৭ মে, ২০১৬

"He referred to the American foreign-policy establishment as the Blob."

"According to Rhodes" — Ben Rhodes, "The Aspiring Novelist Who BecameObama’s Foreign-Policy Guru" — "the Blob includes Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates and other Iraq-war promoters from both parties who now whine incessantly about the collapse of the American security order in Europe and the Middle East.... Barack Obama is not a standard-issue liberal Democrat. He openly shares Rhodes’s contempt for the groupthink of the American foreign-policy establishment and its hangers-on in the press. Yet one problem with the new script that Obama and Rhodes have written is that the Blob may have finally caught on...."

Commenting on that long NYT piece: Thomas E. Ricks in Foreign policy:
Rhodes comes off like a real asshole. This is not a matter of politics — I have voted for Obama twice. Nor do I mind Rhodes’s contempt for many political reporters: “Most of the outlets are reporting on world events from Washington. The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. That’s a sea change. They literally know nothing.”

But, as that quote indicates, he comes off like an overweening little schmuck. This quotation seems to capture his worldview: “He referred to the American foreign policy establishment as the Blob. According to Rhodes, the Blob includes Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, and other Iraq-war promoters from both parties who now whine incessantly about the collapse of the American security order in Europe and the Middle East.” Blowing off Robert Gates takes nerve.
Lee Smith in The Weekly Standard: 
[David] Samuels's profile is an amazing piece of writing about the Holden Caulfield of American foreign policy. He's a sentimental adolescent with literary talent (Rhodes published one short story before his mother's connections won him a job in the world of foreign policy), and high self regard, who thinks that everyone else is a phony. Those readers who found Jeffrey Goldberg's picture of Obama in his March Atlantic profile refreshing for the president's willingness to insult American allies publicly will be similarly cheered here by Rhodes's boast of deceiving American citizens, lawmakers, and allies over the Iran deal. Conversely, those who believe Obama risked American interests to take a cheap shot at allies from the pedestal of the Oval Office will be appalled to see Rhodes dancing in the end zone to celebrate the well-packaged misdirections and even lies—what Rhodes and others call a "narrative"—that won Obama his signature foreign policy initiative.
Jack Shafer in Politico:
Rhodes deserves his castigation. You don’t claim that the “average reporter” you talk to is 27 years old and they “literally know nothing” without suffering some blow-back. You don’t dismiss the American foreign policy establishment—including Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates, and editors and reporters at the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the New Yorker—as “the Blob,” and expect polite applause in response. And you especially don’t brag about leading a “war room” effort to turn arms-control experts and reporters into sock puppets, or admit to creating a false narrative about the Iranian nuclear deal to sell it to the public, as Rhodes does, without expecting return fire.

৭৯টি মন্তব্য:

madAsHell বলেছেন...

Rhodes is full of contempt, but so is Obama.

Quaestor বলেছেন...

Some of us were never fooled by the likes of Ben Rhodes and other Obama myrmidons, which seems to validate at least some of Rhodes' crowing, don't you think?

LYNNDH বলেছেন...

"without expecting return fire". Too bad it isn't S&W

David বলেছেন...

One of the worst aspects of the Obama Administration has been the poor quality of his advisors.

Rhodes is right about the young reporters, but he is also projecting. He has the same weakness. Plus the asshole part.

George Kennan--Kissinger--George C. Marshall--George Schultz--James Baker--Condi Rice--Ben Rhodes.

See what I mean?

Bill R বলেছেন...

What was going on in his little mind when he gave that interview?

Old Chinese saying:M "The tongue is the enemy of the neck".

But really, what could he have been thinking?

Michael K বলেছেন...

Gates was scathing about Obama's staff in the White House in his book. He liked Hillary and was circumspect about Obama but the staffers were fools.

Rhodes has made a career of writing fiction. Mean while Iran is collapsing and over extended in Syria.

YoungHegelian বলেছেন...

Do you really think that Rhodes is the only practicing post-modernist in the administration?

