Saturday, January 2, 2010

These Aren't Tribbles You're Dealing With, Mr. President

To paraphrase Dinah Washington, "what a difference a year makes." A year ago, the MSM sounded like a church choir praising the name of The One. Washington DC was preparing for the entrance of the messiah, come unto his temple. The air (and the airwaves) were filled with the hymns of hope and change, and America was about to experience a "fundamental change." Now, even the most groveling of Obama acolytes are discovering that their god has feet of clay.

On December 30, swooning Obamist Maureen Dowd of The New York Times finally joined the world of reality after the tepid and confused response of The One to the attempted Christmas terrorist attack aboard a Northwest Airlines jet preparing to land in Detroit. She thought it was bad enough that the president took three days to get off the golf course to make a full statement about the attempted murder of the passengers on the plane as well as the possible deaths of hundreds more on the ground. But even this regular worshiper found the statement which did finally come to be inadequate, overly-academic, lacking in any action plan, mushy, and unclear.

After the obligatory attacks on Bush and Cheney, Dowd goes on to say that things haven't gotten any better. In fact, she opines, they may even have gotten worse. She recognizes how many technological advances have been made since 9-11, and how almost none of them have been used at the airports. She describes the "failure to capitalize on snazzy new technology while agencies thumb through printouts and continue their old turf wars. [As a result of Obama's initial response to the attempted attack], instead of modernity, we have airports where security is so retro that taking away pillows and blankies and bathroom breaks counts as a great leap forward."

She actually has come to realize how serious this problem has become. "I thought our guard might be down because of the holiday; now I realize our guard is down every day." Welcome to the wonderful world of terrorist reality, Mo. Better late than never. She goes on to say: “If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in al-Qaida sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counterterrorism watch list, who can we catch?”

"Before he left for vacation, Obama tried to shed his Spock mien and juice up the empathy quotient on jobs." Now here are the words I never expected to hear from Dowd: "But in his usual inspiring/listless cycle, he once more appeared chilly in his response to the chilling episode on Flight 253, issuing bulletins through his press secretary and hitting the links. At least you have to seem concerned." We've been taking note of Obama's half-human responses to worldwide diplomacy and terrorism from the get-go. But if Dowd has finally decided to admit what she likely already knew, however reluctantly, I'll take what I can get.

After the president's formal statement, in which he actually spoke for himself instead of through surrogates, Dowd concluded: "In his detached way, Spock was letting us know that our besieged starship was not speeding into a safer new future, and that we still have to be scared. Heck of a job, Barry." Like a puppy who barks, and scares himself, I'm sure Dowd will do some backtracking on her criticism over the next few days, but it was refreshing, even if it was only temporary.

By way of contrast, I suppose that makes Bush more like Captain Kirk. Not as brilliant as Spock, but immediately capable of distinguishing friend from foe, and capable of deciding on a course without agonizing over all the possible alternatives and choosing the one least likely to offend the enemy. In reality, Bush was very determined, but still lacking in the will to identify the real enemy--radical Islam. Instead, we got the "war on terror" without a clear message as to who the terrorists are, and the common belief they share. So we dithered a bit while the starship was under attack, then picked specific targets without using our full armament against the Klingon/Islamofascist empire and its quest for universal domination by force.

Also in reality, Obama sounds like Spock with that droning, unemotional way of addressing every issue from irritating small asteroids to serious attacks on the starship. But he has none of Spock's intelligence, or at least very little of it. Spock intellectualized everything, then drew a conclusion. Obama has his agenda already decided, then pseudo-intellectualizes it in order to make the attack fit into his pre-established conclusions. The thinking never changes, never analyzes, but merely shifts the droning speech to sound as if it's something well thought-out.

As a result of his non-decision decisions, the terrorists are further emboldened. Big cities wonder what will hit them next. New York City's bustling Times Square was briefly evacuated near the Conde-Nast building because of an unattended van, with windows blocked out by plastic bags, that was parked at the same location for two days in the area (the early reports said "tinted windows"). The van had a placard with the name of a nonexistent law enforcement agency on the dashboard, and no license plates. It sounded too much like the van that launched the first World Trade Center attack to be ignored. Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm, or at least so we're told. Yet the police and parking authorities took no action until a civilian reported the suspicious vehicle. Sadly, the parking officers had never checked the phony police-type placard nor had they called in the temporary paper license (unlike permanent registration, temporary licenses can't be scanned for ownership).

