with which the Left regarded the exodus of the boat people from Vietnam and the Cambodian Killing Fields as collateral damage; something ironic in an anti-war movement that finishes up empowering the greatest seaborne exodus in the history of the world and the massacre of millions.
But if there’s irony it escapes them. After all, ‘how could we have known,’ they ask, ‘that the people we supported were murderers? We meant well.’
Yup.
"BUBBLES!?!?!?!?! I'M THE PRINCE OF F***ING DARKNESS!!!!" The Emir of ISIS upon learning the extent of the Obama Administration's airstrikes.
2 words - No sanctuary.
Then the big stick.
But one needs a man for that, not President Mom jeans.
I am going to defend "garage mahal" in assessing the Iraq War. When President Bush failed to account for the fact that nearly one half of the country would actively work toward failure and therefore did not plan for America's inability to win a war, President Bush failed.
Next time, a president must prepare for the sort of treason "garage mahal" and his fellow travelers bring to the table.
I am going to defend "garage mahal" in assessing the Iraq War. When President Bush failed to account for the fact that nearly one half of the country would actively work toward failure and therefore did not plan for America's inability to win a war, President Bush failed.
HAHAHA. You're too dumb realize how you just stepped in it.
So Barry helps out the black turbans. The turbans signed a missile agreement with Hugo. I think their missiles can reach Florida.
Just something to ponder in the future.
The zeros fund the Pakistan against US so we fail, what's the diff? And they're our "allies!"
Stupid autocorrect. palis
Again, I cannot stress enough to read Rantburg and The Belmont Club.
Especially Mr. Fernandez' The Three Conjectures.
Drill SGT: "trusted vendor setting"
Hey, I like that idea. Industry uses "AVL" approved vendor lists, from which purchases are simplified.
And think of the opportunities for graft! With a multi-tier approach, approval slots could be traded; some real dough could be made here. I'll do a business plan; anybody want to give me starter financing? Say, $200K on a $ 1.5 million pre-money valuation?
"garage mahal"
"You're too dumb (sic) realize how you just stepped in it."
I will allow that (sic) to do all my work in rebuttal.
Whoa. That last comment of mine showed up in less than 2 seconds. EXCELLENT.
Remember how much Bush was mocked for saying "but I am the decider."?
Next time, a president must prepare for the sort of treason "garage mahal" and his fellow travelers bring to the table
Okay, traitor.
In a sense, Obama will do what he thinks is "Right" and let the press beat him up afterwards.
He will review the situation in the Middle East, then grant amnesty to our uninvited guest workers, AKA illegal aliens.
There's really nothing he can do and stay true to his fundamental world view.
His fundamental world view lies somewhere betwixt hardcore Marxism and militant Islamism, the more militant the better. Being hostile to the US is the common denominator between all three.
And he has never been untrue to his fundamental world view.
I watched the speech until my "I" quota was reached.. so I didn't see all of it.
I saw and heard a visceral mix of fear, anger, and I think hate, emanating from the president.
The man many Americans voted for twice was unable to find his signature detached form of hubris.
President Obama at some level must finally realize that reality is relentlessly, brutally closing in on him.
Nemesis rising for Obama - even he is beginning to sense it.
The head bobbing bothered me, but I wondered if it was just me. Long at this link to see the room. The guy even had a screen in front of him that he could have used looking straight at the camera. How sad.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuiDS_8IMAAlaJl.png:large
We got a redline crossed, we got a red line crossed.
Deploy the f'in hashtags and stand back.
Can your cynicism keep up with the "facts on the ground?" Mine's having trouble!
Thing is - Obama wants to say we have a humanitarian crisis on our Southern border so that's why he's going to let in the Central American children and everyone else down there. But then why not let in the Yazidis? And the Chaldean Christians? What? Is he prejudiced against fire worshippers?
In the new America-without-Borders (or laws) isn't everyone on our non-border-borders? Why doesn't The President of the Amorph-of-America just use his pen and his phone and make all those desperate people American citizens just as if they were Central Americans and then work to return them here?
Did "garage mahal" quote the first half of an above comment without reading the second half? And did he then read the second half and realize I was calling "garage mahal" and his fellow travelers on their having actively root against the United States when Bush was president?
Yes on all accounts.
And bless his heart now he thinks I am guilty of what he has done! Projection, much? I will hope as Professor Althouse is hoping. I will hope Obama makes correct decisions in spite of himself. I will not play up American deaths for political advantage. I will actively hope for the death of America's enemies.
Good luck, President Obama. You've made a hash of everything until now. Here's hoping your complete, unadulterated record of failure is reversed. And may it be reversed with a Republican congress come January 1, 2015.