I'd say the ladies in Dept of Education who are pushing their expansive understanding of Title IX on every college & university in the US are right up there in the hierarchy of the Church of Post-Modernism.

Charlie Eklund বলেছেন...

Interesting post. Long on quotes from other sources, very short...very short indeed...on input from Althouse.

What do you think about all this, Ann?

mezzrow বলেছেন...

This man is Sherman McCoy in a different world, at a different time. What a magnificent future.

What could possibly go wrong?

Hagar বলেছেন...

The "27-yer old reporters" is one thing, but they work for editors twice that age (and owners that are even older in cases where the media outlet they work for is privately owned), and they write to please the editors or they get fired.

Amadeus 48 বলেছেন...

If Rhodes has a "mind-meld" with Obama, that tells us a lot about Obama.

Achilles বলেছেন...

The blob is about to be out of power too. The blob is almost as responsible for where we are now as Obama. They are all wrong.

David Begley বলেছেন...

Rhodes is being attacked by the Left because he revealed the con he ran on them. He also exposed them for the dopes they are and how easy it was to trick them.

Let's put that aside for a moment. Why did Obama do this Iran deal in the first place? How does it serve OUR interests?

One doesn't have to be a Persian scholar to know they are all liars and will say anything to humiliate America and win. So why are we helping them? Step on their throats! We had Iran on the canvas.

Three years from now Iran will test a nuke. Surprise! They cheated. From his post at Georgetown, Ben will act shocked. Same for Obama and Kerry. Saddened too.

And right now Iran's new oil on the world market is adding to the oversupply. Sixty five American oil and gas companies in BK. Over 40,000 layoffs at SLB alone.

Obama and Rhodes have made Iran great again. And this is another reason why Obama is the Worst President Ever. No contest. Maybe the MSM should wide up and report this. Not likely.

Quaestor বলেছেন...

If Rhodes has a "mind-meld" with Obama, that tells us a lot about Obama.

I'd say that's a curve with a negative slope.

mezzrow বলেছেন...

The blob is almost as responsible for where we are now as Obama. They are all wrong.

It's 2016. Here's your lesson. Study up.

Any questions?

Hagar বলেছেন...

"Privately owned" - by individuals or families. Most media are now owned by other entities that have businesses dependent on the goodwill of the Federal bureaucracies.

mccullough বলেছেন...

I can't disagree with his assessment. The best and the brightest aren't.

narciso বলেছেন...

this was part of the grapevine, as they would say in malaysia, the journolist for foreign policy, that included laura rozen, and her coauthor, valerie plame,

https://vimeo.com/album/3663089

নামহীন বলেছেন...

I agree with David and Michael K beat me to my post:

Though Gates said it to Donilon after the Osama Raid, the real target of the snark was the Deputy NSA for Strategic Communications, this Weasel...


“By Wednesday of that week, Gates went to see Donilon, offering up a barbed assessment of how the White House had handled the aftermath of the raid. ‘I have a new strategic communications approach to recommend,’ Gates said in his trademark droll tones, according to an account later provided by his colleagues. What was that, Donilon asked? ‘Shut the fuck up,’ the defense secretary said.”


Rhodes loves to leak and hates leakers...

Bob Boyd বলেছেন...

The sausage of Progressivism being made.

Roughcoat বলেছেন...

The article on Rhodes is very disturbing. It made me sick. Since reading it on Thursday I can't stop thinking about it.

And: Thomas Rick is also an asshole. Guess it takes one to know one.

narciso বলেছেন...

well ricks was the one who 'put together' general petraeus and paula broadwell, we know how that worked out, he wrote one overbroad book on the trouble in Iraq, fiasco, that had to be corrected by the next one, the gamble,

নামহীন বলেছেন...

Obama & Clinton lied about Obamacare, the media give them a pass.
Obama & Clinton lied about Benghazi, the media give them a pass.
Obama & Clinton lied about rapes on campus, the media give them a pass.
Obama & Clinton lied about Iran, the media give them a pass.


