The most damning thing about Obama's response to the Gulf Crisis (the other Gulf Crisis) is not what it reveals about his lack of competence, but what it reveals about his lack of interest. And it has forced many liberals to recognize, what so many conservatives knew all along. That Obama just doesn't care.
Politicians who don't care what happens to the little people are nothing new. But Bill Clinton was a master at pretending to care. His performance in that infamous funeral cliptestifies to a man who could turn on the facade of emotions in the blink of an eye. Obama isn't very good at that. Where Clinton was a natural actor, Obama is an unnatural one. Unlike most politicians, he lacks that instinct, because he lacks any degree of empathy. And so Obama needs extensive prep time to get his show on the road. Without prep time and a teleprompter, the mask begins to slip and the man underneath is cold and distant delivering a mechanical performance.
Look at Obama and you see the mirror of liberal expectations. No sooner does Bill Maher deliver his black man line then Obama begins talking about kicking ass. As always Obama tries to manipulate people by becoming what they want him to be. But underneath it, the fate of Americans means nothing to him.
A selfish regard for his own self-image means that Obama avoids negative crises. Particularly ones that seem to have no quick solution. If he tackles a crisis, then it's only to promote his own agenda, which usually has nothing to do with the crisis. The stimulus plan is a case in point.
Liberals expected that Obama would feel their anger toward BP. But there's no reason for him to feel angry. Obama is not animated by anti-corporate outrage. He wants to control corporations, but unlike so many of his hypocritical followers with hefty stock portfolios, he doesn't actually hate them. To Obama, BP and the people suffering from the consequences of it are equally of value only as tools.
Con artists don't get angry at the people they rip off. They only get angry when someone else gets in the way of their scam. Which is why Obama gets angry at Republicans. They're interfering with his con.
The left expected that Obama would fight for them. But he only fights for himself. And his emotion is reserved for what matters to him. Himself.
This created the disconnect between Obama and his key demographic. They wanted action. Obama wanted to play golf while avoiding any association with an insolvable problem. They expected him to care. But there was no reason for him to care. And so Obama created his own My Pet Goat narrative stretching on and on.
Meanwhile the flotilla mess had actually caught the Obama Administration by surprise. After the blowback over Jerusalem, the Obama Administration had decided to pull back and win back some credibility with Jewish voters. Additionally Democratic foreign policy hacks like Denis Ross had insistently made the case that concessions could only be extracted from Israel, if it felt confident that the White House was in its corner.
The flotilla incident came at a hopelessly inconvenient time. A few months ago, the Obama Administration would have jumped on it. Instead it first sent out Joe Biden to recoup his pro-Israel credentials before subtly stepping up the pressure. The internal decision was against coming down on Israel like a ton of bricks, since the last time that had proven to be counterproductive. Instead the administration would play at neutrality, and let Israel come to them.
Now (via Real Americans Defend Israel) acc to Kristol, the Obama Administration will shift from its former position to backing a UN investigation of the flotilla. The White House issued a non-denial denial
The White House official said the administration continues to support "an Israeli-led investigation into the flotilla incident that is prompt, credible, impartial, and transparent."
"We are open to different ways of ensuring the credibility of this Israeli-led investigation, including international participation, and have been in intensive talks with our Israeli partners in the past few days on how to move forward," said the official. "We know of no resolution that will be debated at the UN on the flotilla investigation next week."
The problem as with so much of what comes out of the White House is that it's a statement that can be read to mean virtually anything. I'll spare you the linguistic analysis, but even with basic interpretation it can be read as endorsing a UN investigation but quibbling about the details.
Not that it really matters. For the White House, Gaza is not the key issue. For Turkey and much of the left, Gaza is about backing Hamas. But Obama has his eyes set on a Palestinian state, and unless Hamas gets on board or takes over the PA, it's only a distraction. Obama is focused on the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. So Obama can afford to yawn at the flotilla, but not at Jews living in Jerusalem.
Obama has spent enough time in the Muslim world to be able to read the jockeying for power behind the flotilla. Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia forming a complex triangle based as much on internal rivalries as outward fanaticism. And while Obama would not mind Hamas in power, what's important is that he gets the credit. Ethnically cleansing Jerusalem would be a deposit he could bank with Muslim countries.
Behind the scenes, the Obama Administration is still pushing toothless Iranian sanctions
Congress has been crafting sanctions legislation against Iran that would make the Obama administration's paltry efforts at the UN look pitiful by comparison. Not surprisingly, the administration is working to squelch the legislation.
The Obama administration, which labored for months to impose tough new United Nations sanctions against Iran, now is pushing in the opposite direction against Congress as it crafts U.S. sanctions that the White House fears may go too far.
Administration officials have begun negotiations with congressional leaders, who are working on versions of House and Senate bills that would punish companies that sell refined petroleum products to Iran or help the country's oil industry.
Toothless sanctions are the way that the Saudis want to go, because they want to apply pressure on Iran, without any more use of force. What they don't want is Israel picking up any prestige by stopping Iran, or having the US introduce more talk of democratizing the region. And Obama does what the House of Saud says.
