Banging The War Drums: Trying To Rescue Obama From His Own Rhetoric

Family Concerned As John McCain Wanders Into Syria...The Onion

 

 

 

• If there is lesson learned about the difference between Bush and Obama, one can't criticize Bush for ever being spineless. One can certainly criticize Obama for dithering and pursuing a policy of "leading from behind" that has left his foreign policy in shambles as evidenced recently with Egypt and shattered relationship with Russia (You can refer to my piece on August 5, 2013: "The Other Obama Administration's Big Failure: Foreign Policy."). Whatever your criticism if of the Bush war era, for those with short memories, he had the approval of 64% of Americans to go into Iraq (higher for going into Afghanistan). Today, according to current polls, 60% of Americans oppose going into Syria and only 9% support military action (Reuters). And contrary to what the media and other critics said of Bush, he had authorization from Congress (including many Democrats), from the UN and support of a coalition of 36 countries including the United Kingdom, Australia, Poland, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands.

• So whatever your opinion is of what we should do with Syria, one fact has emerged that puts the dilemma the Obama administration is facing into perspective: "The key problem facing Obama on Syria is...President Obama." That claim was made by John Podhoretz today. In other words, while President Obama spent his time apologizing and bowing to foreign leaders early in his presidency, much of a world full of maniac dictators felt they had the green light to begin massacring their own people.
• Another problem facing the administration is rescuing the president from his own rhetoric. Last August, the president said, "A red line for us {in Syria} is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized." The rhetoric was sloppy. What the hell does "whole bunch" mean anyway?  But that language is totally in line with this president's history of empty oratory as clearly evidence in the debates surrounding ObamaCare today. As George Will pointed out recently, "Obama is as dismissive of red lines as he is of laws others enact."
• We do know this---from his previous actions in foreign policy---Obama's decisions have been followed by disasters as we've recently seen in Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood. In the case of Syria, we've now seen Russia take sides---with Syria.
• Perhaps the NY Post editorial wrote it best: "One year after he drew it. Obama's redline has become Assad's green light."

A Speech That Should Have Been Given During The March On Washington

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King, Jr.

After listening to many of the speeches given today at the March on Washington, I came away with mixed feelings. Some of the speeches were good while others fell back on the old and tired messages of dependence, victimization and classic avoidance. Those are not messages I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. meant when he gave his now timeless and memorable "I Have A Dream" speech 50 years ago today. In fact, in that speech, he said, "We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline." And make no mistake---for those too young to remember---it was a struggle for black Americans prior to, during and after that era.

A speech I would have liked to have heard today would have gone something like this:

"Ladies and gentleman, we are here today to not only honor a great American but to also pay tribute to his legacy---a legacy defined by the life he lead.

I am not going to stand up here and proclaim that racism is no longer a problem. That would be absurd. But it would be just as ludicrous to proclaim---as a nation, as a people---we have not made great strides in human dignity for all ethnic groups. After all, we're currently living in a nation that elected a black president---twice. We're living in a nation where one of the richest and successful women in the world is black. We're living in a nation where minority participation in higher education is almost four times more than it was 50 years ago, including five times as many black adults with college degrees. We're living in a nation where participation of African-Americans in all parts of our culture from entertainment to sports to politics is immeasurable compared to just several decades ago.

But we're also living in a nation where many of the problems faced by the black community have been self-inflicted. For example, the number of African-American children raised by a single parent is a staggering 72% in many areas of the country, nearly three times the rate of other children. The abortion rate among black women is 41 per 1000 women ages 15 to 19. The rate of black-on-black crime in many parts of this country borders on self-inflicted genocide of young African-American youth.

John F. Kerry On Syria Sounds Remarkably Like The Democrats Did BEFORE The War In Iraq

John Kerry Actually Pretty Good At Windsurfing Now...The Onion

• Yesterday, John F. Kerry declared Syria's use of chemical weapons is "undeniable" and "this international norm cannot be violated without consequences."
• In 1998, in a letter to then President Clinton and signed by several other senators, he wrote: "{We} urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes, on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threats posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."
• On October 2, 2002, Kerry, then a U.S. Senator, said: " I will be voting to give the President of the United States {Bush} the authority to use force if necessary to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
• On January 3, 2003, Kerry doubled down when he said: "Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein...the thread of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real."
• In September of 2004, when this fake, phony and back-stabbing fraud, campaigned against Bush, he said, "It's the wrong war, in the wrong place at the wrong time."
• He followed that speech later that month with this statement: "Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator...But that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war."

The Political Class Keeps Kicking The Can Down The Road--- But There Is No Road Left

Psychiatrist Patiently Listens To Obama Complain About Every American...The Onion

George Carlin once said, "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize that half of them are stupider than that." If Carlin were still alive today, I'm confident he would be referring to many Obama supporters as well as those who continue to support the failed policies of the progressive political class.

We've all heard the complaint that the Obama administration and Congress keep kicking the can down the road. As I've mentioned on a few occasions eventually there is no road left. After five years of this administration, it's now clear there are not even any cans left to kick down the dead end road.

The national debt is now fast approaching $17 trillion. That comes out to over $148,000.00 per taxpayer. In fact, as I write each sentence on this blog, the debt increases over $100,000.

Several weeks ago, I wrote about the myth of the economic recovery. Recent economic reports continue to substantiate that charge (e.g. uptick again in first time weekly unemployment claims, orders for durable goods plunged in this last quarter, new home sales dropped sharply in July). But the economic picture is actually worse than I even suspected. This is why there is no road left:

• It's true that the Obama administration created jobs. It's also true that 7 of 8 jobs created have been part-time jobs.
• As I've reported on many occasions in the last several years, black and Hispanic unemployment remain at troublesome levels.
• In addition to less people of working age employed than five years ago (approximately 59% compared to 61%), more than half of those working are making less than $30,000/year.
• The number of discouraged workers---those who just stopped looking for work because of poor job prospects---is at about 800,000.
• We've heard the numbers about the historic rise in poverty rates and those receiving food stamps (EBT cards). What you might not know is that the poverty rate is higher now than it was when the War on Poverty commenced in 1968. In fact, over 100 million Americans are now receiving some form of federal aid from over 80 different overlapping federal programs (friends, the population of the country today is just over 316 million). In other words, 1-3. I'm not an economist, but that ratio can't be good for any nation. Food stamps and Medicaid make up a large chunk of that number.