Ongoing Incoherence

Michael Goldfarb and Jake Tapper on the latest emanations from the Obama foreign policy fog machine.

Comments

[dDanube of Thought]

Laughingstock status looms. Stay tuned, Moonbats...

[SteveMG]

He messed up - or (my guess) made a well-planned statement during a debate that was intended to garner attention and separate him from the other candidates - and now he's weaving an entire foreign policy worldview out of it.

Talk about arrogance. It may appeal to those simpletons who think that we should do the opposite of whatever they think Bush did. But that, one hopes, is a small crowd.

It's going to be interesting reading how his top advisers try to walk him away from this.

[Rick Ballard]

I just hope that Mel Brooks gets a shot at the screen treatment.

[PaulL]

When history begins at sunrise, there is no need to walk away from past positions.

"I have always held this position." The vast majority of the media will gleefully go along.

[bgates]

I would copy a bit from Tapper's second update, but retyping the quote from an Obama foreign policy adviser would enstupiden me more than just reading it did.

It's actually possible to quote the Obama campaign viciously.

[Gmax]

Sunrise, sunshine whats a name among friends?

[JB]

So he's going to meet with Raul Castro if he agrees on an agenda of certain freedoms, but that's not meeting with preconditions?

Would any of our resident Obama apologists like to explain that?

The Messiah sure contains multitudes.

[clarice]

You say pre-conditions, O says preparations
You say pre-emptive
Wesley Clark says preventive.
Let's call the whole thing off..
Niters

[JM Hanes]

My guess is that Obama never thought he'd actually need a foreign policy. His campaign strategy, as pointed out explicitly by Rolling Stone lo these many months ago, consists of running on his biography. Whenever he strays from the same small handful of soundbytes that he started out with, he gets in trouble -- but he can't help himself, because it looks like his whole career is built on telling people what he thinks they want to hear. He can't blame his staff for his missteps anymore, but it's still their job to explain away his gaffes.

[MayBee]

Great observation, JMH.

[JB]

So it's not so much Emperor's New Clothes as it is the Emperor Does Not Think He Needs Clothes?

[Jane]

Good Morning everyone - It's a beautiful Memorial Day here - it looks like summer has arrived, on cue.

I can't wait to see what BO will do today to honor our soldiers.

[clarice]

It's a beautiful day here, too--it's been the most wonderful spring I call recall in D.C. --mostly dry, cool and clear days.

[dDanube of Thought]

Mornin', Jane. Mornin', Clarice. Gonna be a sunny one here, high 70. The beach will be jammed.

[kim]

If the State bureaucracy is more comfortable with Powell than Rice, then Obama's derriere would be covered. Is it?
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[O'Barmy]

I shall speak to the leaders of Iran,North Korea and Venezuela.I shall speak unto Fidel Castro,"Pick up thy bed and walk honky".

[dDanube of Thought]

Bubba has had another mini-meltdown. Always a great pleasure to see.

[Danube of Thought]

Trying to purge the lower-case "d" from the front end of my handle.

[Jane]

Success! And OT.

Has everyone been accounted for in the wake of the weather? I'm thinking of Pofarmer, altho I have no idea where he lives.

[JM Hanes]

Jane:

I can't wait to see what BO will do today to honor our soldiers.

If Obama's Commencement Address at Wesleyan just yesterday is the template, it sounds like he thinks the less said the better. Jennifer Rubin mentioned it in passing over at Contentions; herewith three excerpts from that comments that followed:

While the Great One spoke about service to our country, not once did he mention the obvious kind of service: military service. He talked about Kennedy’s asking what one can do for one country, and then comes up with the Peace Corps and civil rights activists. Yet Kennedy’s famous words (and also the words Obama would prefer to forget) about letting every nation know that “we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty” –– these words surely were meant mostly (although not exclusively, of course) in a muscular, military sense.....

I was also surprised that Obama, in a Memorial Day Weekend commencement address on the theme of service, couldn’t find a single word in praise of military service. He did manage at least one pronouncement that could be interpreted as anti-military: “At a time of war, we need you to work for peace.” Otherwise, he mentioned the Peace Corps four times, but never mentioned the armed services, even in its popular role as rescuer of natural disaster victims.....

The problem is not just that Obama cannot praise the merits of military service, but that he seems to be allergic to the private sector. Go out and be a do-gooder, he seems to be saying, and make sure you avoid free enterprise and the free market. If everyone becomes a community activist, who is going to make the wheels of commerce run?