The media is perfectly happy endorse and pass on Obama's & Clinton's lies. The only surprise is that anyone would be surprised.

Quaestor বলেছেন...

The sausage of Progressivism being made.

Kielbasa at least tastes great. The finished Progressivewurst tastes like shit. (I think, not having tasted shit myself.)

Hagar বলেছেন...

There is no "deal" with Iran. The ayatollahs and the generals have said, or figuratively screamed, that Iran doesn't need no steenkin' deals with the Great Satan, they are not interested and are not going to comply with any such regardless of what is cooked up in Geneva.
This is entirely Obama's show.

Roughcoat বলেছেন...

Narciso:

Yes. Ricks is an arrogant, egotistical blowhard. He has a lot of contempt for a lot of people, mostly those who disagree with him and who point out his errors. He's actually got a lot in common with Rhodes. "Fiasco" was actually a polemic thinly disguised as military analysis. Ricks made some valid observations which were, however, in no way original; and he also got a lot wrong.

Bob Boyd বলেছেন...

Does anyone think this taking dictation by reporters is limited to foreign policy?

narciso বলেছেন...

yes Hagar, more right than you, my go to guy on iran,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZKXL6_nI2Q

this is grubering on the world stage, they consequently are throwing samuels under the bus, as it was with woodward, when he pointed out that obama came up with the sequester,

David Begley বলেছেন...

Bob Boyd.

See Obamacare.

cubanbob বলেছেন...

Michael K said...
Gates was scathing about Obama's staff in the White House in his book. He liked Hillary and was circumspect about Obama but the staffers were fools.

Rhodes has made a career of writing fiction. Mean while Iran is collapsing and over extended in Syria.

5/7/16, 10:52 AM"

Despite the arrogant smug idiocy of the Obama Administration foreign policy as embodied by Rhodes this maybe a case where we might be winning despite of ourselves and wholly unintended by the the Rhodes types. If Iran has to rely on child soldiers then they are doomed. As for the Russians while they don't share our interests having them spend their blood and treasure killing Sunni Muslims terrorists works for us and setting an example of what won't be allowed in the Stans they border works for us as well.

MD Greene বলেছেন...

Rhodes is the Gruber of foreign policy. Over time -- probably generations, given the current leanings of the theory class -- we'll learn how much their smug assurances that we can't be trusted with the truth have cost us.

traditionalguy বলেছেন...

The goal is to cause enough confusion by repeating as fact a Hoax written from a fictional imagination. This is like the Fake D-Day Army of Patton set up to invade France at Pas de Calais. Those weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq never made it past D-Day Deception status either.

The problem is that we are now its enemy and it is being run out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This is also SOP for the UN World Governance Army. And how is that intense global warming and disasterous coastal flooding these days. All frozen over.

Ann Althouse বলেছেন...

"What do you think about all this, Ann?"

I need to take the time to read it through, which I have not yet done, but I knew this was something people wanted to talk about.

jacksonjay বলেছেন...

Charles Eklund said:

What do you think about all this, Ann?


What was that The Professor said just last week, something about Obama being the most emotionally mature president, evah? Something to that effect. Help me out here.

An MFA in creative writing as foreign policy guru says it all!

narciso বলেছেন...

short summary, rhodes came up with the strategy to approach iran long before 2012, he used interlocutors like Hamas loving Robert Malley, this is something Michael Doran noted, and the framework of the plowshares network, to create astroturf support, this affected our Russian policy re the Ukraine, and our policy toward Syria, with disastrous consequences,

jacksonjay বলেছেন...

What do you think about all this, Ann?

I found it.

Quote:

1. Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person. '


It was this week, May 2.

His contempt for anyone that doesn't agree with his genius isn't appealing to some of us. Apparently he also has contempt for The Blob. No wonder he skip intel briefing.

buwaya বলেছেন...

