Posts Tagged ‘clinton’
Gaffes of international proportions

This will be short.

All ideology aside, I am embarrassed to be an American right now. Obama ran his campaign partially under the new paradigm of "mending international fences."

Well, this past week has left us with egg on our faces. First, Obama blatantly snubbed Prime Minister Gordon Brown from the United Kingdom. Not to mention that Obama had already returned a 9/11 gift from the UK.

On Friday, March 6, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a "reset button" gift that was incorrectly inscribed with a word that had a completely different meaning than what was  supposedly "intended."


Clinton
: "I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is: 'We want to reset our relationship and so we will do it together.'"

Clinton, laughing, added, "We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?" she asked Lavrov.

"You got it wrong," Lavrov said." Both diplomats laughed. "It should be "perezagruzka" (the Russian word for reset,) Lavrov said. "This says 'peregruzka,' which means 'overcharged.'"

As if that were not enough, Clinton tried to save face after the press-conference with some words that simply made her to look as if she were "fishing" for a valid connotation of the incorrect word:

Clinton: "In a way, the word that's on the button turns out to be also true," Clinton said. "We are resetting, and because we are resetting, the minister and I have an overload of work."


It doesn't  matter to me which U.S. administration would carelessly make Americans look this stupid, I would be just as humiliated. We look extremely idiotic in the eyes of the international community because of these negligent actions.

 
Barack Obama: Changing his Changes…you better “Believe” it!

Not again?! BO promised “change,” but he didn’t make it clear that his policies would be the prime target of these “changes.”

Most of us are still trying to figure out what our new president is all about, and if he stands behind his statements. Well good luck! Apparently he’s still not sure either. In less than a year, Obama has “vowed” to end the war in Iraq three times, with each target date subsequently “changing.”

First, in March of '08 we had his prickly response to former President Clinton’s admonition of Obama’s stance on the Iraq war: “Bill, said Obama's depiction of his longstanding opposition to the war was a ‘fairy tale.’"  Feeling obligated to defend himself, then Democratic Nominee Obama snapped back; declaring that, “Clinton ‘doesn't have any standing to question my position on this issue.’ And he added that, ‘I will bring this war to an end in 2009, so don't be confused.’"

Next, after winning the Democratic primary and selecting his VP, the Obama camp launched a website – barackobama.com – to publicly display his future  policies; which by the way, included at least one “change” from his previous promises. When addressing the Iraq war, the site showed his “new” promise: “…Immediately upon taking office, Obama will give his Secretary of Defense and military commanders a new mission in Iraq: ending the war…Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months,” which would effectively push the date well into 2010.

Now, here’s Obama’s latest installment: “President Barack Obama on Friday promised to end the combat mission in Iraq in 18 months, vowing to follow that by pulling all troops out by the end of 2011.”

So, if your still sizing up your new president, one thing is certain: his promises “change” like the chromatophores of a chameleon.  And you can take that "change" to the (government run) bank!

Incidentally, recent research indicates that a chameleon uses color changes “…as a method of communication, including to make themselves more attractive to potential mates.”

Hmmm? Is our prez a lizard?

 
Serious inexperience, na·ïve·té, the hallmarks of the Obama candidacy

When It Comes to Barack Obama, we can only “hope” that he is not the “change” we end up with. He has repeatedly said that he will disarm our nation. One may think that the many years of U.S. pressure through the Cold War is what finally wore down the Soviet Union. But it was actually Ronald Reagan’s policies of peace through strength, ramping up our firepower that won the Cold War. Not a shot was fired when the Soviet Union fell.

In contrast, when World War II began for us many years earlier, our enemy at that time, Japan, thought they could defeat us in a quick war with a knockout punch. On the other side of the Atlantic, would-be allies appeased and negotiated with our enemies. In that dire war, we won through strength, not through appeasement. We began without the necessary weapons, only a brave fighting force with pre-World War I fighting equipment. Would our enemies have been so bold to attack had we been more formidable?

Nature gives us an easily comprehensible lesson in “peace through strength.” Imagine a porcupine without quills; such an animal would be a feast for predators. In reality, not even grown lions dare to attack an African porcupine-only the young foolish ones. That’s because the porcupine is well armed. In this case, “peace through strength” is demonstrated by an excellent natural defense system.

That little example serves as an excellent analogy for our national defense. When it comes to our modern enemies, Barack Obama would seek to disarm and weaken our nation. To borrow from my analogy, we would be the porcupine, only without quills. But don’t take my word for it; this is by his own admission.

And what of our foreign policy? Our presence in Iraq, and a strong Iraqi nation will provide a counterbalance against Iran’s instability. But that is not the opinion of Barack Obama, whose rhetoric so far has been a version of John Kerry’s, the Iraq War is a “failure,” so let’s cut-n-run. Kerry was more forceful in his rhetoric, probably owing to the fact that it was a dire situation at the time. But the policies since that period have been incredibly successful in Iraq. Yet, Obama has failed to recognize this. It seems in his arrogance that he really doesn’t care, instead believing he can negotiate with Iran’s wacky president. (It kind of reminds me of the guy in the original Die Hard movie that believed he could negotiate with the criminals. He came into the room with great confidence and swagger, and the results were not pretty.)

As the public, you should be informed. Our national election is not high school government, where the most charismatic, popular guy wins. In a presidential election a person shouldn’t win because 4 out of 5 liberal dentists prefer him. Nor should they win because they can do no wrong in the eyes of the media.

The media is carrying Obama’s water (failing to realize what they’re carrying is a strainer), and in the meantime, they’re not reporting the many great successes that are occurring right now in Iraq. Since the media won’t give you the straight scoop on Iraq, you should know that there is a place you can go to find out what is really going on in Iraq, and how amazing our country’s fighting force is. Check out Multi-National Force Iraq where you can read recent great news stories like these:

Baghdad students back to school

Strike destroys major al-Qaida in Iraq cell

We’re clearly winning in Iraq. The consequences for losing will be a horribly weakened America. Don’t be a sucker for the tripe of Obama and the media. My recommendation is you vote “NOBama” this year.

Editor's Note: The image of Obama and Osama are courtesy of T.R. Oglodad.