The New York Daily News, a reliably moderate/liberal publication said "The attempt to blow Northwest Airlines Flight 253 out of the air was planned as an attack on the United States and very nearly succeeded in accomplishing that horrific goal. The moment demanded inspiring, decisive presidential leadership. America waited four days for a glimmer. What the public was left with was a never-to-be-repeated case study in crisis mismanagement. It's time to get a grip, Mr. President. Obama's description of Abdulmutallab as an 'isolated extremist' was remarkable and disturbing. This radicalized young Nigerian is nothing of the sort. He operated, in fact, as an Al Qaeda-recruited, Al Qaeda-supplied, Al Qaeda-directed foot soldier--as, to put it directly, an enemy combatant, and not as the criminal 'suspect' of Obama's description."

The conservative Washington Times didn't have to twist itself into knots to criticize Obama's lack of leadership and understanding of the situation. It has been pointing out this serious lack of spine and intellect from the beginning of the Obama ascendancy. In an editorial, it described the Obama style of leadership as "the pooh-pooh presidency." I would have prefered "poo-poo" presidency, but that misses the point the publication was making. "When Mr. Obama finally did address the American people about the attempted terror attack three days later, it wasn't to rally a people under attack or to assure the nation he was up to the challenge of defending the United States, it was to pooh-pooh the attack. He blamed the whole thing on an 'isolated extremist.' Mr. Obama bravely called on the American people to join him in continuing to underestimate the size of the problem."

The Times concluded with: "While the president continued to play golf, basketball and work out in an island paradise during the Detroit terror aftermath, many in the media excused Mr. Obama for blowing them off. After all, reporters following the president are happy not to be sweating it out in Crawford, Texas anymore."

Kirk/Bush may have followed his advisers' overly cautious need to avoid offending the Muslim world, but Bush himself had no doubts about who the real enemy was, and is. He may have used the wrong words, and made blunders in how he launched and continued the counter-attacks, but there was no doubt he was going after the right enemy. Spock/Obama has continued his intellectualized maunderings and meanderings at the expense of the necessary identification of the true enemy while seeking the least offensive counter-measures. Mr. Wannabe Spock, that will get a whole lot of us killed.

19 comments:

Joel Farnham said...

LawHawk,

Great Picture of BO.

I was wondering what it would take for some people to recognize that BO has no intention to save citizens.

StanH said...

The recruiting center, Ft. Hood, flight 253, I wonder if Barry’s sycophants are finally beginning to see a trend, and how dangerous the American Idol president really is, we’ll see? You remember how the press dutifully reported that the “War on Terror” was over and changed the name of the terrorist (Islamo-Goons) to “Man Caused Disasters,” and the actual shooting part to paraphrase, “Overseas Contingency Operations.” These are eggheads that have zero experience will the ugliness of the real world. This reminds me of the movie “Ghostbusters” when Dan Aykroyd says to Bill Murray when they were in fear of losing their endowment to paraphrase Aykroyd, “I’ve worked in the private sector, and they expect results.” Barry’s now in a position that he was to make real life decisions, and it’s not going well. God help us!

BevfromNYC said...

There is another element involved. The Panty bomber not only did not check bags and paid in cash, but by some reports was allowed on the plane without a passport. I can't buy gum without i.d. in NYC, yet US bound planes are allowing people to board without proper papers.

But LawHawk, according to comments on Huffpo, everyone's getting their panties in a twist (no pun intended, well, yes, pun intended)over "just an attempt". Yes, guys, since no one was killed we should just let it go - Huffpo/liberal logic at it's best.

Cheryl said...

Thanks Lawhawk for another great article.
This guy just can't do anything right.
I've rejoiced every time he makes a clown out of himself hoping that eventually the result would be exactly what we are beginning to see.
Praise God!

Anonymous said...

Joel: Apparently, it took a lot. We can consider ourselves somewhat lucky that it was a failed attempt that brought this on. Now let's hope that this time the realization doesn't fade within a week like it did with the MSM after 9-11.

Anonymous said...

StanH: The Flight 253 incident was merely the straw that broke the camel's back. People have been wondering if there was anything alive under that unmoving exterior for awhile now. They got their answer. I had more executive experience when I was fifteen as the evening manager of a small record store. And one of the things they taught me, was "make a decision--even if it's wrong."

USArtguy said...

Great photo LawHawk... Sparack Obama...LOL!

The whole time I've been listening to Janet Incompetentano say how there was no failure in security and how the system worked regarding flight 253, I had a mental image of reporter after reporter asking Bush if he would just admit he made mistakes and wonder why they aren't slobbering all over themselves to ask Sparack the same thing? Of course I know why, they're Obama sycophants, but still...

Anonymous said...

