Goodwin: Beaten Obama turns his back on the world

[mountaineer]

Michael Goodwin, New York Post

Beaten Obama turns his back on the world

The words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. “I feel sorry for Obama,” I said. As my wife looked at me in disbelief, I quickly added a correction. “Well, almost.”

Beset by failures at home and abroad, the president cuts a lonely and sad figure these days. His aura of grief reflects his profound loss.

His worldview crashed headlong into reality, and reality won. Obamaism is dead, may it rest in peace.

That’s sad for him, but hold the tears — his loss is mankind’s hope. If Obama wakes from his utopian visions and faces the truth, there is a fighting chance to reverse America’s slide and keep the peace.

But first, he must come to grips with the historic dimensions of what has happened, and I’m not sure he’s capable of it. The signs aren’t encouraging.

In many ways, Vladimir Putin’s grab of Crimea is as significant as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 35 years ago.

Then-President Jimmy Carter quickly understood he had been wrong to trust the Soviets, and shifted to offense. His January 1980, speech was defiant and bold. Compared to Obama’s timid rebukes of Putin, Carter sounded like Churchill rousing Great Britain against Hitler.

Obama is still stuck in the belief that Putin is either crazy, or secretly looking for a way to save face and end the confrontation. He hasn’t accepted Putin for what he is because to do so would mean acknowledging that Obama’s whole approach to international relations has been a mistake.

The world, meaning friend and foe alike, already knows the president is uncomfortable with American power. The result is that his once-magical ability to inspire with words is now an international punch line because they are just words. He promised change and delivered disaster.

From Syria and Iran to North Africa and North Korea, the abdication of American leadership is proving calamitous. And now Putin’s move in Europe demolishes once and for all any illusion that Obama’s election would herald a turning point for mankind. Instead of people the world over beating their swords into plowshares, the 21st century is turning out to be a chaotic and bloody mess.

“The tide of war is receding,” Obama insisted.

Like so many of his pronouncements, he was confusing the ideas in his head with reality. It is not clear if he knows the difference.

The world looks to America, and America looks away. “It it is time to focus on nation-building here at home,” he declared, as though the earth would take care of itself in a one-big-happy-family kind of way.

It turns out that the committee system is no better at running the global order than it is at running a corner grocery.

Somebody has to take the lead and assume responsibility for success. Somebody has to set the rules and enforce them.

That somebody used to be America, and it is no accident that when America led, the earth became a better place for more people. The seven decades after World War II marked a historic era of peace and stability around the globe.

As Robert Kagan wrote in “The World America Made,” his 2012 book, “The most important features of today’s world — the great spread of democracy, the prosperity, the prolonged great-power peace — have depended directly and indirectly on power and influence exercised by the United States.”

But the reverse is also true, and that is what we are witnessing today. As Kagan put it, “when American power declines, the institutions and norms American power supports will decline too.”

All is not lost — yet. But Obama must take off his rose-colored glasses and face the facts.

Putin is his most immediate test. The president’s wrist-slap sanctions at a few functionaries were predictably dismissed, and widely regarded as a sign of weakness. That can only embolden the would-be czar.

Even worse was the timing, with talks on Iran’s nuclear program starting again. Bet the farm the mullahs will take their cue from whether Putin pays a serious price for carving up a country.

If he gets away with it, the Iranians won’t even bother to pretend to care what Obama says. Why should they?

[Chieftain]

Poor boy.....let's squeeze out a big old wet one for him too......

[240B]

The biggest problem in Obama's world, and with many others on the Left, is that Obama wanted to be friends with Putin. When Obama whispered in Putin's ear and told him, 'I know you may not like me now sweetheart, but I will be more flexible for you later, darling.' he meant it. He was begging Putin to give him a chance to be 'friends'.
 
Obama was raised and trained that the Soviet Communist system was the 'ideal' and he wanted to ally himself with it. He did not intend to make America an ally of Russia, but he did intend to make himself a friend of Russia. However, Putin has no respect and no use for Obama. And that hurt Obama deeply.
 
If Putin was a politician in America, he would be labeled a fanatic "right wing extremeist". This has thrown Obama and the Left for a loop. The American Left's verision of a 'Leftist' is a sweater wearing, latte sipping, homosexual vegan, who is elite, rich, and self-sanctified. To have Putin, who's position is the very definition of a 1960's verison of Leftism or Communism, come out as a homo hating, shirtless macho man White guy, who shoots bears on the weekend for fun, has thrown them all into a tizzy. They don't know what to do now. Their version of Leftism is weakness, Putin's version is strength.
 
The American Left now views their once hero as a neanderthal, and Putin views them as weak, stupid, bleep, and never the twains shall meet. This elitist, intellectual, feckless, 'tolerant', version of what the American Left calls 'Leftism' always gets crushed by reality anytime it is rolled out on the world stage.

[Relic]

The American Left now views their once hero as a neanderthal, ...

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

And a leftist male is a woman in spirit.

[Howie66]

The biggest problem in Obama's world, and with many others on the Left, is that Obama wanted to be friends with Putin. When Obama whispered in Putin's ear and told him, 'I know you may not like me now sweetheart, but I will be more flexible for you later, darling.' he meant it. He was begging Putin to give him a chance to be 'friends'.
 
Obama was raised and trained that the Soviet Communist system was the 'ideal' and he wanted to ally himself with it. He did not intend to make America an ally of Russia, but he did intend to make himself a friend of Russia. However, Putin has no respect and no use for Obama. And that hurt Obama deeply.
 