Foreign policy is more high profile than other areas, so details are more visible, but there is good reason to believe (to know, really) that this is the general pattern of this administration in all matters of domestic policy also.
The biggest difference is that in foreign and defense policy there were more high profile, substantial elders around at least to offer public criticism.
At the EPA, DOE, DOJ, etc., not so. Old corrupt fools being led around by young twits.

jacksonjay বলেছেন...


Say, did The Blob have anything to do with bin Laden event of 5 years ago? Now I'm thinking the aspiring novelist and the Appealing President did that on their own. Wonderful Balanced Appealing Obama spent some time this week crowing about his get, so I suppose the IC wasn't involved.

narciso বলেছেন...

well the long war journal has pointed out, how limited the ubl strike was, because franchises like boko haram was growing, in the delta, aqim in north africa, the ansar al sharias, likewise,

Hagar বলেছেন...

Thanks, narciso.
1,000+ words in the American version of the "deal", 500+/- in the Persian?
Hmmm!

jg বলেছেন...

Explains a lot. Is Hillary is inside or outside the Blob?

damikesc বলেছেন...

Rhodes is hardly unique. Gruber did the exact same thing.

Progressives think Americans are rubes. But because they talk a lot to reporters who very much are rubes.

narciso বলেছেন...

the gitmo detainee release strategy, pushed by the levick group, and furthered by tri, ppi's potomac outfit, provides the management for these groups,

hawkeyedjb বলেছেন...

I wonder if the question "Is this good for America?" ever comes up in these people's thinking. I doubt that the thought ever enters Obama's mind, or Hillary's. And even if it did, the answer probably wouldn't matter.

Sigh. It makes me glad I'm old, and won't have to live with all the consequences of having fools, charlatans and self-hating ignoramuses lead our country.

rhhardin বলেছেন...

Belmont Club writes on this today.

narciso বলেছেন...

I covered some of this here.

http://narcisoscorner.blogspot.com/?view=sidebar

Balfegor বলেছেন...

Re: damikesc:

Rhodes is hardly unique. Gruber did the exact same thing.

Really not a fair comparison for Gruber -- Gruber was an actual policy expert in his field, who honestly believed, based on his expertise, that the policy he was trying to slip in was the best policy. He was simply congratulating himself (and the administration) on managing to foist that policy on an unwilling people.

Rhodes has no relevant expertise. Full stop. He is a a common-or-garden hack, who is congratulating himself on his cleverness in constructing a "narrative" other hacks fell for. If there's a bit of black comedy in the case of Gruber, it's black comedy squared in the case of Rhodes.

narciso বলেছেন...

well he was on hamilton's staff, then he wrote the iraq study group report, that w thankfully ignored, but obama pretty much implemented, so we find our selves here, catch 22's milo minderbinder also comes to mind,

Paco Wové বলেছেন...

"I covered some of this here."

Yay! narciso found the period!

William বলেছেন...

There are a great many more torture victims, refugees, and bombing casualties in the Middle East now than when Obama took office. However, the number of Gitmo detainees is down significantly so Obama's policies must be accounted as an unqualified success. Rhodes should properly share in Obama's glory.

Michael K বলেছেন...

"As for the Russians while they don't share our interests having them spend their blood and treasure killing Sunni Muslims terrorists works for us and setting an example of what won't be allowed in the Stans they border works for us as well."

I agree with this. Over on Chicagoboyz, some commenters thought I was confused about the Russians and Iran being allies. I don't think they are. They are fighting over the rotting corpse of Syria. Syria was actually a viable state, unlike Iraq.

I read a nice book about Syria a year ago by a guy who lived there and planned to go back until the civil war broke out. He liked it.

Michael K বলেছেন...

Von Moltke the Elder was correct that stupid and energetic people are dangerous.

Titus বলেছেন...

Thanks for sharing Mary! Loved the articles.

He sounds fab, this Rhodes guy. Jewish, liberal, NYC-I am in!

Hei is my type of American. And he is kind of hot, and with the attitude, east coast confidence, and Jewishness, I would do him!

tits.

narciso বলেছেন...

