Political Numbness

Remember the Arab Spring?  The Arab Spring that is beginning to look like radical Islamists might soon be taking on larger roles in Egypt, Libya (and), and perhaps Tunisia. The same Arab Spring that caused massive destabilization in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia?  Well, that Arab Spring might look like a side show in the coming weeks as the Palestinian Authority takes to the United Nations to seek unilateral statehood.  The United States is in a political bind as the Obama Administration has already endorsed statehood based on the 1967 boundaries and is running smack into the issue of that policy’s unpopularity here in the U.S. and how it affects the Democrat chance of retaining the Jewish vote in 2012.   Obama and the Democrats can not lose the Jewish vote under any circumstance, so what are they to do?  Strong arm the Palestinian Authority into retreat of course.

Except the PA isn’t retreating and the U.S. has had to issue veiled threats that it will use it’s U.N. veto power to stop the U.N. from taking any action beyond issuing statements of support.  Saudi Arabia has stated there will be strong repercussions if the U.S. does stand in the way.  You can rest assured that virtually every other Arab nation will stand with Saudi Arabia in condemning the United States.  And we can rest assured that there will be massive unrest throughout a region already destabilized, directed squarely at the U.S. and at the Middle-East’s governments that are close to us.  A veto by the U.S. will be a defining moment used by every radical Islamic group to recruit and effect political change in countries we rely on as strategic allies.  It’ll be a long-term disaster and could lead to a new level of terrorist activity.

And every bit of it because the Obama administration’s bungling of America’s foreign policy.  Amateur hour in the White House will cost us much more blood, tears, and treasure in the years to come.

I’m honestly flabbergasted when others are somehow surprised that President Obama’s inexperience and naivety confront him so openly as it did this weekend by Israel’s unwillingness to extend a “moratorium” on settlement “expansion”.  His hubris won’t allow him to see that he’s out of his depth.  Real world problems will not “fix” themselves simply because he wills it yet he doesn’t have the experience necessary to walk through to a final solution.  His entrenched academician philosophies only make matters worse. 

It truly is the height of arrogance in his expectation that something as complex as the Israel/Palestinian issue would be solved so quickly, under current circumstances, when the issue could not be solved by a much more accomplished and experienced Bill Clinton.  If the Palestinians could not be won over to accept more than 80% of the West Bank (ignoring the other issues like right of return) under a much more willing Israeli government, did President Obama truly believe Israel would be willing to forestall the will of their people when the Palestinians can’t deliver anything approaching peace in the forseeable future?

That President Obama will not be able to deliver peace to the region is widely accepted.  What isn’t known yet is how badly his international bumbling will further weaken us in the eyes of our allies and enemies.

You ARE a punk.  You and the rest of the Democrats spent years calling President Bush worse and you get your panties in a wad because a drunken Brit calls you a punk?

Pathetic.

Really?  Seriously?  At best anyone that believes al-Queda isn’t a deadly enemy is simply naive.  At worst they’re a moron.

Few duties rest so squarely upon the shoulders of a President as national defense does.  While nearly anything can, and most likely will be attributed to the sitting President during his administration, national defense is one duty that the Constitution clearly and specifically states is the responsibility of the President of the United States.  Past Presidents have risen to the challenge, seemingly understanding as Commander-in-Chief that they are completely and singularly responsible for the lives of the men and women that serve under them, as well as the security of our nation.  I’ve had occasion to question whether a President truly had that in his heart at times, but at no time in my life have I ever thought that a President held this solemn duty in utter contempt.  Until now. 

President Obama has shown such disregard for not only the national interest of the United States, but also for the lives of the men and women in the military that I can scarcely think of a worse path to be led down than the one he is leading us down today with respect to Iraq and Afghanistan.  President Obama is clearly more interested in his popularity and the vicissitudes of his liberal allies than what his actions may ultimately lead to.  Contrast that with President Bush’s administration.

Despite the morass Iraq had become under President Bush, and the public and private condemnation that came along with it, he stuck to the mission because he understood something that President Obama apparently doesn’t.  Principle matters.  President Bush proved that he wouldn’t turn his back on duty or a promise to save his popularity, yet we’ve already seen that is something President Obama is neither capable of, nor susceptible to.  President Obama is everything in a President and a Commander-in-Chief that we as a great nation should despise as there is nothing more disgraceful and despicable than to play politics with other people’s lives.  That is exactly what he’s done in Iraq and what he is now doing in Afghanistan.

Charles Krauthammer said well in this week’s column.

During the past week, 22 Americans were killed over a four-day period in Afghanistan. This is not a place about which decisions should be made in order to placate members of Congress, pass health care and thereby maintain a president’s political standing. This is a place about which a president should make decisions to best succeed in the military mission he himself has set out.

