Gergen: We only have one president at a time
posted at 9:05 am on July 22, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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CNN political analyst David Gergen believes that Barack Obama made a political mistake in engaging Nouri al-Maliki on the question of the American presence in Iraq. He stepped over the line in explicitly admitting what amounts to negotiations with an American ally during wartime, a role that rightly belongs to the executive under all circumstances. Gergen calls this the first real political mistake of Obama’s trip — but will anyone notice?
David Gergen: “I think it was the first — Barack Obama made the first mistake of his trip, in my judgment, in releasing a statement in which he said exactly what Maliki had said in those conversations. We have a long tradition in this country that we only have one president at a time. He’s the commander in chief and the negotiator in chief. I cannot remember a campaign which a rival seeking the presidency has been in a position negotiating a war that’s under way with another party outside the country. I think he leaves himself open to the charge tonight that he’s meddling, that this is not his role, that he can be the critic, but he’s not the negotiator. We have a president who does that. So, I think the underlying facts support him, but I think it would be a real mistake — and I think it was a mistake — to get into these conversations and let it be used politically.”
CNN’s Anderson Cooper: “That’s interesting. Gloria, do you think this is the first mistake he made on this trip?”
Gloria Borger: “You know, it’s very interesting, I do agree with David. And Candy, in her earlier piece, talked about walking the fine line between being this candidate and being presumptuous. And I think that he may just have crossed that, because, you know, it is a tradition. You don’t talk about these private conversations. And it’s not up to Barack Obama right now to negotiate troop withdrawals. It’s up to Barack Obama to be on a fact-finding mission, which is indeed what he has said he was on.”
On the face of it, Gergen is correct. In fact, Obama’s intervention violates two principles of American politics. First, presidential candidates do not conduct foreign policy. They can, as Gergen notes, criticize it all they want, but they have no standing to enter negotiations. Neither do Senators or Congressmen, either, as the Constitution explicitly leaves that to the executive branch. Obama had no standing to discuss troop withdrawals, trade policy, or even the exchange rate with Maliki.
That being said, the latter restriction has been breached repeatedly by both sides over the last few years. Both Republicans and Democrats have gone on “fact-finding missions” to Iraq in order to bolster their own policies. What makes this look worse than usual was Obama’s insistence that he didn’t need a fact-finding mission to arrive at his conclusions before going to Iraq, and that nothing he saw would change his mind on his policy. That makes his effort appear to be a transparent effort to negotiate on behalf of his own policy — and his statement look as though he succeeded at it.
Further, most people expected Obama to do just what he did. His trip was certainly no secret, nor was his insistence that he was there to dictate solutions, not gather suggestions. Perhaps this objection would have been more effectively raised before he left, but now I doubt most people will notice the overreach.
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I believe with Gergen on something?
carbon_footprint on July 22, 2008 at 9:10 AM
Yup. His pals, Hill and Bill.
fogw on July 22, 2008 at 9:16 AM
empty suit can do no wrong, this is a blatant stab at our sitting Pres.
isnt it illegal? but as you say ed there have been several people to do this this last term…
trailortrash on July 22, 2008 at 9:17 AM
Obama isn’t the POTUS? That’ll be news to him!
woodman on July 22, 2008 at 9:17 AM
Ed, I think you’re wrong. Gergen and Borger both called it that, even if Borger did resort to the issue of “tradition” as if what Obama did was merely impolite.
As for other senators and congressman, the difference here is that Obama is a presidential candidate with a huge media entourage. The stakes are different.
Die-hard Obama supporters may not care, but I think many people 1) at least recognize that Obama indeed overstepped appropriate aboundaries and 2) are disturbed and offended by the presumptuousness of it all.
BigD on July 22, 2008 at 9:17 AM
Now that’s the Gergen I know.
smellthecoffee on July 22, 2008 at 9:19 AM
What office will Obama run for once he becomes POTUS?
Because grabbing for the next run is the only thing he’s good at and the only thing he knows how to do.
Performing the job functions? That’s for the little people.
