Talk Softly And Then, Uhh, Mumble

Obama really laid down the law on ISIS, then, perhaps after contemplating the panic in his base, backpedaled. From ABC News:

Obama Suggests ISIS Must Be Destroyed (or Maybe Not)

TALLINN, Estonia – President Obama has condemned the beheading of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff, saying “we will not be intimidated … justice will be done.”

But he offered a mixed message today about what exactly the United States wants to do about ISIS.

At first, the president offered what seemed to be an unambiguous goal.  “The bottom line is this:  Our objective is clear and that is to degrade and destroy ISIL so it is no longer a threat,” he said.

That would be an expansion of what the president and top White House officials have said previously.  They have steadfastly avoided saying the goal of U.S. policy is the destruction of ISIS, instead citing more modest objectives:  protecting Americans, protecting Iraqi infrastructure, stopping a humanitarian disaster, etc.

But when ABC News Radio White House correspondent Ann Compton today asked the president to clarify whether the United States now wants ISIS destroyed, the president seemed to significantly backtrack.

“Our objective is to make sure they aren’t an ongoing threat to the region,” he said.

Then, in response to another question, he seemed to backtrack even further:  “We know that if we are joined by the international community, we can continue to shrink ISIL’s sphere of influence, its effectiveness, its military capability to the point where it is a manageable problem.”

Making ISIS a “manageable problem” sounds like a far cry from destroying it.

We've come from "Unconditional Surrender" Grant to "Manageable Problem" Obama.

Amplifying the sense that Obama has lost the love of the Washington press corps is this headline from that once-reliable cheerleader, Dana Milbank:

President Obama’s unnerving happy talk

...

Obama has been giving Americans a pep talk, essentially counseling them not to let international turmoil get in the way of the domestic economic recovery. “The world has always been messy,” he said Friday. “In part, we’re just noticing now because of social media and our capacity to see in intimate detail the hardships that people are going through.”

So we wouldn’t have fussed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine if not for Facebook? Or worried about terrorists taking over much of Syria and Iraq if not for Twitter? This explanation, following Obama’s indiscreet admission Thursday that “we don’t have a strategy yet” for military action against the Islamic State, adds to the impression that Obama is disengaged.

In short, Americans would worry less if Obama worried more.

I'd worry less if Obama worried more effectively, and about the right things. I have no doubt Obama has been tossing and turning about Hobby Lobby and the takeover of America by the jihadists of the religious right, but real jihadists? No worries.

Comments

[Laura White]

The mainstream press is having a hard time ignoring his incoherence. And did the NATO summit have to be at a Welsh golf course?

[narciso]

splunge, but I am not being indecisive, meanwhile:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/03/the-bride-of-isis-revealed.html

[miss Marple]

Ed Henry says they are now having to clarify the clarification.

[Threadkiller]

The absent minded president seems to have knocked another chip off of America's shoulder.

How clumsy of him.

[Extraneus]

OBAMA TELLS AMERICANS ‘WE HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE’

[Beasts of England]

Let me be clear...

[Try Hang Gliding]

As inarticulate as Bush was I don't recall the need for any clarifying statements.

[Captain Hate]

Wales!? Get that trash out of my ancestral homeland.

[Ignatz]

I believe the correct phrase is;

Talk grandiosely and carry a niblick.™ ®

[miss Marple]

Jason Chavitz is on Greta, quite upset.

Now Greta is discussing the jihadist who worked at Minneapolis International Aiport.

Worked at airport on Tarmac, fueling planes and then cleaning them had an FBI background check in order to get clearance.

[henry]

Ummm, how are we going to focus on domestic recovery when ISIS/ISIL blows up the power grid next week?

[Danube on iPad]

It became necessary to destroy ISIS in order to manage it.

[Jim Eagle]

Laura,

Hell, yeah, it had to be at a Welsh golf course, even a Ryder Cup course. How do you think Champ can focus on strategy without a 6 iron from 75 yards in?

[narciso]

we're really at the Confuse a Cat stage

[Jim Eagle]

You don't say:

[NK]

henry-- don't even joke about that.

My sense is bezos is trying to keep from pissing the $$$$ down the WaPo drain and is trying to be the 'liberal media with sanity' we'll know more when the new editor runs the place for a while. But even Milbank notices that Obummer is as coherent as Capt Queeg and his steel ball routine. Obummer really is mental, and we are along for the ride.

[Jane]

It seems to me the image of Obama is getting clearer every day.

Anyone else feel that way?

[Threadkiller]

The 9 layer image?