Bev: If he had succeeded, the headlines would have read: "Leftover security procedures from the Bush administration allowed a terrorist to target a large, black American city by exloding a plane over the Detroit Renaissance center. Will racist Republicans in Congress attempt to thwart rescue efforts?"

I noticed that the cover-his-ass comments at HuffPo and DailyKos, though to be expected, were more half-hearted and less filled with vitriol than usual.

Anonymous said...

Cheryl: Thanks. As Churchill said, this is not the end, or even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning.

USArtGuy: I have no idea where I got that picture. I've been collecting that type of photo so long, that I think I've simply lost track of them. Bush probably should have been a little more open about mistakes, like keeping Rumsfeld on a little too long, but Obama is simply incapable of admitting that a messiah could make a mistake. So, they won't ask.

AndrewPrice said...

Lahwawk, I remember them being much shriller whenever Bush didn't act quickly enough or say what they wanted, but it is interesting how much bitterness and sarcasm is now appearing regularly in articles written by leftists about Obama. The bloom is clearly off the rose, and it's only going to get worse because I don't think he's capable of improving. They backed a dud.

Anonymous said...

Andrew: I think it has something to do with that purist thing that we've discussed in our own ranks. The left thought they had a strong, leftist leader (and as a bonus, a black man), and instead they got Casper Milquetoast with a strong strain of Spock. He turns out to be just another talking-head who is the stalking-horse for the Chicago machine. How's that for mixed metaphors? The shock of his perfidy is just beginning to register with them.

BevfromNYC said...

Conspiracy #1 - There was a report today in the NY Post from an alleged report to Newsweek by that elusive "unnamed source in the White House" that Obama was warned 3 days before of a possible terror strike. The title - "Key Homeland Threats" - we all know this type of report that did not mention anything specific (like an email with info like "Hi my name is ______ and I will boarding a plane in Amsterdam with a bomb somewhere on my person."), so it should be ignored until after the golf game.

Can I now demand to know what Obama knew and when he knew it! Can we now expect Michael Moore to do a documentary on the unresponsive 3 days (like Bush's unresponsive 7 minutes)?

Anonymous said...

Bev: Great stuff. The very best security apparatus is still human, and they're going to make mistakes. But this "mistake" was egregious. Still, it's the time it took for The One to respond followed by the Spockian droning and over-thinking that has you, me and a whole lot of Americans truly ticked off. Napolitano added to the fun by first being against and then being for the recognition of the failure of the system.

All of this, even for the left, has produced a sense of "no one's in charge here." Every failure of the administration to recognize its weak and feuding agencies combined with each "near miss" like Flight 253 only emboldens the enemy which shall not be named. Throw in civilian criminal trials for terrorists, and you have a perfect recipe for future attempts, some of which will likely be successful.

HamiltonsGhost said...

Lawhawk--I'm amazed how far technology has come. Obama's electronic voice sounds almost like it's coming out of a real human being.

Anonymous said...

HamiltonsGhost: Almost, but not quite. I know what you mean. That drone, combined with the automaton looking to the right, then looking to the left, then back again still looks and sounds like the Disney "Hall of Presidents" audioanimatronics version to me. I also have to admit that the occasional stutter and "ah, umh, uh" is a bit reminiscent of Max Headroom.

BevfromNYC said...

Hmmm, I never thought of it, but maybe Obama is the product of Disney's Imagineering! That could explain so much. Like that hint of Mickey Mouse and the Mousekateers-ness. "Hey everybody! Follow me to the happiest place on earth!" or "Aw shucks, Kim and Mahmoud, we didn't mean it! Here let me shine your shoes!"

Anonymous said...

Bev: I also suspect Obama stands in front of a mirror saying "Mirror, mirror, on the wall--who's the sneakiest of them all?" Now, if he'd just give Michelle that special apple - - - - .

Writer X said...

It was so comforting to see pics of the President sipping snow cones the day after a terrorist tries to blow up a plane. And this particular terrorist might as well have written his intentions on a billboard in New York, it was so obvious.

And yet, you should have seen what I had to go through at the airports to get from Phoenix to Chicago...

Anonymous said...

WriterX: In his private consultation business, my son has to fly all over the bloody place, both nationally and internationally. As I've mentioned a few times, he and his wife live in Berkeley, so he has Oakland and San Francisco airports close by. However, when it's time to visit mom in Southern California, they drive every time. It's one less humiliation for them to have to go through. I suggested he wear a robe and a kaffiyeh and carry a Koran to get him through the airport faster, but he wasn't buying it. I think the idea of an underwear check will reinforce his refusal to fly when he can avoid it.

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