NoDonkey on July 22, 2008 at 9:20 AM
Just the anti-Christ making an early powerplay. Nothing to see, move along………….
adamsmith on July 22, 2008 at 9:22 AM
President of the EU? Sec’y Gen of UN? Grand Poo-Bah of all of Asia? The ‘messiah’ has no limits….is there a King of the Whole Wide World yet? Never mind, Michelle will annoit him as such and the adoring masses will simply accept it as gospel.
dustoffmom on July 22, 2008 at 9:26 AM
Bush should come out today and publicly tell Obama that he is not POTUS at this time and to refrain from war time negotiations. It can’t hurt Bush and it would definately make some headlines.
Thoughts?
LordMaximus on July 22, 2008 at 9:27 AM
One can only hope LordMax and that is surely a statement I’d enjoy watching him make. I’ve been wondering for some time now where that tuff talkin Texan I helped elect has gone. Almost seems some days like Jesse got to him first. :(
dustoffmom on July 22, 2008 at 9:29 AM
Who dars questions the actions of the Messiah?
What’s really grating me is the attempt by the media to make Obama’s withdrawal position accurate. Both that damned John Roberts and the looathesome Jack Cafferty did this yesterday.
They both suggested that McCain and Bush have come around to Obama’s side on troop withdrawal. Obama was WRONG on the surge and WRONG on the timing of withdrawal.
Eventually his 16 month framework is going to be right, but for cripes sake it’s like saying it’s going to rain day after day after day. Eventually you will get it right.
Their efforts to make Obama look prescient are positively nauseating.
drjohn on July 22, 2008 at 9:31 AM
Even Bill Clinton had the sense to note that there is only one President at a time.
Andrea Mitchell made this same comment this morning.
Ed, if this is something that even liberals notice then it ought to be seizd upon.
drjohn on July 22, 2008 at 9:33 AM
When can we have an edit function? I’m between patients and I never could type well.
drjohn on July 22, 2008 at 9:33 AM
When leaving the meeting with Maliki Hussein said, “We had a constructive talk.” In diplo-speak this means that something was accomplished. What power does a senator have to accomplish anything during a meeting with a head of state?
Also, Durban and some other senator were sitting off to the side during the photo op like aids. If this is a tax-financed senate trip, why is one senator being treated differently than the others? This is a total charade designed to convince people that a zero is a one.
Akzed on July 22, 2008 at 9:36 AM
I thought the whole pandering of the trip was a mistake…telling the world that the surge was a mistake, let’s face it, HE as a candidate is a mistake.
right2bright on July 22, 2008 at 9:36 AM
When Bush made a comment overseas about appeasement, there was a huge outcry that Obama had been insulted overseas.
I think negotiating with a foreign leader is pretty darn insulting. Let’s see if it gets nearly the outcry.
MayBee on July 22, 2008 at 9:41 AM
The moo-saih makes a lot of mistakes, most out of ignorance, some out of arrogance, many because of snobbery — The drive-bys have a huge paper-over job ahead of them
tarpon on July 22, 2008 at 9:42 AM
Aw, hell. Jesse Jackson does it all the time - only he does it with America’s ENEMIES. And let’s not forget Ms. Pelosi’s foray into world politics. Still got that headscarf, Nancy?
dm60462 on July 22, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Gergen’s point alone is going to dissuade anyone from voting for Obama. It is useful in the list of reasons that Obama is arrogant. Combining the Obama is arrogant meme with a discussion of hubris seems likely to be quite persuasive when talking one on one to someone thinking of voting for Obama. Sadly, most politics are retail political ads.
thuja on July 22, 2008 at 9:44 AM
Jordan today, Ramallah and Jerusalem tomorrow. By the time he hits Berlin his 3 point lead should be solid…/s
Limerick on July 22, 2008 at 9:47 AM
This would have never happened if Bush had the Feds slap the cuffs on Pelosi when she returned from Syria.
Obama is so out of line here as a presidential candidate, and an official statement should come from the WH.
Rovin on July 22, 2008 at 9:47 AM
The public isn’t going to notice this at all or be offended by it because they’re used to politicians going to Iraq to “evaluate” the situation. Hillary did it last year and even if she didn’t meet with Maliki the public still thinks it’s the same thing.
The media, besides Gergen and Mitchell, isn’t going to point this out. And no one listens to Gergen or Mitchell.