President Obama, and by extension the United States, will be seen as weak and nothing invites more aggression than weakness.  One need look only to history to see the proof of that.  If President Obama believes he can constrain al-Qaeda with a fleet of drones, while tucking tail and running from Iraq and Afghanistan he will be sorely mistaken.  Unfortunately it is the United States that will pay the price for his contempt and his failure.  al-Qaeda will continue to grow and spread, and the Islamic radicals in Iran, Syria and the Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan will take heart that their struggle will only get easier.  The Iranians will dig their claws deeper and deeper into Iraq until Iraq is all but a puppet nation and the Taliban will grow bolder and Afghanistan will once again become a safe-haven for al-Qaeda.

And make no mistake about this.  al-Qaeda will not have forgotten about the United States while they rebuild.  They will seek to fight us again, except it will once again be on American soil instead of foreign soil.  And the lives of the men and women that were list in Iraq and Afghanistan will have been for naught.

I love it!  First heard about this sign on the 9th.

Unlike the United States, Israel actually knows how to protect itself.  It has the political will to do the things it needs to do in order to remove threats to its security.  In the United States if a terrorist gets a bloody lip people are put on trial.  In the United States, if you force a terrorist to sit in certain positions for prolonged periods of time, or if you simulate drowning by pouring water over the face of an individual (water boarding) you are greeted to daily attacks in the media and called a terrorist yourself.

In Israel, if you kill Jews Mossad simply tracks you down and kills you.  There is something to be admired by the grim determination the Israeli’s have, and their willingness to disrupt their enemies.  Unlike the United States, the Israelis have a real understanding of what the world is really like, living amongst their enemies.  In a country which is less than 20 miles wide in places, they haven’t the advantage of looking at things through rose colored glasses.

Which brings us to dire warnings the Israelis have been giving the world regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  Recall they destroyed a Syrian reactor in 2007 and many believe the Israelis are planning on doing the same in Iran if the world refuses to act. 

The world should be thankful there is still a people so firmly grounded in the real world that can be counted upon to act in order to protect both themselves and the world from murderers and butchers.

For more than 20 years the federal government had been building a nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.   Built deep underground, the facility was never popular with Nevadans who didn’t want it “in their back yard”.  Haven’t heard of Yucca Mountain?  Not surprising that you wouldn’t have, unless you’re a true news junkie as nuclear fuel storage isn’t something a great many think about on a daily basis.  Or are concerned about for that matter.

Yet nuclear storage was then, and is even more so now, of grave importance.  The United States has 65 Nuclear power plants, with 104 reactors.  Each of those reactors use nuclear fuel that must be exchanged every so often with fresh fuel.  The old fuel is highly radioactive and must be stored in special containers in a secure environment for protection of the surrounding communities, but also to protect it from terrorists that would love to get their hands on it.  Federal law requires the Federal government to provide a permanent storage for the used fuel, which will take thousands of years to become inert.  But they’ve never done that, as Yucca Mountain has been mired in politics for all of that twenty year period.  So the spent fuel is stored at each of the Nuclear power plant facilities in make-shift storage areas.  Instead of one centralized location which can be guarded the country must instead deal with 65 separate storage sites that are near communities.

President Obama campaigned on shutting down Yucca Mountain, and instead of treating this like all of his other broken promises, he’s actually followed through.  He shut down Yucca Mountain.  Yet we as a country are too dependent on foreign oil, and the vast majority of our power plants are coal fired, which are rather dirty by nature.  Coal fired plants also produce fly ash, which is cancerous and if not disposed of properly, can allow heavy metals to leech into ground water and soil.  It’s no wonder many have wanted to re-emphasize nuclear power in the United States, but because of 3-mile island have not been able to since the late 1970′s.  However that is beginning to change with the uptick in the price of oil over the past two years.

Today comes notice that the Obama administration is moving forward with loan guarantees for building of new nuclear power plants.  Hurrah, except the problem with the permanent storage of the spent nuclear fuel.  Ignoring the problem does not make it go away Mr. President.  And it certainly doesn’t make it less risky for those communities either.

Every first lady needs a schtic, and it seems that Michelle Obama is taking on Obesity.  It’s worthy I suppose, though not exactly of the caliber traditionally taken on by the first ladies.  Whatever the case, more power to her.  But labeling obesity a national security problem?  Seriously?

It’s no great secret that the Obama administration is deep into its effort to shore up its lacking national security credentials, but this is beyond the pale.

I have not been secret about my respect for President Bush, so it is with some happiness that I encountered this picture this morning.  It is real, and standing in Minnesota right now.   We are in sore need of real leadership again.

The irony is thick when the liberals complain abour critics of the President’s policies.  Sorry libs, but you said for eight years you didn’t care.  Eat it.

How’s that Hopey Changey crap working out for you?