Georgia On My Mind?
Monday, President Obama issued a statement on the latest terrorist attack. It would’ve been nice had President Obama reacted quicker. William McGurn’s WSJ op-ed puts things in perfect perspective:
The December headlines remind us that we have no shortage of these nasty regimes. In China, the government sentences Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for writing a letter calling for legal and political reforms. In Iran, security forces fire on citizens marching in the streets. In Cuba, pro-government goons intimidate a group of wives, mothers and sisters of jailed dissidents—with President Raul Castro characterizing these bullies as “people willing to protect, at any price, the conquests of the revolution.”
In all these cases, the cry goes up: Where is the president of the United States?
For a man whose whole appeal has been wrapped in powerful imagery, President Obama appears strikingly obtuse about the symbolism of his own actions: e.g., squeezing in a condemnation of Iran before a round of golf. With every statement not backed up by action, with every refusal to meet a leader such as the Dalai Lama, with every handshake for a Chavez, Mr. Obama is defining himself to foreign leaders who are sizing him up and have only one question in mind: How much can we get away with?
President Obama’s staff rushed in immediately to tell him he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize but they waited 3 hours before telling him about Iran’s latest killings. What’s worse is that it took President Obama 3 days before talking about the foiled terrorist attack.
Anyone who remembers Russia’s invasion of South Ossetia remembers that then-Sen. Obama’s response was tepid whereas Sen. McCain’s answer was strong. Here’s Obama’s initial statement:
“I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict,” Obama said in a written statement. “Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint and to avoid an escalation to full-scale war. Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected.”
Contrast that with Sen. McCain’s initial response:
“[T]he news reports indicate that Russian military forces crossed an internationally recognized border into the sovereign territory of Georgia. Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory.
“The government of Georgia has called for a ceasefire and for a resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international mediators. The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course that it has chosen.”
The Russian invasion of South Ossetia happened on August 10, 2008. It wasn’t until August 12, 2008 that then-Sen. Obama reacted forcefully. I noted in this post that then, too, Obama was vacationing in Hawaii:
Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, on Tuesday read a statement blaming Russia for increasing tensions in the Caucasus.
“No matter how this conflict started, Russia has escalated it well beyond the dispute over South Ossetia and invaded another country,” said Obama, 47. “There is no possible justification for these attacks,” he added.
Liberals quickly criticized President Bush for not reacting quickly enough after the 9/11 attacks for their liking. Chief among those critics was Marty Meehan:
Meehan was quoted as saying “I don’t buy the notion Air Force One was a target … That’s just PR. That’s just spin.”
Nary a peep was heard from President Obama’s allies in the print media when he took 3 days to denounce the Iranian regime’s violent squashing of the people’s uprising.
President Obama’s reticence to quickly respond to a terrorist attack makes the United States look timid. It also makes us look weak in the terrorists’ eyes. (If there’s anything that President Obama is good at with regards to national security, it’s that he’s great at procrastination and making the United States look positively wimpy.)
This is why we shouldn’t have elected a toy messiah to do a man’s job.
Technorati Tags: Terrorism, President Obama, National Security, Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia, Iranian Uprising, Liberty, Foreign Policy
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
December 29th, 2009 at 9:47 am
“(If there’s anything that President Obama is good at with regards to national security, it’s that he’s great at procrastination and making the United States look positively wimpy.)”
Not quite, Gary. He’s also a master of the put-down, too, as long as it’s a put-down of the country he’s supposed to be leading.
And that leads to ever-more emboldening of the enemy, too. So you see, we get a two-fer with this turkey.
December 29th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Yes, and by the way this blame Bush game is getting pretty thin! Any body with a real managerial job, has about 5 or 6 months at most to say hes correcting the mistakes of his predecessor, after that its time to step up and admit your own screw-up’s !
December 29th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Had GWB waited three days to respond to anything he would have been blasted by every liberal pundit and blogger in the entire country.
But they’re not biased. Just ask them. They are as middle American as anyone can get. Why, everyone they know and talk to has exactly the same opinions they do…
December 29th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
The sad thing is that in this case when Obama blames Bush he is in part right.
Ultimately of course he is wrong because he has had over a year to fix the mistakes of the Bush administration, but they were indeed mistakes. And of course it was Obama’s embassy staff that the terrorist’s dad talked to about a month ago. It wasn’t Bush there a month ago. It was Obama.
But 2007 was still under Bush’s watch and 2007 was when the Bush Administration let two terrorists out of Gitmo who then went on to plan this most recent attack.
Conservatives should not get defensive when Obama attacks Bush like this. Instead we should BEAT OBAMA TO THE PUNCH. We should say that indeed Obama is repeating the mistakes of the Bush adminstration. The American people would appreciate our honesty.
George W. Bush was one of the worse presidents in US history. Sure Obama is even worse but that doesn’t erase the fact that George W. Bush was bad in his own right. Until we admit this we will never be able to move forward.
Again, Obama is in control now so blaming Bush for stuff that he should have corrected doesn’t fly. But it would totally take the sails out of Obama for us to first blame Bush and blame Obama for continuing down the same path at an accelerated rate.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I can certainly agree with that. Like Ive been bitching about here all along, where is the opposition “leadership” in Congress. Just because its a holiday week off doesnt mean they cant find a microphone someplace.
December 30th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
“But 2007 was still under Bush’s watch and 2007 was when the Bush Administration let two terrorists out of Gitmo who then went on to plan this most recent attack.”
All fine and good, and technically accurate, Steve, except you left out the part that, because of a numbskull decision by the SCOTUS GWB didn’t have a whole lot of choice.
A decision, BTW, roundly praised by the jackass leadership including who is now our apologist-in-chief who wants all the glory but is totally and unequivocally unwilling to take any blame for anything, including all the stupid things he’s said and done just this year alone (does the phrase “The Cambridge Police Department acted stupidly” ring a bell? Just one of many, many mental/ethical/judgmental lapses that he can lay claim to.)
December 31st, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Exactly, your both on point.
If the Republucans had half the spine I’d like them too, they would be all over this, not to castigate, or whine, but to educate the public with a short history lesson, a debreifing or hot washup, on just how and why not just the Ego in Chief, but we the USA, ended up falling on our sword last week.