Well syria is along time Russian client as was algeria, the head of their drs, did the job in the 90s so brahimicould lecture Bashir in the 10s

buwaya বলেছেন...

Well, its good luck across the board that Titus isn't energetic. Else he would have ended up in the administration and who knows how much more trouble we'd be in.

Rusty বলেছেন...

1. Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person. '

I'm sure she was being faciecous.
After Bill, the immature president I've seen. Certinly the most emotional.

damikesc বলেছেন...

Rhodes has no relevant expertise. Full stop. He is a a common-or-garden hack, who is congratulating himself on his cleverness in constructing a "narrative" other hacks fell for. If there's a bit of black comedy in the case of Gruber, it's black comedy squared in the case of Rhodes.

True. Gruber has a rep while Rhodes has a mommy who got him a job.

Michael Fitzgerald বলেছেন...

Most Transparent Administration Ever.... I've seen through it from the beginning...

Birkel বলেছেন...

Rusty:
If Althouse was facetious, she gave no clue to that conclusion.

In my best estimation, Althouse wants to believe. She will not see.

Achilles বলেছেন...

At this point it would be in the best interests of the US to look at Syria as a bargaining chip. Russia has always wanted it. Let them have it in exchange for help with Iran. Get China into it. They need oil too. Maybe let them occupy Iran for a few decades. We will do our part in Iraq. No more refugees. Win win win.

Europe is going to have to do something about Turkey soon also. Time for a history lesson!

elcee বলেছেন...

traditionalguy:
"Those weapons of Mass destruction in Iraq never made it past D-Day Deception status either."

Actually, Saddam was confirmed guilty on the WMD issue. On the law and the facts, the decision for OIF was correct - Iraq was in material breach across the board of the Gulf War ceasefire in Saddam's "final opportunity to comply" (UNSCR 1441), including and especially the (WMD) disarmament mandates of UNSCR 687, terrorism mandates of UNSCR 687, and humanitarian mandates of UNSCR 688.

As confirmed by UNMOVIC ("about 100 unresolved disarmament issues") and corroborated by the post hoc Iraq Survey Group ("ISG judges that Iraq failed to comply with UNSCRs"), the evidence shows the Saddam regime did not disarm as mandated by the "governing standard of Iraqi compliance" (UNSCR 1441), which was the principal trigger for OIF, and was in fact rearming in violation of UNSCR 687.

To set the record straight, see the answer to "Why did Bush leave the ‘containment’ (status quo)?";
the answer to "Did Bush allow enough time for the inspections?";
and the answer to "Did Bush lie his way to war with Iraq?".

Unknown বলেছেন...

Of course, the fact that Ben Rhodes's brother David is the president of CBS News has no relevance to any of this. None at all. It could be that David was eager to turn the dogs loose on Ben/Barack out of pure sibling rivalry, and Ben/Barack was just too smart for CBS News, and so Ben/Barack put one over on big brother. It could be...
Or maybe David is a jerk, too, with contempt for his own news staff.
With this crew of empty suits on stage, anything is possible, and none of it is good.

Amadeus 48 বলেছেন...

Of course, the fact that Ben Rhodes's brother David is the president of CBS News has no relevance to any of this. None at all. It could be that David was eager to turn the dogs loose on Ben/Barack out of pure sibling rivalry, and Ben/Barack was just too smart for CBS News, and so Ben/Barack put one over on big brother. It could be...
Or maybe David is a jerk, too, with contempt for his own news staff.
With this crew of empty suits on stage, anything is possible, and none of it is good.

elcee বলেছেন...

"the groupthink of the American foreign-policy establishment"

The "groupthink" on the Iraq intervention was comprised of the situation, the controlling law, policy, and precedent that defined the operative enforcement procedure for the "governing standard of Iraqi compliance" (UNSCR 1441), and the determinative fact findings of the Saddam regime's breach of the Gulf War ceasefire that triggered enforcement in Saddam's "final opportunity to comply" (UNSCR 1441).