Telling conservatives this is just preaching to the choir. No votes will change because of it. Actually, he’ll get more votes because the media will convince independent voters that Obama is more presidential because of the visit (even though if Bush did domething like this in 2000 the media would have tried to convince the public that this was a sign of his lack of knowledge and experience and ridiculed his need for the trip).
Sensible Mom on July 22, 2008 at 9:50 AM
I agree, but the attack should not be that he is arrogant or presumptiuous, which he is in spades, but rather that he is inexperienced!! Why doesn’t he know this protocol? Exit question: If he doesn’t know this protocol, what else doesn’t he know about how foreign policy is supposed to be conducted?
Bumper sticker idea–VOTE McCAIN: NO OJT.
smellthecoffee on July 22, 2008 at 9:50 AM
We have a long tradition in this country …
Didn’t you get the memo? It’s all about CHANGE!
Tony737 on July 22, 2008 at 9:51 AM
Obama is only copying Nancy P.. It is not his fault. He did not realize that she was setting a bad example.
Johan Klaus on July 22, 2008 at 9:53 AM
You know what’s really infuriating about this whole trip, and the MSM’s haigiographical worship of Barack HUSSEIN Obama (PBUH)(SWT)(SWT) on his trip to Iraq & Afghanistan?
a) the already aforementioned that he couldn’ve even have made this trip, without Body Armor, if it wasn’t for the success of the very Surge that he opposed, and denigrated at every turn; that’s already astutely been pointed out…
but even worse…
b) the most obvious, but unstated worship by the MSM that blares headlines such as “Obama boosts his Foreign Policy credentials with Trip to Iraq”
The unstated implication being: Can you imagine a Serious Presidential Candidate for the United States, who’s “Resume” is SO THIN, who has so little actual experience, who is such an Empty Suit, who has done so little in his life, who literally has accomplished nothing in his life except run for office; that the Media is BOASTING that ONE SINGLE “Dog & Pony” show trip to Iraq & Afghanistan actually BOLSTERS “his credentials”!
Isn’t that freaking pathetic?
Think McCain and the Republicans are smart enough to point that out?
Dale in Atlanta on July 22, 2008 at 9:54 AM
Bush threw down the gauntlet from the Knesset. It is almost sad because I don’t have a dog in either race, but the Machiavellians are getting their @sses handed to them by an “elitist bedwetter”. This is hilarious. McCain is really going to shrivel now. When I heard some of the leftists on TV saying that Obama has potentially declawed the Machiavellian “geniouses” on foreign policy I thought it was ridiculous, but the more I see whining they really might be right. Keep whining people, getting strong armed by liberal on foreign policy just shows how weak they have become. Reading old books doesn’t make you wise, having to ability to apply it does. The bombing of Iran will be nothing but a tantrum now.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 9:55 AM
Who knew that David Gergen could make a fist at a Democratic? That’s a first.
As Ed points out, the days when elected officials respected the propriety of the President being the sole voice in foreign policy making is long gone. For good or bad (I think mostly bad, but as one scholar pointed out the Constitution is an “invitation to a struggle” when it comes to such matters; the President simply needs to fight back).
But there’s something especially problematic about a Presidential candidate during a campaign traveling to a war zone and, implicitly if not explicitly, influencing policy. After all, the Bush Administration is current in negotiations with the Maliki government on a future security arrangement.
Obam’s little pre-victory lap is a bit more than a member of Congress (or private citizen) bloviating in front of other governments.
This one is the real deal.
SteveMG on July 22, 2008 at 9:55 AM
Bush should come out today and publicly tell Obama that he is not POTUS at this time and to refrain from war time negotiations. It can’t hurt Bush and it would definately make some headlines. - mAX
Totally agree. Bush oughta say “I’ve been staying out of the presidential race, the candidates ought to stay out of the role of president until they become president-elect and then I will walk him through it.”
Tony737 on July 22, 2008 at 9:56 AM
I think all the reporters in that shot should be fired for criticizing his O-holiness.
Mojave Mark on July 22, 2008 at 9:57 AM
The democrats no longer practice Constitutional principles in governance. This is to be expected, and as it broadcasts universally, counted as a boon if manipulated properly.
WWTS?
WHAT WOULD TONY SAY?