And what does Obama use as the model for service? Why, his own biography, of course! I expect he'll offset any obligatory mention of the troops today by upping the "work for peace" quotient of his remarks. It will be interesting to see if he can actually bring himself to issue anything remotely resembling unqualified praise.

[JM Hanes]

PS: Check out his model for salvation too!

[JM Hanes]

PS #2: In light of the brouhaha over Hillary & RFK, I thought the greetings Obama delivered from Teddy were inadvertantly amusing:

“To all those praying for my return to good health, I offer my heartfelt thanks. And to any who’d rather have a different result, I say, don’t get your hopes up just yet!”

[Buford Gooch]

The Young Gaffer is mightily afeered of mentioning anything about the military, because the right will hand him his butt every time he opens his gaffe-hole.

[Elliott]

Well, Obama is speaking now in New Mexico.

At first, he seemed about as comfortable as John Kerry mentioning Mary Cheney, but he's back in his element now.

His remarks should be available here at some point.

He says he wants to ban protests near military funerals.

[Mike G in Corvallis]

If everyone becomes a community activist, who is going to make the wheels of commerce run?

Back when Jerry Brown was running for governor of California, there was a joke: Brown thought it was grossly unfair that some people drove luxury cars while other people hitchhiked. When Jerry was governor, everyone would hitchhike!

[Jane]

He says he wants to ban protests near military funerals.

I saw that Elliott, and then a paragraph later talks about protecting free speech. He's not very bright, or at least assumes his audience isn't.

[kim]

Easy solution, anti-war protests OK, anti-soldier protests not OK. The Red Carpet for Code Pink, to Hell with Fred Phelps.
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[kim]

You know, hate the sin(war), not the sinner(the dead soldier).
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[Larry]

Happy Memorial Day, everyone. Saw this in Don Sensing's post this a m. Still stunned by its power and simplicity. "These ribbons I earned beside true heroes."

[PeterUK]

"He says he wants to ban protests near military funerals."

Re you sure it wasn't the other way round?

[Pagar]

Peter, That was my first thought, that he twisted his words somehow. I cannot imagine Obama being against anyone protesting against America.

[Cecil Turner]

I don't really care what Obama has to say about military members; unlike the guy in the story, I presume any compliments are insincere. The bill he's touting gives young military members a "use-it-or-lose-it" benefit, which just happens to have the effect of depleting our available manpower (similar to the earlier proposed bills that required a certain amount of time between tours). Don't know why all the Dems' proposals impede our ability to fight a war . . . but a cynic might suspect they'd like us to lose.

His strategy gaffes are somewhat entertaining, but not really important. What is somewhat obscured by the silly statements is the fact that he has no plan for or concept of national defense (and appears to believe sanctions are the last word). Also, someone ought to point out the proper use of the word "foment" vice "ferment" to the young Senator. It's beginning to grate.

[Elliott]

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1993) discusses ferment, foment.

[kim]

I like the commenter on your link, CT, a FoodforThought, who says 'I'm beginning to think Obama is dumber than Bush'.
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[JM Hanes]

Elliott:

Ferment/foment: It strikes me as a real stretch to think that this is anything other than error on Obama's part. Chavez is not agitating terrorism, he's promoting it. Fomenting is both standard and prosaic in this context; at best, the deliberate substitution of fermenting would be idiosyncratic, slightly bizarre, and more confusing than edifying. It may not be technically incorrect usage, but it's certainly not good usage.

[clarice]

CT--Of course he has a plan: Talk to our enemies without preconditions; cut off our friends like Colombia; and use the peace corps and community organizers to enforce our demands.

[Elliott]

The best part about it in my view, JMH, is that to argue Obama knew what he was doing with his usage, one would have to accept that he is declining to take the dimmest view of those stirring up anti-American sentiment, since "fomentation" would imply a more negative judgment than "fermentation" does.

[JM Hanes]

Clarice: One of my personal fav's is demanding do-overs on signed, sealed, delivered treaties like NAFTA as a means of "hammering" allies like Canada. A search on Obama & hammer might be rewarding; I know I've heard him use it multiple times -- all in the context of diplomacy, of course, which is amusing.

Elliott: It sounds so much better when you turn it into a win/win like that.:)

[Elliott]

Not unlike the Annenberg Challenge, which would be a good subject for reporting by our major media outlets. All the better if they are quick about it, increasing the likelihood of a pre-convention poll showing Clinton running 10 points ahead of Obama in a general election head-to-head poll.

[Elliott]

which would be a good subject for reporting by our major media outlets

As our excellent host TM, the dextrosphere's leading authority on this topic, has noted often.