[henry]

NK, not joking. Some intel guy suggested the jihadis and drug cartels are teaming up with that in mind... saw it also in some articles about the Saudi King's warning, plus all the jihadi selfies popping up in cities. I hope it's just chatter, but who knows?

[Jane]

You know what else is interesting - both of the Americans assassinated by Isis were said to be sympathizers with Islam, and that meant nothing.

[Jane]

Perhaps more than 9 TK. But clearer.

[Extraneus]

So what's really going to happen after another big terrorist attack? Surely we will find out.

Last time, pissed-off Americans started flying flags and we kicked some ass. But also, the left mobilized against flag flying and ass-kicking as soon as they had the opportunity. A Commission was hired to whitewash the whole thing, Web Hubble stuffed some docs into his underwear, and thousands of concerned liberals railed against torture for years afterward.

Next time?

[Beasts of England]

Sandy Berger

[maryrose]

Clear as a bell Jane. Finally people see that the emperor has no clothes. Reporters want their credibility back. Obama is now fair game. They don't care if they are called racists for exposing "the One".
Obama seems fearful to call ISIS ,terrorists. They cannot be "managed" An official from Kurdistan was on Bret's show and stated as much. Even he thinks Bammy is a doofus.

[Jim Eagle]

Ex,

Webb Hubbell was killed by Hillary's gestapo on a pull-off overloking the GW parkway in Virginia. It was Sandy Burger with the bloated socks,

[Stephanie accidentally OnT?]

without a 6 iron from 75 yards in?

LOL.

Congressman Steve Stockman:

Obama vowed to "bankrupt" America's coal employers, but only wants to "shrink" ISIS?

[Jim Miller]

When I first heard Obama's statements about our objectives, I tried giving him the doubt on the "degrade and destroy" phrase. It was possible, I thought, that he meant, in that order, that he meant to say first degrade, and then destroy. (And I think that wouldn't be an unusual way for a military man to describe a plan.)

But then his answers to those reporters'
questions!

Now there are times when clarity is not a virtue, but I do think he might try a little harder to be consistently confusing, rather than contradictory.

(No doubt Josh Earnest will have to work hard over the next few days to try to make something coherent out of that mess.)

Here's how I understand POTUS and VPOTUS:

VPOTUS: We will follow them to the gates of Hell!

POTUS: We will follow them to the gates of Hell, or maybe just far enough so that they don't interrupt my golf games.

[narciso]

well they are both frog like, so it's an understandable confusion,

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/09/03/us-backed-free-syrian-army-operating-openly-with-isis-al-qaedas-jabhat-al-nusra/

[NK]

actually is was Vince Foster who was 'suicided', Webb Hubble wound up doing time for Arkansas corruption. How soon we forget the Clintons' dark lives and sketchy associations.

[Jane]

Seems to me the biggest threat is an attack on the grid, and I think there is a good chance they could pull it off.

[Ignatz]

The IS threat to the electric grid.

[Jane]

Maryrose,

I loved that Kurd on special report.

Reporters want their credibility back.

Not ever gonna happen. EVER!

[Jane]

VPOTUS: We will follow them to the gates of Hell!

POTUS: We will follow them to the gates of Hell, or maybe just far enough so that they don't interrupt my golf games.

Very funny

[Captain Hate]

Reporters want their credibility back.

Not ever gonna happen. EVER!

Damn straight; trust squandered is gone for good.

[GMax]

Did Gutfield really say that Selena Gomez has more testosterone than Zero?

I don't care what you say, that is damn funny.

[Jim Eagle]

NK,

No. It was Webb Hubble. In my new thriller you will find that Vince Foster convinced Webb to go the overlook that hight becaise Hillary woud be there in black net njylons and 6" heels, As a result he survived and is still alive practcing law in Pine Bluff while running Clenis' maryjane import business.

[Rick B]

NK,

Isn't he closer to Governor Le Petomane than Captain Queeg?

[NK]

I defer to JiB's Clenis' expertise.

RickB-- we can go with a mentally ill Gov. Le Petomane.

[GMax]

CBS letting the faithful in on the coming beat down:

CBS News political director John Dickerson broke down how the numerous crises around the world are interfering with Democrats’ campaigns in the upcoming November midterm elections.

Dickerson explained that while Republicans are motivated, it is Democrats that are struggling get their core domestic policy expressed to voters.

“If you talk to voters and say what issue do you care about the most – it’s still domestic issues that they pick when they say what’s driving their vote,” Dickerson said. “But, what’s motivating Republicans in this election is disappointment with the president. The president’s approval ratings are at about 40 [percent]. More [Republicans] disapprove of the job [Obama] is doing than in 2010. You may remember, 2010 was a terrible year for Democrats. So Republicans are very motivated.”

