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

[Threadkiller]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2742786/Complacent-Home-Office-loses-175-000-illegal-immigrants-Fresh-humiliation-officials-admit-went-missing-refused-permission-stay.html

[Jim Eagle]

Everyone falls into the London experience especiallly when your company is paying the bills (like a $9,000 a month studio) but if you are own your own dollar/Quid it gets old real soon.

[Jim Eagle]

...on your own...

[Danube on iPad]

Figures:

"Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. this week will launch a broad civil rights investigation into the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department, according to two federal law enforcement officials.

"The investigation, which could be announced as early as Thursday afternoon, will be conducted by the Justice Department’s civil rights division and follow a process similar to that used to investigate complaints of profiling and the use of excessive force in other police departments across the country, the officials said.

"The move follows the shooting last month of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American, by a white Ferguson police officer who claimed he acted in self-defense. Brown, who was unarmed, was shot at least six times on the afternoon of Aug. 9.

"Holder’s decision will represent the Obama administration’s most aggressive step to address the Ferguson shooting, which set off days of often-violent clashes between police and demonstrators in the streets of the St. Louis suburb.

"The federal officials said the probe will look not only at Ferguson but also at other police departments in St. Louis County. Some, like Ferguson, are predominantly white departments serving majority-African-American communities, and at least one department invited the Justice Department to look at its practices. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the pending inquiry."

The only remedy is at the ballot box.

[daddy]

I watched the opening minutes from BBC American and then NBC's Brian Williams

Jim Miller,

What were you drinking? Hard liquor or beer?

[clarice]

Looks like the WaPo is doing some hamburger helper polling:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/09/03/our-senate-model-is-moving-in-democrats-direction-all-of-a-sudden-why/

[miss Marple]

I want to vote for anyone who will defend the country.

I would vote for anyone who is competent and will cut domestic spending, reduce regulations and kill terrorists in mass quantities.

[Jim Miller]

Credit where due: Scott Pelley at CBS did a good lead story on the contradictions in what Obama first said, and then what he said in answers at the press conference.

(It seems odd to give credit for what should be routine -- but I suppose it is necessary.)

[Jim Eagle]

DoT,

Correct as usual. It can't come soon enough.

But there is one immediate remedy - civil insurecctiom. Worked for "my people".

[narciso]

Oh Cilizza, he's such an easy mark, it's not even funny, there was an instance where he was interviewed by the Huntress, and he said how Alaska was such a small state, she stared daggers straight at him,

[miss Marple]

I am bothered by even the small things now, like why Obama suddenly started calling them ISIL.

[Jim Miller]

daddy - Just a little box wine.

Almost every time I watch such programs, I do so because I suspect they are going to screw up, big time. (I might even do a post on the BBC story, for the folks at Biased BBC.)

[narciso]

Megyn asked a former Justice Department official, how many FBI agents are investigating events in Indiana

[daddy]

Clarice,

I'm surprised your comment over at that WaPo piece by Cilizza hasn't been flagged yet for some sort of offense. Maybe it will be by the time I get back from walking my dogs "To the Gates of Hell".

[Bori]

Oh, I am made a mistake, my cousin is going to Yale Law. My aunt corrected me.

[Beasts of England]

She's a beautiful young lady, Bori!

[narciso]

I mean Minneapolis, versus the 40 agents in Ferguson,

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

18 Credits is the runt of the mongrel alphabet litter. Dumb and snotty has served him well at 30 Rock but out here in Realworldville he's not fooling anybody.

[henry]

Manchester is quite a commute to the Law School Bori, but law grads get better pay than poli-sci (where our feather passer troll got his PhD). The Law School building is right next to the Skull & Bones tomb. ; )

[Jim Eagle]

Murray breaks the Joker. The world is going to hell.

Can't watch the ineviatable.

Goede nacht. slaap lekker. tots morgem.

bon chance, andy.

[miss Marple]

narciso, I am glad you corrected that. I was wondering what I had missed.

[Eric in Boise]

The only remedy is at the ballot box.

That's the exact same remedy we had in 2012.

DOOM™©.

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

I think there's a lot of truth in what Carol Herman said. The polls are against the donks for many good reasons but until the GOPe loses the obsession with immigration reform and gets behind something the country specifically wants, support for the party will be as deep as a puddle on a well maintained road.

[Beasts of England]

Early to bed, early to rise, makes the Beasts -- boring as crap. Ugh. Nytol

[miss Marple]

Well, Captain Hate, it will depend on who runs on both sides. If the unions and the working class dems manage to skunk Hillary and warrens and put up someone like Bayh, we will have a hard row to hoe. Especially if we nominate someone who doesn't connect with working folks.

On the other hand, if the dems go far left and we manage to put up someone like Walker or Perry, our chances are a whole lot better.

[Bori]

Henry,

Its about 45 mins, she still is undecided about the dorms or staying with friends in Naugatuck which is closer. I just hope she does not become a environmentalist lawyer.

[miss Marple]

Time for bed with a mindless novel.

Nytol.

[narciso]

they are underperforming the models, but that is a good thing, maybe the teleprompter is punking
Cilizza

[Janet]

I agree, Captain.
Remember...Terry McAuliffe won in Virginia.
A known grifter & con man.

This area votes (D) period. It doesn't matter how big a failure or how corrupt the (D) candidate is.
Jim Moran is our Representative.

& look at the blue urban prisons...they vote Dem over & over & over....