Figure how Tony Snow would pin this and go for it.
maverick muse on July 22, 2008 at 9:58 AM
The incident with the NYT explicitly refusing McCain’s essay because McCain’s content did not mirror Barack’s MIGHT be the line that those journalists with a thread of conscience dread to cross into outer darkness.
Drudge
Gergen
It requires guts; who’s next to defy the communist propaganda machine consuming America today as the marxist candidate presumes that he is already our official POTUS?
maverick muse on July 22, 2008 at 10:02 AM
The problem is nobody in the MSM cares….Oh, they notice, but it’s exactly what they want so they don’t care!
Vntnrse on July 22, 2008 at 10:02 AM
Wow, Gergen actually said something I agree with.
CP on July 22, 2008 at 10:03 AM
I’ll tell you I could stay in this thread all day. This is fun. All these “tough guys” on foreign policy with their tail between their legs. Whining that Bush should cry about it, this is what happens when you dig your own grave. While negotiations are not war and both should be done in the best interest of the country you are representing, incompetent negotiating, whether by lack of skill or by design will make you weaker in the end. Superpowers can’t rule the world, they can rule it an inch at a time or give the illusion of doing so, and Obama’s trip is giving the rest of the world a chance to vent. They are mad at Rome. Yes they have their own interests in mind, but this administration has put their foot so hard on the accelerator that they now find themselves alone and I just hope they don’t do anything drastic, like have a tantrum in Iran.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:06 AM
and I just hope they don’t do anything drastic, like have a tantrum in Iran.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:06 AM
Sounds like an Anti-American/Pro-Jihadi Democratic Traitor Leftist Nutbag (TM) poster to me…
Dale in Atlanta on July 22, 2008 at 10:10 AM
How is this strong arming? Even the people at CNN are saying he made a mistake. Andrea Mitchell over at MSNBC is complaining about the way reporters aren’t being allowed access. WOW, Sen. Obama is really blowing everyone out of the water.
terryannonline on July 22, 2008 at 10:12 AM
I’m worried about what he will say to the Palestinians when he meets with them. Will he give them half of Israel? Jerusalem?
Be afraid…be very afraid.
becki51758 on July 22, 2008 at 10:12 AM
This should be the quote of the day (From the TOL link above):
drjohn on July 22, 2008 at 10:12 AM
And of course this is such an alley oop of a statement. The easy comeback that if Bush would have acted Presidential he wouldn’t have this problem. Then it marries Bush to McCain. I thought Obama was just good speeches and I thought he was somewhat mediocre from a political tact in the primaries, but he must have some good adviser, in addition to momentum. This has been a brilliant chess move but this makes Obama even more dangerous.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:12 AM
You’re right - that’s an easy comeback.
Glib, meaningless and completely irrelevant to the situation at hand.
Slublog on July 22, 2008 at 10:14 AM
RIGGGHTTTTT, because they haven’t been whining for the past, oh say, 8 years about the cowboy diplomacy going on from America. And they haven’t complained about them cowboys helping defeat Hitler for oh, say, 60 years.
suck it up, Buttercup. No one cares what Europe thinks anymore.
mjk on July 22, 2008 at 10:15 AM
LevStrauss…
Ooops….looks like Barry needs to throw Rasmussen under the bus..this foreign tour doesn’t seem to be pushing the polls the proper direction.
Rasmussen today…Barry +0. Keep it up Barry!
Limerick on July 22, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Not a major gaffe in and of itself, but it is part of a trend towards presuming the general election is already won, and if taken with future instances of arrogance, can turn off the swing voters Obama needs to win the election.
jon1979 on July 22, 2008 at 10:17 AM
Yes go back to dismissal out of hand, that’s all you got left. Call me some jihadist or something stupid like that because Bush and McCain got played by a “community organizer”. As the BIG Government Imperialism of the Republican party continues to lose more followers the ones that are left are of lower and lower quality. When do the mouthpieces start flipping? They all aren’t getting Hannity numbers, they have to try to keep some kind of semblence of credibility.