“Well Democrats are depressed,” he continued. “So what these international issues do is they create that sense of depression among Democrats and also rile up Republicans more. And there’s one other thing – to the extent we’re all talking about foreign policy, it deprives oxygen from Democrat opponents who want to talk about their issues, their local issues. So it kind of steals a bit of the spotlight from them.”

Hard to beat a drum and chant when Americans are being beheaded. Pity that.

[Jim Eagle]

Iggy,

Well, there are three grids and if Iwas to guess the most vulnerable would be Texas because of the porous border and that my be why Perry has taken the steps he has taken.

[Extraneus]

Ah yes, Sandy Burglar.

[Ignatz]

Carter did manage to fend off the bunny that attacked him in his little row boat.
Could Barry?

[Captain Hate]

How soon we forget the Clintons' dark lives and sketchy associations.

I haven't forgotten; I knew they were grifter trash from Day 1 and nothing could make me think otherwise.

[lyle]

Hillary in jet black nylons? Is your target audience carnival-goers or lesbians, JiB? Not that they're mutually exclusive.

[daddy]

O'Reilly just said that "Tom Freidman is usually a level headed guy."

[matt]

Never forget that this president's entire rule from his inauguration has been about degrading this country in every respect.

He has no respect for the rule of law nor for any detectable moral code. It's Chicago rules.

He has the FBI witch hunting reporters and has the CIA investigating Senate staffers and the NSA investigating the rest of us and stonewalls on the NSA scandal while conducting either the most incompetent or the most anti-American foreign policy ever. I opt for the latter interpretation.

And still, still the press refuses to do its job and the Leftist scum in Congress and salted through every agency grow more defiant.

9/11 is right around the corner. Are we going to get F'd again? Who the hell knows. Look what the consequences of 9-11-12 were. Nothing.

One option for a real president would be to turn to cinders one if the terrorist hideouts. Boko, ISIS, it really doesn't matter. Do a bunch of them for that matter.

Chicago rules. They use a sword, we use a JDAM or ten. Find Mr. Al- Baghdadi and waste him. Find his successor and do the same. And so on.

Post the video on Youtube of the Hellfires hitting them. I think they will get the point rather rapidly.

As the rap song goes, "Whoosh, there it is."

[Jim Eagle]

lyle,

Wait til you see what I have Bill wearing. I knew it was Vince Foster but had a brain fart. I was still there in DC when it happened and had to write a repeort to HQ on what a Clinton presidency mean't for our business. Took me a week to get over writer block after the Foster demise plu Clenis deciding DADT was priority numero uno!

Sam Nunn saved the republic for a decade at least and for that he has my respect. Hope his daughter is slattered, though.

[Jim Eagle]

daddy,

That comment represents why I do not watch BOR anymore. He is a phony conservative and right leaning pundit, He is nothing more than a eastern establisment mouthpiece who knows jack shit about the world outside the NYC 25 mile radius.

[daddy]

Has CIA Chief Brennan raised his head lately?

A google search shows that the last time we heard from him was for apologizing to Congress in late July for previously lying to Congress about the CIA not spying on Congress.

I'm just wondering where he is.

[daddy]

Jack,

O'Reilly is "surprised" that Tom Friedman is playing apologist for Obama.

I don't know how in the world Dennis Miller continues to hang out with Officer O'Reilly.

[miss Marple]

That is one good question, daddy.

I have seen nothing of him, either.

Who is the current head of the FBI? Haven't seen him, either.

[Danube on iPad]

Whenever I'm feeling down these days I just wait for the next report from Gmax, whereupon my spirits rise.

[narciso]

Comey, who got his job, promoting the Fitz witchhunt,

Betsy McCaughey had a timeline of ISIS related warning back to last June,

[matt]

I expect the next time we hear from Susan Rice it will be to apologize for one of our "transgressions".

Remember, "does it really matter?"

[narciso]

the slayer of the Fiersome Martha Stewart dragon,

[Captain Hate]

I don't know how in the world Dennis Miller continues to hang out with Officer O'Reilly.

Exposure. It's the only reason he, Laura Ingraham and Tammy Bruce endure his witlessness. Tammy has pretty much come out and said it.

[Captain Hate]

O'Reilly just said that "Tom Freidman is usually a level headed guy."

He meant "flat headed guy".

[lyle]

Can't wait for your roman a clef, JiB. Will Bill be wearing a giant genital wart?

[lyle]

Wait. Check that. He already IS a giant genital wart. I'll let you set the narrative from here on out. Can barely contain my giddiness.