He wanted to be elected president, but he never did, and certainly now does not, want to BE the president.
The refusal of the president to look straight forwardly into the camera - and by extension into our eyes is really disturbing.
Why not sit behind his desk in the Oval Office and look forward to give us the straight facts?
And bless his heart now he thinks I am guilty of what he has done!
Yes! I think you finally figured it out!
The Bigger they come, the Harder they fall, and Obama was about as Big as they've every come in US politics.
The confluence of all of these self-inflicted wounds will not end well. Unfortunately the collateral damage to us is going to be horrendous.
Whoa. That last comment of mine showed up in less than 2 seconds. EXCELLENT.
That's happened to me today as well.
I'm not sorry the USA is -- or is going to be -- bombing the thugs who are killing off the people in the mountains of northern Iraq. I'm not surprised it's gotten to this point either. My expectations are very very low.
And by the way -- the difference in USA reaction to ISIS killing off the Yazidi and to Hamas (trying to be) killing off Israelis makes me go Hmmm.....
I wonder how many of those "militants" didn't make it back for Friday prayers? Probably too few.
The cognitive dissonance rudely intruding on Obama's vacations and golf outings are clearly taking a huge toll on the man and his bitter-ender supporters.
I would be really enjoying this if tens of thousands of people weren't suffering enormously because of the utter and complete fecklessness, cowardice and weakness of Obama and his minions.
Reality has really destroyed every one of his bullshit fairytale narratives, hasn't it? And it's a terrible thing for the world to live through. Awful.
President Obama at some level must finally realize that reality is relentlessly, brutally closing in on him.
It's always awkward and somewhat poignant when everyone realizes that an Affirmative Action Hire just. isn't. working. out.
And thanking Bush for making this all possible.
Bush destabilized the entire Middle East by toppling a friendly leader in Egypt and having Islamists take power, by ignoring warnings for years about terrorist militias unleashed by him threatening and not doing anything to Assad?
Obama's greatest weakness is his narcissism. Obama is a pompous jerk with a passion for his own ideas regardless of the facts. In an ever-changing world Obama's rigid inflexibility is dangerous.
"It would take a special kind of idiocy to formulate a policy response that both keeps Assad in POWER in Syria AND dithers while the Islamists overrun Iraq."
Idiocy, or genius ...
Maybe he has a different inner George Bush than the one everyone thinks. "Wouldn't be prudent," comes to mind, as does, "... a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky." Then again, there's always, "Read my lips, no ground troops."
I know I shouldn't take such delight in "garage mahal" fumbling so much on this thread. But damn it I just can't help making fun of him as he admitted actively rooting against the United States while Bush was president.
Somebody should sue to get their Soros money from "garage mahal" who is obviously in breach of his trolling contract.
It takes a special, almost Bidenesque level of self-confident idiocy to formulate a policy response that...
(1)keeps Assad in power.
(2)dithers while ISIS overruns Iraq, and...
(3)strengthens the Mullahs' hands in both countries.
The 19th Century Men are eating Obama's lunch.
The most pitiful of the President's comments last night?
"The only lasting solution is reconciliation among Iraqi communities and stronger Iraqi security forces."
ISIS is/are barbarians.
Reconciliation!
It certainly was well past time to take some action, but I agree with those who are saying that it was weak-kneed and inadequate (Donald Sensing's piece).
If Obama really wanted to send an effective message he would have used the whole of the capacity of the carrier Bush, bombed and strafed every bad guy within a " free fire zone" until they turned around and headed for home or couldn't move at all. That kind of message would reverberate and would have the benefit of reducing ISIS war making capacity significantly. That military commitment would also signal that we were willing to buy time to work out a restructuring of the Iraqi government, which seems to be our goal.
Personally I feel we should do everything possible to enhance the Kurd's war fighting ability (see Mitch H @ 0858)). They are a known quantity and are able to defend themselves with adequate support. If the Kurds ultimately become their own state, either independent or as part of an Iraqi federal state they will represent a force for stability in that area.
I did not see the announcement, but commenters have convinced me this was a "poll driven" action and that the big O's heart is not in it. If that's the case I hope that none of our pilots is lost because of this failure's decision.
Didn't express any opinion on the Iraq war, garage honey, only a opinion on what a tiresome, noxious, insufferable bore and cretin you are.
But damn it I just can't help making fun of him as he admitted actively rooting against the United States while Bush was president.
Maybe you're as dumb as I thought and you still don't get it. I'll try to spell it out for you.