[daddy]

According to the UK Mail, Russdian President Putin received a direct threat today from the ISIS folks:

'This message is addressed to you, oh Putin': ISIS now threatens Russia over its ties to Syria's Assad and promises to 'liberate Chechnya and all the Caucasus'

Very preliminary, but if true, I suppose it would give viewers a chance to see how the 2 leaders (Putin and Obama) react to ISIS threats.

If Putin reacts strongly, that could make a contrast with Obama inaction.

If Putin does nothing, that could embolden Obama fans by showing how they both are dealing with the threat in more subtle ways than simply reacting with force.

If Obama reacts but Putin doesn't, then that could make Obama fans preen they they are taking action while Putin sits on the sidelines.

Regardless, don't know if this story will develop into something bigger, but thought I would link to it on our way out the door. I have not yet seen anywhere else any mention of Putin getting any warnings from ISIS fighters. KayyyRoooo.

[Janet]

For the "what religion is Obama?" discussion...maybe he's Hindu. Remember he carries around a little statue of Hanuman the monkey god. LUN

[Danube on iPad]

Bori, she's about to embark on an adventure that will forever change the way she thinks about things, and for sure will change her life.

[Bori]

DoT,

I hope for the better, I love my aunt but she has always been a radical and it infected my sweet little cousin. But she is very smart and opinionated so there is hope still.

[Danube on iPad]

I am becoming increasingly furious about the debate over whether ISIS poses a threat to the U.S. Two issues:

1. Can ISIS march upon, encircle, seize and hold Philadelphia, as it did Fallujah? Absolutely not. There is no such threat. I concede the point.

2. Can it mount a murderous Mumbai-like attack on the Mall of America, featuring commandos with automatic weapons against American teenagers? Can it simultaneously release sarin gas in the New York subway, the Washington Metro, the MTA and BART? Bet your ass.

[henry]

Danube, option 2 is a nice crisis to not let go to waste.

[DrJ]

Can it simultaneously release sarin gas in the New York subway, the Washington Metro, the MTA and BART?

Damn. I better walk when I'm in DC on 9/11.

[Bori]

DoT,

That is my fear, that a small group of guys with automatic weapons would enter a place where there are large groups of people, like a Mall, subway station or a Casino and just start lobbing grenade and shooting people.

Our LE are not trained to deal with people who have a death wish and will indiscriminately target everyone. Bloodbath.

[boatbuilder]

Daddy--My thought about dealing with the ISIS thugs is to go "Man on Fire" as popularized by Denzel in the film of the same name. Give 'em pure hell and take no prisoners, if for no other reason than that stated by Matt above--that there is a price to be paid. In this instance there is absolutely no need to be concerned about the "global test" or "world opinion" or the balance of power or the pottery barn rule or any of that crap--the whole world hates and is afraid of these bastards, they have directly challenged US power, and Iraq has asked the US to act. We need not be concerned about a "power vacuum" or "nation building" or keeping our forces there for any longer than it takes to put out the smoldering rubble after the rout. And Obama does...nothing.
I suspect that while Putin has lots of things which make him a very bad person and a poor leader, he is not squeamish about sending messages. I wonder what he will get Obama to agree to for doing it.

[Bori]

BB,

They are thugs and they like to advertise their brutality but notice how they are covered. Their identity is unknown. This is problematic because they can hide behind the skirts of others.

Getting rid of them will not be as easy as just blasting them, because as we have seen the minute the collateral damage increases our resolve evaporates.

This is the kind of thing that needs to be snipped in the bud, not allowed to fester and now we will be paying for that oversight for some time to come.

[narciso]

yes, boatbuilder, Volodya sent a poison letter to Khattab, he had a cargo that Basayev handled
booby trapped, he had someone throw some grenades at Zandarbichev in Doha, subtlety is not his thing,

[Jim Miller]

Eric - Way back in September 2008, I argued that, if we elected Obama, voters would regret that decision.

Note that I predicted -- then -- big gains for the Republicans in the 2010 elections, if Obama were elected.

Voters do learn from experience, though it may take them a while.

Right now, I would say that, most likely, we will have a Republican president inaugurated in January 2017. (

(For another example, look at Jindal's victory in Louisiana. The failures of his predecessors made it possible for him to win on the second try -- in spite of the fact that he is not a perfect fit for Louisiana.)

[boatbuilder]

The Kurds seem to be able to figure out who they are.

[Rick B]

I would prefer to see ISIS defeated under Russian ROEs. The savings for housing and feeding prisoners would be significant and the recidivism rate is practically nil. If Ukraine wisely takes the offer which they cannot refuse, Putin will have the latitude to give Assad a helping hand.

[narciso]

He had deployed some Zenith Spetznaz, and a statement from Kadyrov, suggests the Vostoks might be on the way as well.

[narciso]

the segment I was referring to earlier,

http://therightscoop.com/megyn-kelly-when-will-holder-treat-isis-recruitment-in-minneapolis-like-michael-brown-shooting-in-ferguson/

OT,Greenwald as usual, showed his true colors,
cracking jokes about the beheadings

[Stephanie riding a streetcar named Desire]

New thread

[Ann]

You have to see the video and transcript:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/brittany-m-hughes/kerry-confronting-climate-change-responsibility-laid-down-scriptures

[Captain Hate on the iPad]

Lurch is talking about "doody" again; plus all the mashed potatoes some quack jammed into that lantern jaw makes him pronouncing "inextricably" quite an adventure.

What's shaking, Ann?

[Mahon]

Well, Obama's low-information base might not have noticed Ukraine or ISIL without Facebook and Twitter. The President is worried now because even these people are beginning to wise up. You have to think the Milbanks of the world knew better all along, or at least for some time. What can possibly be their excuse for sticking with this joker for so long?