No I am not a leftist. I was a 1994 Republican that wanted smaller government and for the US not to be the World’s Policeman. I am still waiting.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Yeah, like I really want to listen to the rest of the world who want to neuter us. Great idea, sounds like a foreign policy plan to me!
terryannonline on July 22, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Someone is gonna need a much bigger bus for this trip.
wccawa on July 22, 2008 at 10:19 AM
Great is the election tommorrow? Politics is fought on fronts, Obama has just layed out a major assault on the foreign policy front, what was to be his weakest. Rasmussen can put his polls where the monkeys put their nuts, they mean absolutely nothing, what the politicians do in combat with each other is much more important. So look at what a couple hundred people think versus what you can see with your own eyes.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:21 AM
What is so wrong with a being the ‘World’s Policemen’? You want your city to have policemen right to protect you, right? Or do you think all cops should be taken off the street?
terryannonline on July 22, 2008 at 10:22 AM
No I am not a leftist. I was a 1994 Republican that wanted smaller government and for the US not to be the World’s Policeman. I am still waiting.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:18 AM
Relax, I’m messing with you.
In my opinion, you’re basically correct; Bush and the Republicans have fumbled so many good opportunities; it’s stunning in it’s scope of incompetence, actually.
I try not to get depressed about it, and I try not to write/post about it, because it just gives the REAL Nutbags ammunition, unfortuantely.
I try to focus on the things I can control, which is unconditional support for our Troops, and hope for actual Victory in Iraq & Afghanistan, because the opposite is too horrible to comptemplate…
Dale in Atlanta on July 22, 2008 at 10:23 AM
The circumstance that Gergen, you, and Gergen’s listeners and your readers all took notice seems to provide a pretty good start toward answering that question.
Kralizec on July 22, 2008 at 10:23 AM
I don’t either, but then again I have been saying our foreign policy has been ignorant for quite some time. The President should have never put our country in a position for this to happen. A legacy listening to legacy “intellectuals” will do that. Sometimes the best genes don’t pass on.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Nah, I think more like a “convert all your paper money to gold and hide it under the mattress” type.
a capella on July 22, 2008 at 10:25 AM
It’s hard to “notice” while fawning and swooning over every move…
sabbott on July 22, 2008 at 10:27 AM
I don’t think “Federal” cops should be policing what local cops could do. I guess my concept of Federalism could be applied to global conditions.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:28 AM
I guess I asked a good question because you just completely ignored my question.
terryannonline on July 22, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Consider HG Wells 1895 Time Traveler’s experience.
.
Obama would revise the story to occur now via active participation rather than as Wells’ imagination allowed. Rather than merely finding a communist utopia in a future millenia, Obama is actively promoting the arrival of the day when the human population is completely exploited by global political-economic overlord elites who consume the very bones and blood of the masses. The mass population consists of the rebellious who insist on independence and are hunted for sport; and there are the submissive pencil pushing serfs; the starving work force; and the food gobblers being fattened for the feast.
That’s the only Obama I believe in.
What he’s doing to America is despicable.
maverick muse on July 22, 2008 at 10:32 AM
I’ll grant you that, but even if he doesn’t…isn’t that what STAFF is for? To keep you from screwing up?
Bob's Kid on July 22, 2008 at 10:38 AM
+1 Insightful. TRUE!
ihasurnominashun on July 22, 2008 at 10:39 AM
becki51758 on July 22, 2008 at 10:12 AM
Take courage and kindly drop the final phrase. Perhaps “be concerned, get involved” might suit you better.
just a response
maverick muse on July 22, 2008 at 10:40 AM
No I did answer your question, you just don’t like the answer. You want me to say yes or no with no explanation so you can add your own.
Also if you look back to my previous posts on this thread being the global superpower is somewhat of an illusion, other countries will gladly let you sacrifice your troops so they can save lives and money, but if you go too far they will call you out. They give you power because it is beneficial to them, once go too far they will work to your demise or at least take you down a bit, usually financially. Being the world’s policeman puts you at their mercy because foreign occupations are costly in a welfare state. They are also completely misplaying the rise of the third world, they’re idea of what “power” truly is, is a sham. That is why their philosophical influences were so careful and tedious, these legacy “intellectuals” have had all this knowledge layed at their doorstep and it has gone to their head.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 10:42 AM
He’s en route to Mt. Parnassus, and POTUS is merely the next step of his move-on.marx progression.