Speaking of the House of Saud, Black and Right has a piece on how CAIR exploits black people to associate themselves with the legacy of the civil rights movement
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), headquartered in Washington, is perhaps the best-known and most controversial Muslim organization in North America. CAIR presents itself as an advocate for Muslims’ civil rights and the spokesman for American Muslims. “We are similar to a Muslim NAACP,” says its communications director, Ibrahim Hooper.
Other renowned Muslim thinkers, such as Sa’id al-Andalusi (d. 1070CE) wrote that blacks are “More like animals than men,” and that “the rule of virtue and stability in judgment” is lacking amongst them, such noble qualities being replaced by “foolishness and ignorance.” Even such luminaries as Ibn Sina considered blacks to be “people who are by their very nature slaves.”
Ibn Sina incidentally shows up in just about every Islamic Science exhibit around.
But meanwhile Yahoo and Apple are adopting the Obama Administration's ethnic cleansing narrative for Jerusalem's Jews.
A few weeks ago, many iPhone users, including HonestReporting's Managing Editor, noticed that something had changed on their pre-installed weather application. The data for Jerusalem, as supplied by Yahoo, simply stopped updating. But this was no bug in the system. A new search for Jerusalem now gives users a choice between West Jerusalem in Israel and East Jerusalem located in the West Bank.
Yahoo has clearly decided to artificially divide Jerusalem. It's contorting its systems in all sorts of strange ways to do it. The question we must ask is what right does Yahoo have to use the data from an Israeli weather station in order to divide Jerusalem? This is deliberate dishonesty. According to its own data, the West Bank does not contain a place called Jerusalem. The weather station is in Israel. This is nothing more than a manipulation of data to advance political propaganda.
This is a deliberate attempt by a large multinational internet corporation to play politics in the Middle East. Yahoo should not be surprised if its political activism comes at a cost. Not just from supporters of Israel but from consumers generally. We as consumers never gave internet companies the right to formulate foreign policy or (as Facebook recently found) privacy policies. We elect governments to do these things. Yahoo, a corporate entity, should learn its place and stick to it.
Unfortunately this is nothing new for Yahoo Weather
Meanwhile I recently wrote about Apple's censorship of Ari David's app for criticism of Congressman Henry Waxman, but this sort of thing Apple does consider appropriate.
This is just a summary of what you can expect when you open the app on you iPhone (a literal quotation):
“It doesnt matter who will do the Job. The Point is, that someone will do it. It is the only way to a peaceful World. A World without hews, is free World.”
“Israel will go down and get crushed inshallah!!! blood will flow up to the knees.”
“Long live palestine, death to “israel”, palestine will never go under inshallah.”
“Kill israel. Death to israel all jews to concentration camps heil hitler.”
“I hate jews.”
“We should destroy isaerl once and for all.”
But bias has become integrated everywhere. Omri at MereRhetoric notes the following from the New York Times' account of the flotilla incident
The attempted takeover turned into an armed assault, with angry Israeli commandos opening fire.
Even formerly biased journalists would have once upon a time not done something as stupid as describing people in an event they were not part of and whose emotions they could not verify, as "angry".
But of course anyone who opposes the agenda of the left and their Islamist allies must be "angry", whether it's Tea Party protesters, the people of Arizona or Israeli commandos. If not they're "controversial" or "extremist".
Continuing on with the blog roundup, at Boker Tov Boulder, Assistant Secretary Crowley of the State Department appears to admit to multiple contacts with Hamas
MR. CROWLEY: Well, we have offered Hamas a spot at the table many, many times if Hamas will agree to very straightforward conditions
One wonders when and where such offers were made?
Ted Belman at Israpundit notes the shifting sands of the Old Middle East burying the New Middle East
And yet President Obama still believes “Turkey can have a positive voice in this whole process.”
To make matters worse, the opinion makers in the US and the EU have come out in favor of lifting the blockade which in effect is in support of Hamas, a terrorist organization. And Obama is on their side. The strengthening of Hamas effectively strengthens Iran, strangles the peace process and scares the bejeesus out of Egypt and Jordan.
As Obama stands astride the shifting sands what possible vision can he have? You would think that as the U.S. is losing control of the Middle East and plans to bring most of the boys home before the end of next year, she would need a strong Israel all the more.
Via Jihad Watch, Iran is spending 1.5 billion to fight the urgent crisis of high heels and lipstick
Iran has set aside $1.5 billion to promote "moral conduct," including enforcement of its dress code for women, "to solve the cultural and social ills" in society,
In reality this is probably a way to build up more Islamic militias in order to suppress street democracy protests.
Finally at Maggie's Notebook, Prince Charles' commitment to Islamic Moral Principles
If this isn't the most appalling bit of news to come out of the U.K., I don't know what could top it. The future King of England, Prince Charles believes the world should follow Islamic 'spiritual principles." By doing so, the environment will be protected. No surprise Queen Elizabeth is keeping her throne, perhaps gauging Prince William's ability to succeed her.
To be fair to Charles, adultery by a man isn't a problem under a religion that permits polygamy. And it also still believes in authoritarian rule. Which is two reasons for Charlie to be attracted to Islam's "Moral Principles".
From NY to Jerusalem,
Daniel Greenfield
Covers the Stories
Behind the News
Daniel Greenfield
Covers the Stories
Behind the News