Again, on the law and the facts, the decision for OIF was correct. Ben Rhodes was wrong on Iraq. Rhodes et al deviating from the Bush administration and crafting critical foreign policy for the leader of the free world on the basis of Rhodes et al's false narrative of the Iraq intervention has had disastrous consequences.

That being said, Rhodes's role makes sense given that Obama became President with the chief instrument of a demonstrably false narrative of OIF that yet is the prevailing narrative of the Iraq intervention in the public's perception despite its plain contradiction of a straightforward law, policy, precedent, and fact record. It stands to reason that they would continue the propaganda strategy for President Obama that made Obama President in the 1st place.

Anthony বলেছেন...

I've always held more contempt for the news media than Obama or his staff. He and they only lie, cheat, and steal because they're allowed to, nee, encouraged to.

And they're ignoring the whole Rhodes story because, Of Course They Are.

Rusty বলেছেন...

Birkel said...
Rusty:
If Althouse was facetious, she gave no clue to that conclusion.

In my best estimation, Althouse wants to believe. She will not see.

I do believe she is inscrutable that way. She had an extremely pampered upper middle class upbringing. She tends to view thing through that lens. In my est estimation it is Mead that keeps her centered. Or off centered as the case may be.
In any case she still has a nice pair of tits for woman her age.

Rusty বলেছেন...

So. Turns out the Iran deal was a con from he get go.
Now who saw THAT comin'?

HoodlumDoodlum বলেছেন...

How telling that Shafer at Politico thinks the big problem is that Rhodes insulted some reporters. Who cares that he called them stupid, Jack!? He exposed a corrupt system that perpetuated Admin-approved lies (substituted propaganda for fact, really) and by his admission shows that the Media is false...but to Shafer the big deal is Rhodes' personal insults.

HoodlumDoodlum বলেছেন...

By the way, what Rhodes demonstrates quite clearly is that contempt for the Media is the correct attitude!

Zach বলেছেন...

It does highlight one unfortunate aspect of the Obama Administration: contempt as a substitute for debate.

Zach বলেছেন...

Obama is the most emotionally normal person I've ever seen in the presidency. I don't agree with all his choices, but he is a wonderful, balanced, entirely appealing person.

I disagree. He's a raging narcissist who can't deal with reasonable criticism or pushback in a healthy way. Hence the contempt and the extralegal maneuvering to avoid dealing with Congress or any foreign allies on an equal basis.

All policy is dealt with by White House staff who he can push around, despite a much higher level of expertise in Cabinet departments. The difference is that Cabinet members have an independent power base and policy teams that don't directly owe alliance to the president.

Birkel বলেছেন...

Zach:

You fool yourself completely.

The bureaucracy wishes to fool itself for Progressive purposes. The bureaucracy is the greatest threat to America. That is why Obama has spent so much time hijacking the bureaucracy even FURTHER Left.

Sydney বলেছেন...

I wonder what possessed the New York Times to practice real journalism for a change. Who did Obama piss off? The piece reminded me of why I used to read the Times, but it is disturbing on so many levels.
Rhodes talks repeatedly about the influence of the novelist Don DeLillo has had on his thinking. I have never read DeLillo, but here is Wikipedia on his themes:

Another perpetual theme in DeLillo's books is the saturation of mass media and its role in forming simulacra, resulting in the removal of an event from its context and the consequent draining of meaning (see the highway shooter in Underworld, the televised disasters longed for in White Noise, the planes in Falling Man, the evolving story of the interviewee in Valparaiso). The psychology of crowds and the capitulation of individuals to group identity is a theme DeLillo examines in several of his novels

And then he explains how he and his staff used Twitter to shape the narrative and spread their lies because journalists are lazy,er, I mean news organizations no longer invest on boots on the ground and investigative reporting, but rely on social media and the White House to get their news. I think this is accurate, and not bragging. Even in my local paper, the reporters rely on social media for info. It is appalling how often they quote someone's Facebook page in a story on local crime or an accidental death.

Rhodes' office is adorned with huge photos of Obama. Is that because he worships the man or is it to make Obama think he is worshiped? Either is disturbing.