maverick muse on July 22, 2008 at 10:45 AM
If you think being a superpower is a sham, then what do u suggest? Should we just let the whole world run amok and then one morning we wake up to see 3,000 of our citizens murdered we should just treat it like criminal case and not get the military involved because God forbid we might be seen as the ‘World’s Police’?
terryannonline on July 22, 2008 at 10:51 AM
Don’t question the holy one of leftism, PBUH. His will is supreme, dirty kaffir.
spmat on July 22, 2008 at 10:53 AM
maverick muse on July 22, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Good point! I am concerned AND involved. :)
becki51758 on July 22, 2008 at 11:03 AM
Even if he is the smartest man alive and has better judgment than any one else, two non coordinated teams of negotiators greatly increases the chance of more American troops and Iraqi troops and civilians dying. If Obama feels that is an acceptable price to pay for his election, then everything I and others have thought and intuited about him is true, in spades.
snaggletoothie on July 22, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Well first I wish they, the guardians, would talk to the public the way the talk to each other. You can read what the “intellectuals” write in rags like foreign affairs, with some philosophical background you can understand what mental midgets like Podhoretz are writing in Commentary. There is a disconnect between true intention and reality and it is really frustrating when you see the product of such nonsense. And frankly, to go from 9/11 to basically nihilism, the point where their BS can no longer be believed is a testament to their incompetence.
But no, regional forces can stabilize conflict, and at least we won’t be dying and going bankrupt. The idea that we had no footprint over in the Middle East is laughable and “police brutality” has created an environment where incompetent “intellectuals” like Bin Laden can be made to seem competent, at least by their successes. He is nothing but a Sharpton of the Middle East and our bad choices on foreign policy have given him a soapbox. We have gone after all his regional threats, from Iraq to Iran and have made him stronger. We could have declawed him before he ever got started if we wouldn’t have continued with this empire or world policing after Russia collapsed. Now we made so many enemies since that they can rise back to power by opposing us the same way we were able to justify many of our abuses during the Cold War. The legacy “intellectuals” constantly talked about the need to have a strong foreign threat, so they made that foreign threat more powerful and are trying to give it more allies. It’s called divide and conquer, not empower your enemy by providing him with more sympathizers.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Yes, because al-Qaeda just loved before invaded we Iraq. There would be no terrorists.
I’m sure you also believe if there was no religion there would be no more wars.
Keep dreaming of utopia.
terryannonline on July 22, 2008 at 11:29 AM
What makes this look worse than usual was Obama’s insistence that he didn’t need a fact-finding mission to arrive at his conclusions before going to Iraq, and that nothing he saw would change his mind on his policy.
The question many Republicans asked before Obama went to Iraq was “how is Obama going to go to Iraq and not acknowledge that the surge worked?” In fact, I think posts on this blog even called Obama’s Iraq trip a “trap” set by McCain.
So let’s see if McCain has what it takes to spring the trap and really expose Obama for being an opportunistic fraud.
Outlander on July 22, 2008 at 11:31 AM
This idea of non-elected people and non-diplomats trying to negotiate in the name of the United States is nothing new. Remember John Kerry negotiating with the North Vietnamese in 1972? He wasn’t even a Senator then, although he had Obama’s chutzpah, and later came within 120,000 votes (in Ohio) of becoming President…
Chutzpah sometimes pays, unless those with real authority challenge it!
Steve Z on July 22, 2008 at 11:33 AM
All I know is that Obama just got the equivalent of fifty years of foreign policy experience simply by visiting Iraq and Afghanistan.
He sold me on his qualifications. What Baracky needs to do now is hold a rifle to prove his military credentials and I’m voting for the guy.
Bishop on July 22, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Terrorism is a tactic. You want to end terrorism give Bin Laden 500,000 troops, a navy, and an air force. Bin Laden is a belligerant enemy. There will never be “no threats”, having a foreign policy of throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks just creates more threats. Technology grows at an exponential rate, eventually world destruction or at least massive destruction will become very easy, communication is too easy. We are doing a great job at determining where those weapons of the future will be pointed. Getting into fights that aren’t your business will create more fights and many will be yours as a result. There is no utopia, frankly people who view themselves as “creative destruction”, deriving some kind of divine right from books that any schmuck can read and feeling superior to the many, and thinking that alone is enough to make the world in your image is downright utopian, and retarded at that. Society will never reach utopia, I merely aim to reverse its regression, especially in this country.
