Views on Obama’s Gut-free Syria mission: Help Kickstart World War III and get with change
VIEWS on Obama’s moves on Syria:
“The Gut is a perversion of the notion of an activist president. Active does not mean reflexive. Being an activist does not imply thoughtlessness. Thinking is an activity. Considering all the possibilities can be an extraordinarily active business. (In fact, Neustadt, and through him, John F. Kennedy, had a positive mania for “options.” They thought that deciding among several courses of action was the proper function of leadership.) The Gut is the opposite of that. The Gut feels the right course of action in a situation — “He tried to kill my dad!” “With us or against us!” — and then acts on it. The Gut resists options and the active process of deciding among them. Barack Obama is not a man of The Gut, and it is driving official Washington crazy.”
“Twelve years after we were attack by al-Qaeda, twelve years after 3,000 Americans were killed by al-Qaeda, President Obama now asks us to be allies with al-Qaeda.”
“He stumbled on the word ‘unshakable.’ If you were looking for the telling detail, there you go.”
“Obama needs the country’s backing to strike Syria so he can strike a diplomatic bargain to get rid of Assad’s chemical arsenal, thus ending America’s interest in striking Syria”
The speech was exceptionally revealing in the logical disconnect that plagues his policy: Chemical weapons use is beyond the pale and different than any weapon. We cannot let it go on. We have a national interest in acting. But I would ask Congress to hold off on voting for me to do anything. We’ll consider a deal to have Assad turn over his weapons. But remain in power.
Obama’s failure to be honest about his nation’s record of destroying international norms and undermining international law, his myth-making about the role of the US in world affairs, and his one-sided interventions in the Middle East, all render the crisis in Syria even harder to resolve. Until there is some candour about past crimes and current injustices, until there is an effort to address the inequalities over which the US presides, everything it attempts – even if it doesn’t involve guns and bombs – will stoke the cynicism and anger the president says he wants to quench.
Help launch World War III
Posted: 11th, September 2013 | In: Politicians, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