Then there is this:

When I asked Jon Favreau, Obama’s lead speechwriter in the 2008 campaign, and a close friend of Rhodes’s, whether he or Rhodes or the president had ever thought of their individual speeches and bits of policy making as part of some larger restructuring of the American narrative, he replied, “We saw that as our entire job.”

Fundamentally transformed! By fiction writers!

And this:
The literary character that Rhodes most closely resembles, Power volunteers, is Holden Caulfield. “He hates the idea of being phony, and he’s impetuous, and he has very strong views.”

The combination of impetuousity and strong views is dangerously close to angry and stupid, and not something you want in power. Remember, this is the guy with "mind meld" with Obama, and not just by his own description.

And finally, this:

When I asked whether the prospect of this same kind of far-reaching spin campaign being run by a different administration is something that scares him, he admitted that it does. “I mean, I’d prefer a sober, reasoned public debate, after which members of Congress reflect and take a vote,” he said, shrugging. “But that’s impossible.”

Sure, it's possible. It's just that your side might not win the debate, that's all. And of course, we can't have that, can we?

It all makes me feel like we are living at the end of history.

Sydney বলেছেন...

It has occurred to me that this in the paper to give Hillary cover for her bad Secretary of State performance. Leon Pannetta suggests that Obama's cabinet is just window dressing:

“There were staff people who put themselves in a position where they kind of assumed where the president’s head was on a particular issue, and they thought their job was not to go through this open process of having people present all these different options, but to try to force the process to where they thought the president wanted to be,” he says. “They’d say, ‘Well, this is where we want you to come out.’ And I’d say ‘[expletive], that’s not the way it works. We’ll present a plan, and then the president can make a decision.’ I mean, Jesus Christ, it is the president of the United States, you’re making some big decisions here, he ought to be entitled to hear all of those viewpoints and not to be driven down a certain path.”

J. Farmer বলেছেন...

Nothing really all that shocking. Most of this is just PR 101. But while the "blob" analogy is probably pretty apt, I don't really see much in the way of Obama's foreign policy that really differentiates him from that blob. He's pretty much a "liberal internationalist" (i.e. interventionist) in a very similar mold to his two predecessors, Bush and Clinton.

Rusty বলেছেন...

Sure thing J.F. Spin it any way you want.

JCC বলেছেন...

I found the entire artile quite shocking and utterly amazing:

We are "untangling" from traditional allies Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey in the Middle East. Has anyone mentioned that to say, Congress, lately? I mean, lots of people suspected that, but the administration keeps denying it.

Rhodes et al have "ventriloquized" the media, which both hysterical and scary at the same time. But so true. 'Ventriloquized'? What a great word. Why isn't this the subject of mass outrage across all the Sunday talk shows?

Rhodes has no issues with self-image or self-confidence, I think. He is King of the World. What an a**hole.

The President - quite flatly and unequivocally - lied about the Iran deal to the American people. Period. Why isn't this being debated loudly and long on major networks? It's like Ho-hum, yeah, he lied, So?

The underlying concusion, not stated, was that Obama doesn't care and in fact assumes a nuclear weaponized Iran. No talk about the consequences of that decision by the Obama administration. WTF are these morons thinking?

Leon Panetta comes across as cynically and recently recognizing Obama as a fraud and liar. I don't remember reading that anywhere.

And people wonder how Trump got the nomination. Lots of people asleep at the switch while this was happening.

Rusty বলেছেন...

"The underlying concusion, not stated, was that Obama doesn't care and in fact assumes a nuclear weaponized Iran. No talk about the consequences of that decision by the Obama administration. WTF are these morons thinking?"

Honestly? I don't think their strategic thinking goes that deep. I've concluded that this administrations attitude is, " We're the smartest people ever and fuck you." Like all liberals, consequences be damned.

J. Farmer বলেছেন...

@Rusty:

Is there any foreign policy that this administration has pursued that you consider to be without historical precedent in say, the last 50 years or so?