If there was no religion there would be less repression, but really in this country the new religion has been the state for quite some time, it establishes nomos for the herd.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 11:39 AM
Are you serious about giving bin Laden weapons? Are you being sarcastic?
terryannonline on July 22, 2008 at 11:44 AM
P. S. On the John Kerry attempted negotiations in 1972, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger sharply challenged Kerry on his authority to negotiate. Condoleezza Rice should do the same to Obama now.
Steve Z on July 22, 2008 at 12:03 PM
From the mindset of Barack Obama and John Kerry:
The Sunnis were responsible for the success of the surge.
Travis1 on July 22, 2008 at 12:16 PM
The answer is rather obvious. I am talking about the word “terrorism”. Whether it is terrorism, information campaigns, or conventional armies they are all belligerent forces. To seperate assign moral ranking or to see it as anything other than a tactic is useless from a strategic standpoint, since all tactics used by an enemy or oneself is usually a reaction to the conditions on the ground and the realities of the moment, Hogan’s Heroes were terrorists because that is all they had to work with. My statement is that if Bin Laden had conventional armies the threat would actually be bigger, terrorism is a weak tactic, but not isolating the terrorist from his surroundings makes it easier to utilize that tactic. Even people like Che, as nearsighted as he was, could see that terrorism is a very weak tactic because if it is combatted intelligently you can get the people to turn on them. Its all about divide and conquer, isolate the terrorist from his recruiting, make them look like the greater evil in their region, and this administration is hell bent on its opposite.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 12:20 PM
I’m sorry but I’m still having trouble contemplating how a ‘tactic’ that violently murders thousands of people as ‘weak.’
terryannonline on July 22, 2008 at 12:25 PM
This is a very special kind of arrogance. Or is it treason?
Jaibones on July 22, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Lim and all. Every articulate Limerick out there needs to write a letter to the editor of the local paper, outlining the parts of the Obama story that the MSM simply refuses to discuss, or discusses in forums that no one sees.
His communist mother and grandfather (h/t Dale), Ayers, Alinsky, Wright/Eminem, his voting record, abortion, Rezko, Judge Roberts, his crazy wife and the repeated self-references as a demi-God, his anti-military history, and his incredible deception during this campaign.
Let’s get to work.
Jaibones on July 22, 2008 at 12:47 PM
Ayers, Alinsky, Wright/Eminem, his voting…
Oh, well done, “Jailbones”. Well done!
Dale in Atlanta on July 22, 2008 at 12:56 PM
If you are trying to install a caliphate then yes it is a very weak tactic. Terrorists don’t make good imperial powers, they have enough trouble getting one state and keeping it for that matter. If you are just using a caliphate and religion as a rhetorical tool to gain power in the region is it less weak, but is still easy to combat, that is if you don’t become an imminent threat to everyone else in the region in what appears to be an attempt to combat it. By becoming an imminent threat to everyone in the region you also paralyze the ability, or at least hinder the ability of regional leaders to combat it, so naturally they need a larger power, but that in itself creates a downward spiral that usually will end in financial collapse of the “superpower” since it has to attempt to militarily and financially compensate for the consequences of its policy. Threats cannot be eliminated or mollified by creating more threats.
LevStrauss on July 22, 2008 at 1:23 PM
I don’t get how all these congress people can have the audacity to go talk to heads of state as our representatives as the USA. To me, that should be up to the President and it’s administration or whoever he designates on a committee. To me, these congress people need to serve their jurisdictions for which they were elected from, and only those. They waste tax payer money and could careless how low their public opinion rating is going..good job pelosi!
diaphanous on July 22, 2008 at 5:28 PM
Logan Act!
flipflop on July 22, 2008 at 9:12 PM
Bush should come out today and publicly tell Obama that he is not POTUS at this time and to refrain from war time negotiations. It can’t hurt Bush and it would definately make some headlines.
Thoughts?
LordMaximus on July 22, 2008 at 9:27 AM
If Bush has anymore fire in his gut he’ll certainly make a statement about it.
Obama is well over the line negotiating with Maliki. That’s to be expected from his Egomaniacalness.
MannyT-vA on July 23, 2008 at 7:01 AM