According to you, under Bush, public dissent = treason which led to our "inability to win a war".
Under Obama, public dissent = treason, which means you and your fellow travelers are guilty of treason.
Was that easy enough to follow?
"...make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do. "
As the trite saying goes: there's a first time for everything!
under Bush, public dissent = treason...
Actually, wrongly attributed to Thomas Jefferson on all those bumper stickers pasted in all credulity on all those cars by all those sincere liberals, "=highest form of patriotism.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719991/Horrific-new-photographs-ISIS-atrocities-prompted-Obama-act.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490
When I see pictures like that, I wonder to myself, "How does that happen? Are those people a special kind of evil?"
And then I realize, no, no they aren't. But like Garage and Crack, they hate those who disagree with them so much, that when the opportunity comes, they either do this sorta thing, or they stand by and watch others do it.
Make no mistake, there are many on the left in this country who would do this to the rich, to conservatives, to Republicans, etc. They believe we are evil and deserving of such treatment.
Just words?
Whats scares me is that someone will push him too far and the fucker will drop the bomb to keep from looking like the pussy he is.
Like Janet Reno at Waco, supersized.
If you're going to do something, do enough to solve the problem. This means he will need to commit resources (not necessarily troops) and fuck ISIS up. Being half assed only makes you look like an ineffectual leader.
Gosh, even Ezra Klein at Vox is being a tad unkind in reminding us of Obama's assessment of ISIS just this past January:
"The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn't make them Kobe Bryant," Obama said, resorting to an uncharacteristically flip analogy.
Kookie: explain for us how the Ukrainian government is more antisemitic than Hamas
"Bush would make what he believed was the right decision and allow the media to beat him up all they wanted. That's what I want Obama to do." And that is just what Obama has done. He believes the solution in Iraq (and everywhere) is for all the parties to sit down together and agree to his position. In Iraq that means the Kurds, ISIS and the Maliki government all join together in a coalition government and live together happily. To that end Obama has refused to supply assistance to the Kurds as that would weaken the Malaki government . Instead we seem to be interfering with the Kurds sales of oil so as to pressure them to come to an agreement with Malaki as to who can sell oil from the northern fields. The pershmerga retreated because they ran out of ammunition. We insist all military aid go through Malaki , so the Kurds don't get any. In conclusion its not that Obama doesn't stick to his beliefs, it is that his beliefs are insane.
The only real hope is that the Kurds can sell enough oil to equip a real army and air force . We certainly arent going to help the Kurds. That would upset Iran/Malaki . I dont see who besides Israel will help them, but Israel has their hands full right now. Moreover it isnt obvious whose airspace Israel can traverse to get supplies to the Kurds even if they have them to spare.
The Ukraine and Jews is complicated. On the one hand the Ukraine is very much part of the old "Jewish Pale." On the other hand many Ukrainians - including Jews - joined local army units fighting with the Germans against the Soviets in WWII. ("The enemy of my enemy is my friend.")
This is a very sore point with the Great-Russians, and of course they are now using it as propaganda to gin up sentiment against the Ukrainian nationalists.
It's not another war; it's the same war.
It's not another war; it's the same war.
"garage mahal":
Dissent is not treasonous, smart guy. Rooting against your side (America) and for the other side (death tolls) is treasonous. I am actively hoping that President Obama (Remember when Bush was not the Leftists' president?) gets lucky and does something good in spite of his record of actively fucking up everything he does.
We are all stuck with President Obama until January 20, 2017. I am hoping President Obama gets a Republican congressional majority that helps pull his nearly-worthless bacon out of the fire.
I am happy to see you give up claiming you were rooting for the United States when Bush was president. I will be on America's side no matter what.
Boy, you will complain and snicker about anything, won't you? Even plausibly effective, if minimal attempts to stop a genocide. Wow. I guess if it's not grand, dramatic and costly enough then it can't be worth doing in your book.
If I were a Yazidi I'd be glad to not see you in power as a U.S. president.
I wonder what the right will do when there is no more Obungler? What will they stomp their feet and throw poop at all day?
rehajm said ...
He looked and sounded half robotic and half scared.
I saw a flicker of recognition from a normally unthoughtful man that his antiwar ideological righteousness didn't bring peace to the world.
Or recognition that he's now George Bush.
Hah! He'd be extremely fortunate to be HALF as good a President a Bush.
"I don't know what was really going on in his head..."
Well, let me inform you;
"A Caliphate. Hmmm.. Being Caliph would be even cooler than being President. I could wear robes and a big turban with a jewel in front. I wonder if it's too late..."