[Bori]

On a completely different subject but something a little more light-hearted, my little Rhodes Scholar cousin graduated yesterday from UCL in London and will now go to Yale for her Doctorate. Wish her the best of luck.

[Beasts of England]

Any fans of illusion should watch Penn and Teller's Fool Us. Several good illusionists on each segment and Penn and Teller goof on one of their tricks at least once per show...

[Captain Hate]

Am I the only one feeling sorry for whatever floor surface that would have to endure Rodham on 6" heels?

[lyle]

Best of luck, Bori daughter. Although at this point she's making her own. Very impressive. Huzzah.

[lyle]

I feel sorry for the shoes, Capt.

[Captain Hate]

Sounds like she's already made her own luck, Bori. Doctorate in what?

[Jim Eagle]

CH,

In my book, they make here ankles look thinner:)

[Captain Hate]

Slick needs to read your book, JiB.

[matt]

Continuing from the last thread, I think Barry became Barack in college to prove his "roots" as a gen-u-wine negro agitator and community organizer.

The trip to Pakistan, the reconnection with his Indonesian roots was all a discarding of Punahou and Occidental and the old Barry and fit with his daddy abandonment issues and Frank Marshall connection. Barack Obama has issues, as they say.

Being Mr. Cold and Logical and the Smartest Man in the Universe are all constructs that he uses to reinforce his new identity. Unfortunately he holds a job in which performance is widely measured by his opponents and constituents and he is failing badly.

He entwines the Peter Principle, Chauncey Gardener and the Big Lie into the worst mistake this country ever made.

The only way the Democrats will mitigate a disaster is to rile up the base with things like Ferguson and Smilin' Joe's bullshit Debbie WS's insane rant. They have nothing else. Obamacare? Foreign Policy? Immigration? Grocery store inflation? Jobs?

Or maybe Obama can foil some faux crisis come October. It's all right out of the best propaganda houses in the world and he has bezos, Brin, Katzenburg, Gates and Buffet at the trough chowing down and ready to commit their minions to "true the vote".

[Beasts of England]

What lyle said, Bori - it's tough to wish luck upon someone who is clearly creating their own. Brava!

[Jim Eagle]

UCL very good school. One of my offices in London was near Euston Square and the school. Lots of interesting intellecuals around the coffe shops and Pret-a-Manger's.

[Thomas Collins]

Best of luck, Bori cousin. Phd in what, Bori?

[lyle]

Sorry, cousin that is. Still very impressive.

[henry]

Bori, welcome her from an old Blue! Lots of good concerts at the School of Music, especially jazz.

[Jim Rhoads f/k/a vnjagvet]

Sam Nunn saved the republic for a decade at least and for that he has my respect. Hope his daughter is slattered, though.

As an avid supporter of Sam back then, I agree completely, JIB. From every thing I have seen, Michelle unfortunately has neither her dad's wisdom nor character. She is a doctrinaire Dem lib. He was not.

[Janet]

Just a reminder about this odd short visit to Saudi Arabia back in March 2014.
LUN

[narciso]

Congrats, Bori,

the Daily Caller reminds us, that they weren't
that copacetic when McCain used the same phrase,

[Jim Eagle]

Damn, Henry you also went to UCL? Did you know Ganhdi?

[daddy]

Quiz Time: British Government Version!

Let's assume you were the British Government and that you wanted to preserve in their natural state "British Meadows that have Wildflowers."

So you come out and announce to British Farmers that you will soon come out with Legislation that will permanently lock up from farming Farmer's "Meadows that have Wildflowers."

What do you think might happen?

A) British Farmers will say, "Great Idea Government!" or

B) British Farmers respond by digging up their Wildflower Meadows before these tighter rules come into effect.

And the answer is... Wildflower Meadow protection plan 'backfires'

Who could have seen that coming?

[Danube on iPad]

Wonderful news, Bori.

[henry]

UCL? Do they call their alumni "Old Blues" as well? I haven't been anywhere near UCL, but my college roommate is a prof there.

[Ignatz]

The ESA, with its perverse incentives, has killed far more endangered critters than it has ever saved.

[narciso]

this is what should have been the briefing last week:

http://therightscoop.com/video-british-government-hires-international-investigators-to-go-after-highest-level-members-of-islamic-state/

[Jane]

I'm just wondering where he is.

Bowing to Mecca.

As someone who has the TV on during all waking hours (a fact I am not proud of) I refuse to watch BOR ever!

When I did watch him I saw something I still remember. When he has a woman on the show he respects, he calls her "Miss" as in Miss Megyn. When he doesn't respect her he calls her by her last name.

