President Obama said the following publicly at a fundraiser, poking fun at criticism of him by the Republican candidates during their first debate.
(You can watch the video here. Quote occurs around 4:48.)
“Have you noticed that everyone of these candidates say, ‘Obama is weak. Putin is kicking sand in his face. When I talk to Putin he is going to straighten out. Just looking at him. He is going to be . . .’ And then, it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators.”
We’ve come to expect this sort of cuteness from this charming man, who seems to think his role as a comedian trumps his responsibilities as the most powerful leader of the free world, whatever ‘free’ could possibly mean in this age of 24/7 surveillance. This remark, while entertaining and clever, is instructive in many ways. It says a lot about Obama as a man, that despite his air of constant cool, he is vulnerable even to the cheap shots of fools like the Republican candidates, and that he personalizes the challenges which America’s role in international relations presents. It’s been very obvious to me for a long time that Obama perceives his differences with Putin as a schoolyard scrap, rather than a profound confrontation of ideas and alternative actions. It seems to escape him that in our dealings with Russia, we are attempting to balance the national interests of two equally important and determined peoples, not fighting over who’s going to be quarterback of the football team or who gets to take out the homecoming queen on a date.
That he uses the most visible public podium in the world to level cheap shots at Putin, personal insults unworthy of a street thug, much less President of the United States, is both dangerous and counter-productive. He has squandered a ton of good will tendered by Mr. Putin. Certainly a lesser man than Vladimir would have long ago written off Obama as a childish dilettante. But as we’ve observed at the G-20 meeting, he keeps insisting that he is open to cooperation and constructive engagement whenever the U.S. decides to stop pouting over its humiliation in Syria, and its horribly misguided and murderous actions in the Middle East now being judged by the world as the shameful disgrace they are.
On an entirely different level, in broad strokes it says even more about what is wrong with America’s entire world view, its self-sabotaging foreign policy, and its reckless insensitivity to the havoc and hardship we as a nation inflict on the world, all while beating our chests about our duty and entitlement as leader of all humankind to celebrate a new historic Age of American Splendor and Enlightened Empire.
However, lately we’ve seen an even more baffling dynamic playing out. We have on one hand, the bellicose, dangerously provocative hyperventilating of Ashton Carter, Samantha Powers, and the Devil Woman herself, Victoria Nuland (the scary creature pictured here).
Carter lumps Russia in with ISIS as the greatest threat to America, Nuland blames the Syria conflict, the refugee crisis, the Ukraine, and probably her clogged kitchen drain on Putin, the increasingly shrill Samantha Powers (see photo at the head of this article) is the MICs best friend with her mad R2P obsession, putting her in Guinness Record territory for the number of countries she would bomb into peaceful mourning . . . do I have to go on? If you watch the news programs, you get pounded with the insane rants of these saber-rattling war hawks. So you know.
At the same time, our Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde president steps into a phone booth, does a quick costume-change ala Superman, and becomes Mr. Diplomacy, all ready to do the right thing and actually start fighting terrorism in earnest. This is, of course, after he’s wasted three years bombing camels and sheep dip in the desert, while caravans of white SUVs stretching as far as the eye can see, glide by on their way into Iraq and Syria, full of weapons provided at least in part by the CIA, paid for by our allies, smuggled in through Turkey, or air-dropped by the U.S. itself.
What is this, the diplomatic version of good-cop/bad-cop?
Maybe it’s the reincarnation of the Keystone Cops.
Why does anyone trust any of these people?
Yet here we see Obama, off in a corner, having a nice talk at the G-20 meeting with Putin, the same man he mocked and vilified both during his State of the Union address, and more recently with the eyes of the entire world watching at the United Nations. How cozy. How convenient.
Why does Putin still intimate that Russia is open to working with America, when time in and time out, America has proven it is entirely unreliable, lacking any concept or intent of dealing with others in good faith? It negotiates treaties, then violates or walks away from them. It grandstands, teetering like a circus clown on the high moral ground of dubious self-proclaimed righteousness, while destroying countries, inflicting unprecedented levels of chaos and carnage, at the same time preparing for a major war with China or Russia, maybe both. Is this hypocrisy, confusion, or just stupidity?
Moreover, why should we as U.S. citizens for a second believe that Obama and the motley collection of people HE CHOSE TO SURROUND HIMSELF WITH are at all sincere about engaging Russia — and of course the countries in Europe we have flooded with refugees by bombing the Middle East for two decades now — in a serious discussion about a peaceful resolution to this mess? Which one of these blowhards are we even supposed to listen to? Talk about mixed messages. This administration is at war with itself!
So what are we to do now? Get our hopes up that things are turning around? That policy makers have finally woken up and are ready to put things right?
Then again, what choice do we have?
Wait until after the next election to see which psychopath will lead the charge?
I guess we need to take stock and count our blessings. Maybe personally, I should commit to being a dutiful patriot by firmly resolving to respect Mr. Obama and honor his service as our president . . . to our country . . . and to the world.
After all, he’s the best smart-ass money can buy.
And as war criminals go, the guy can sure yuk it up!