Is that all you lot have to offer? Nothing but non sequiturs from "garage mahal" or "Rhythm and Balls" when surely they could retreat to lies. You folks are pathetic.
I will tell you, "garage mahal" what I will want from government: less of everything. I want less protection from government for its corporate cronies. I want less social engineering. I want fewer government workers. I want less rule making.
You see, I have first principles. You have a team. That is why you cannot understand me even if you try. The negative reciprocal is also true.
I don't know what "team" you're talking about, Brickell. My team is anti-genocide. I don't like people who take that lightly and joke about it but if your team is just the predictably partisan right-wing team then I can see you reacting disdainfully about simply wanting to treat genocide seriously.
President Lightbringer is going to do the minimum he thinks will raise his poll numbers, and allow him to claim "I fixed it!"
Screw all the people who'll die because of this 'barely enough' crap, screw the damage to the whole region and the US, he wants to appear to be The Brain Who Saved It All, that appearance is all that counts.
Also, wouldn't you love to know the ROE the pilots are flying under? Just how much they're restricted as to targets and self-defense? For that matter, I'd bet a lot of them are wondering, if they're shot or forced down, if they'll be like those guys in Benghazi...
Rhythm and Balls:
You wish to treat genocide seriously. I wish to prevent genocide.
We have reached an impasse.
I think Obie does realize that he is in way over his head and he is about to preside (sort of) over a massive genocide and a new Islamic Caliphate. The Caliphate will see its job as eliminating all non-Muslims.
I don't give it much chance but one idea that has occurred to me is that he wants out of office and wants out bad.
Impeachment would be one way out but would make his place in history horrible as the first president to be impeached, convicted and thrown out.
If the repos take the Senate in November, which is looking more and more likely, he might decide to resign. The threat of impeachment would be the perfect excuse. I doubt the Repos are stupid enough to try which means he has to gin up the threat.
"Folks, I have seen the divisiveness that the impeachment of Clinton, Nixon and Johnson (1864) brought. I refuse to be the cause of that divisiveness again and for that reason I am resigning my office as president. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Say hello to President Joe."
I know, I know. Nixon was not impeached. Most people think he was and he would have been if he had not left town in a hurry. So include him to get a repo in with the two demmies.
John Henry
"Transcendental Peace Man says..."
So, the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill
Asking for the buried treasure,
Tons of gold for which they'd kill
Came an answer from the kingdom,
"With our brothers, we will share
All the secrets of our mountain,
All the riches buried there"
Now, the valley cried with anger,
"Mount your horses, draw your sword!"
And they killed the mountain people
So, they won their just reward
Now, they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turn the stone and looks beneath it...
"Peace on Earth" was all it said
As we learned from 1960s protest songs, murdering your neighbors will bring about world peace. And then peace can turn on the Jews.
(Have we gotten to the point that Billy Jack has better grasp of foreign policy than the current administration? Good grief.)
Interesting catch about the "on the mountain" chorous, Ann.
There is an old black hymn with a similar name:
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere;
go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.
I suspect that it might have been sung in rev Wright's church around Christmas. (It is sung in ours)
Probably just a coincidence that he is leaning so heavily on the phrase just now. Still, couldn't help thinking of it.
John Henry
It appears that his whole life, all that has been required of him is to show up and talk confidently.
Or in the words of Willy Loman: "I'm out there in the world on a shoeshine and a smile"
It's worked for me!
On the other hand, I have spend my life in industrial management, then industrial sales, now industrial consulting.
So fair warning: If I ever do run for president again, DO NOT vote for me.
John Henry
I can never hear that Billy Jack song without thinking how much trouble would have been avoided had it occurred to the Mountain People to explain that their "treasure" was nothing but a rock with a slogan on it. Even eevil Valley People won't usually go to war for that.
----- When President Bush failed to account for the fact that nearly one half of the country would actively work toward failure and therefore did not plan for America's inability to win a war, President Bush failed.
Next time, a president must prepare for the sort of treason "garage mahal" and his fellow travelers bring to the table.-----
Have never heard it said better. This should now the foundation of our Foreign policy. There are people who will vote to authorize military force then 12 months later stab the effort in the back. THeir numbers are probably magnified by the monetary influence of our global enemies.
What will they stomp their feet and throw poop at all day?
Pelosi and Reid if those two hacks are still around.
If you're referring to the Ukrainian people, they're not laughing because they are now ruled by a cabal of anti-semitic neo-Nazis we helped put in power.
Dude...there are other sources of information than Izvestia and Pravda.
Well what do you know? Edie Birkel has erected and blown down a straw man! What a feat of stupendous proportions!
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