Anyone else notice that?

[daddy]

Good point from an exasperated Ralph Peters on Megyn:

Peters: "And then, God help us, we have Joe Biden ranting, 'We're going to follow ISIS to the Gates of Hell.' We won't even cross the Border into Syria."

[Eric in Boise]

Who could have seen that coming?

I dunno, daddy. Maybe we could invent a discipline that explores how people respond to incentives.

I wonder what we could call it?

[Danube on iPad]

"I think Barry became Barack in college to prove his "roots" as a gen-u-wine negro agitator and community organizer."

I think he became Barack at the moment of his birth, when without his knowledge or consent his parents gave him that name. What name he wanted to be called by at various points in his life is interesting, but the idea of reverting to the original as he matured is certainly not unusual.

I think there's no mystery at all about who and what he is: a pampered punk who was embraced and nurtured by left-wing academics.

He wasn't born in Kenya. He's not a Muslim (although I'm not sure why that should be important). I believe he is a secular atheist. I suspect that he is something of a Marxist, although I use that term only in its broadest, most general sense: he believes that economic class at birth trumps all other human motivations.

[Jim Miller]

Well, now I feel better.

I watched the opening minutes from BBC American and then NBC's Brian Williams, and learned that, contrary to what you may have read in "social media", President Obama was strong and clear in his stand against ISIS.

It's often hard to tell how much these "mainstream" journalists are shameless, and how much clueless. In this case, I am inclined to go with shameless; I think they knew he failed miserably, and covered for him.

(I didn't see ABC, and CBS isn't on for another 20 minutes.)

[Bori]

She is studying Political Science and full blown lefty, I am so proud and hope to talk sense into her but in time.

Since I don't know how to put a picture, she did contribute to this and here is her picture;

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/burn-bra-1.jpg?w=840&h=1115

[miss Marple]

I have not always been a fan of Ralph Peters, but he has been doing a darn fine job of conveying what danger we face, and how Obama and his people are doing nothing.

[Threadkiller]

I get by with little evidence from my friends...

[henry]

Bori, she'll fit right in at Yale. Tommy Steyer is teaching a seminar on his lefty projects in the poli-sci dept, so you'll have extra deprogramming to look forward to.

[Jane]

he believes that economic class at birth trumps all other human motivations.

I bet you are right.

[Jim Eagle]

henry, misunerstood your comment. The UCL badge is blue and I thought you were one. Imperial had a ops program I took advantage of while there. The better enginnering environment. UCL for medicine and biochem,

Kings for the arts and soft sciences.

[daddy]

Miss Marple,

Another nice line from Ralph Peters today:

Peters: "Today was another debacle, where Obama sounds strong but then he backs off and says 'Well we've just got to get this to a manageable level' with an Islamic State Caliphate. You can't manage hard core fanatical terrorists---it's like trying to manage a barrel of Rattlesnakes!"

[Jim Eagle]

Bori,

Do you know Iggy and Beasts? You soon will.

[Ignatz]

Bori, I was gonna say don't let her near Beasts, but, hey, if she's a lefty, who knows maybe a little common sense would rub off on her.

I denounce myself in advance.

[Bori]

Henry,

I know, I was talking to her today and she loves the European Socialists. She and her mother my aunt were raving about NHS and the tube and everything in London and Europe. Aargh!

[Bori]

I am hoping that Manchester Ct, is far away from the City and definitely far away from BoE.

[rse]

Dot-I am going to disagree with you from a continent away right before a conference call.

Bo is indisputedly a cultural Marxist and quite pleased and comprehending of how the Gramsci March is going. He intends to be the closing float in the parade march.

[Carol Herman]

I worry the GOP is so lame, it's like watching a 3-legged horse trying to race.

In America there are two major parties. One of them attracts folks the way Barnum used to attract people to his circus.

The other? A few rich families bring their sons up with the belief they'll make "good candidates" ... even though they'll stupidly name one of their sons "Jeb." There's a big disconnect between popularity ... and what these under-achieving country club dwellers are trying to do!

Sure. They fling stuff at obama. But they don't gain voters through these efforts.

Sure. The other team came up with Dukakis once. Which gave the race to Jeb's dad. Who stunk it up in one term.

Then? As horse-trading goes ... Clinton didn't bring along any top performers. So? Well, you saw Gore. (Another rich family.)

There's no explaining politics. But it seems important to know whose shoulders you're running into.

By the way, the elder Bush HATED Reagan!

Reagan had to make his own way.

Probably, the same could be said about Clinton? (If this was a puppet show, you'd see the strings.)

Is there anybody out there you really want to vote for?