If Putin was a politician in America, he would be labeled a fanatic "right wing extremeist". This has thrown Obama and the Left for a loop. The American Left's verision of a 'Leftist' is a sweater wearing, latte sipping, homosexual vegan, who is elite, rich, and self-sanctified. To have Putin, who's position is the very definition of a 1960's verison of Leftism or Communism, come out as a homo hating, shirtless macho man White guy, who shoots bears on the weekend for fun, has thrown them all into a tizzy. They don't know what to do now. Their version of Leftism is weakness, Putin's version is strength.
 
The American Left now views their once hero as a neanderthal, and Putin views them as weak, stupid, bleep, and never the twains shall meet. This elitist, intellectual, feckless, 'tolerant', version of what the American Left calls 'Leftism' always gets crushed by reality anytime it is rolled out on the world stage.

Very good take, brother.

I would add that Putin, as most Russians, really do not like blacks, either.

[Howie66]

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

And a leftist male is a woman in spirit.

 

[mountaineer]

Very good take, brother.

I would add that Putin, as most Russians, really do not like blacks, either.

Putin probably perceives (correctly) that BHO's ascension to the presidency was the affirmative action election.

[Howie66]

Putin probably perceives (correctly) that BHO's ascension to the presidency was the affirmative action election.

I would have to agree with Putin on this.

[mountaineer]

If Obama wakes from his utopian visions and faces the truth, there is a fighting chance to reverse America’s slide and keep the peace.

The question may be whether - considering Obama never will wake from said visions - the USA still may have a fighting chance come Jan. 20, 2017.

[Howie66]

The question may be whether - considering Obama never will wake from said visions - the USA still may have a fighting chance come Jan. 20, 2017.

I'm still of the opinion that Obama will manufacture an event or a series of events that would be used as a justification to declare Martial Law and cancel the 2016 elections. Who or what will prevent Obama from doing this?

I mean this in all sincerity.

[EC]

I'm still of the opinion that Obama will manufacture an event or a series of events that would be used as a justification to declare Martial Law and cancel the 2016 elections. Who or what will prevent Obama from doing this?

I mean this in all sincerity.

I don't think it's possible. Not that it's not a worry, but do you even have a process for declaring country wide martial law? I know you can do it in disaster areas for a defined period of time in a specific defined area (might be a good idea to try it on Detroit), but that isn't scalable to the entire nation.

I'd be more worried about a possibility no one ever talks about. There is no law preventing an ex-president from continuing to serve in an official capacity in government. Traditionally, it's not done, but legally it is perfectly fine. Say Hillary gets elected in '16. Attorney General Obama? Think on that and shiver.

[happyg]

I don't think it's possible. Not that it's not a worry, but do you even have a process for declaring country wide martial law? I know you can do it in disaster areas for a defined period of time in a specific defined area (might be a good idea to try it on Detroit), but that isn't scalable to the entire nation.

I'd be more worried about a possibility no one ever talks about. There is no law preventing an ex-president from continuing to serve in an official capacity in government. Traditionally, it's not done, but legally it is perfectly fine. Say Hillary gets elected in '16. Attorney General Obama? Think on that and shiver.

Obama is too lazy to hold a job. As president, he has others to do his work. His job is to read teleprompters and mingle with the stars.

[EC]

Obama is too lazy to hold a job. As president, he has others to do his work. His job is to read teleprompters and mingle with the stars.

We don't often disagree, but on this we must.

First rule of combat: Assume your opponents are smarter than you, have better intel than you, and know exactly what you are going to do.

Thanks to the current systemic abuses, you can tick two of those three as confirmed.

[Oceander]

I don't think it's possible. Not that it's not a worry, but do you even have a process for declaring country wide martial law? I know you can do it in disaster areas for a defined period of time in a specific defined area (might be a good idea to try it on Detroit), but that isn't scalable to the entire nation.

I'd be more worried about a possibility no one ever talks about. There is no law preventing an ex-president from continuing to serve in an official capacity in government. Traditionally, it's not done, but legally it is perfectly fine. Say Hillary gets elected in '16. Attorney General Obama? Think on that and shiver.

sure it is; mobilize the armed forces.

[EC]

sure it is; mobilize the armed forces.

Only works if all the armed forces are either personally loyal to or dependent upon the person mobilizing them.

Shit.

[Oceander]

Only works if all the armed forces are either personally loyal to or dependent upon the person mobilizing them.

Shit.

the CinC controls what most of the armed forces see and hear, so they would first be fed a steady diet of strife and civil unrest - which would be real even though manufactured in this case - and the troops would then be mobilized with the belief that intervention was necessary.  Do not underestimate the power of the "good German" mentality; it isn't limited to Germans.

[EC]

the CinC controls what most of the armed forces see and hear, so they would first be fed a steady diet of strife and civil unrest - which would be real even though manufactured in this case - and the troops would then be mobilized with the belief that intervention was necessary.  Do not underestimate the power of the "good German" mentality; it isn't limited to Germans.

I don't know. Couple of people on here are better positioned to comment on that (Ford and Allegra spring to mind, they are both still active) but I have noticed a massive cynicism developing in the last few years.

[aligncare]

I still think Obama's incompetent and simply in over his head. He's the accidental president. Made thus by happenstance and the color of his skin.

Americans will begin correcting their mistakes of the last six years come November. Hey, you got to have optimism.

[Howie66]

I don't think it's possible. Not that it's not a worry, but do you even have a process for declaring country wide martial law? I know you can do it in disaster areas for a defined period of time in a specific defined area (might be a good idea to try it on Detroit), but that isn't scalable to the entire nation.

I'd be more worried about a possibility no one ever talks about. There is no law preventing an ex-president from continuing to serve in an official capacity in government. Traditionally, it's not done, but legally it is perfectly fine. Say Hillary gets elected in '16. Attorney General Obama? Think on that and shiver.

"19 April, 1775".