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At Large
Simple Minded
In remarks directed at Moammar Gaddafi, our president has nothing more to offer than another dollop of condescension.
In a moment of high drama, rebel forces pounded their way into Tripoli, Lebanon, but could not find Colonel Gaddafi. This was primarily because he had cleverly listed himself in the phone book under one of his many aliases: Khadafy, Qaddafi, Mister Rogers et al. How can you find a guy’s name if you are not even sure which letter in the alphabet to look under? But the rebels are gradually figuring things out and were very gracious when told the Tripoli they want is actually in Libya.
One reason why these boys are so understanding is that they themselves belong to Militants Anonymous. They reserve the right to withhold whether or not they are members of a brotherhood like the Muslim or the Elks. If we let them be our bodyguard we can be their long lost pal, but can we call them Al, as in Al Qaeda? Are they interested in crafting a peace or in carving the country to pieces? Will they continue their live-in relationship with Hillary Clinton or will they go out to play the field?
In any case, the situation was both ripe with possibility and rife with trepidation, so President Obama was reached using special links set up in Martha’s Vineyard. Barack (“Call me Tiger”) peered thoughtfully into the middle distance like Bogey, then putted a double bogey. Disgusted, he dashed off a statement to be released immediately to the press, a statement notable for its… well, I won’t try to influence you by characterizing it in advance.
HERE IS WHAT HE SAID (this is the morning statement, not the official afternoon version): “The surest way for the bloodshed to end is simple. Moammar Qadhafi and his regime need to recognize that their rule has come to an end. Qadhafi needs to acknowledge the reality that he no longer controls Libya. He needs to relinquish power once and for all.” (He triply needs?)
In analyzing this statement, we do not have to engage in elaborate deconstruction to discover the poison pill amid what should be a sweet victory for the United States. As a humble observer, one citizen among three hundred million, I ask a sim…, er, an elementary question.
What possible benefit — logical, psychological, personal, ethical, intellectual, diplomatic, military — could accrue to the United States or to Libya or to the process by telling a man that to give up his job after forty-two years is a “simple” way to handle things? The language is — simply! — odd.
This is nothing new in the Obamaniac lexicon. Since winning election in November 2008, Obama has assured us that the solutions to health care and to immigration and to abortion and to stem-cell research are all simple. In the case of Middle East peace, something which has eluded the planet since time immemorial, he has said more than once that the solution is simple and that, moreover, “everyone knows” what has to be done.
Still, in a moment of academic detachment, when speaking of real problems as intellectual abstractions, this brand of conceit can be swallowed. Saying it in a statement hurled into the midst of an active crisis, in a statement which is theoretically designed for delivery to Gaddafi himself, is nothing less than a form of sociopathology.
Look, I admit that I am not trained in the fine art of negotiating with hostage-takers or with people on ledges, but I feel I can assert with confidence that you do not tell them that the answer is simple. Moammar Gaddafi may be a world-class creep with both local and international blood on his hands, but his predicament is anything but simple. If we hope to prevail upon his better angels, such as they are, the preferred method is not by wondering in a snit of condescension why he cannot see the oh-so-simple solution right in front of his eyes.
I knew kids like that in school, but I was careful not to keep on knowing them after we had left school. It is hard enough navigating the deep waters of life without some egotistical Brainiac sneering at me about how “simple” it is to steer my way to safety.
Shocking though it is to feel nostalgic for John Kerry, at least his egomania took the form of his insistence that we were the simpletons and only he had nuance. Now it turns out that we are complicating matters unnecessarily and the Golfer-in-Chief has them all reduced to simple formulas. This is enough to drive me into the arms of Michele Bachmann. At least she admits these issues are complex enough to give her migraines. Now that I can respect.
About the Author
Jay D. Homnick, commentator and humorist, is a frequent contributor to The American Spectator. He also writes for Human Events. Here he speaks at the Rally for Religious Freedom in Miami on June 8, 2012.
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Ken (Old Texican)| 8.23.11 @ 8:03AM
Jay,
the middle east truly is simple. Picture a gallon can of baby copperhead snakes, out of which you want to grab a fishing worm.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.11 @ 8:12PM
At least the Mideast is not in debt for $130 trillion (Mark Steyn's figure last month at NRO.
Libya might have no place to go but up, and we might have no place to go but down.
Paul Kotik| 8.23.11 @ 8:11AM
Our President is a dullard and a villain.
Could be worse.
Dan Hirsch| 8.23.11 @ 9:59AM
Paul,
How so?
Oh yea, we could re-elect him...
Yikes!!!
Don't tread on me...
canuckistani| 8.23.11 @ 12:39PM
Yeah, we could have Junior in there claiming "mission accomplished" when the first missiles were fired. I bet there is no de-baathification this time, or reliance on the Chalabis of the country, and thankfully no neocon viceroys sitting on the tarmac waiting to be received.
After all of the bitching on here about being the reluctant police of the world, he gets a real coalition to do the heavy lifting and now within 6 months they are successful in ousting a dictator that even RR could not.
The aftermath will be bloody, but BHO and Hillary have also been successful in keeping Russia and China far away from the action.
Our cost of less than a billion dollars for this effort is not only economical, but probably the biggest win-win for US hegemony in the region since the sixties. A neutered oil state is singularly the best possible outcome for western interests.
BHO's foreign successes have been nothing short of remarkable - for their mundaneness, business-like execution and absence of the complementary US bluster.
Perry's "treason" shot at Bernanke will also steel BHO's economic record as the best in an impossible dynamic.
Huntsman has fired the first sanity shot at the cabal of GOP idiots. It will stick and the mainstream repubs will now feel safe to come of the woodwork.
conservative Bob| 8.23.11 @ 4:52PM
Careful not to count you winnings too soon... the fight isn't over
You accept the canard that NATO is doing the fighting without realizing we are NATO they have no guns but ours and few gun fighters (No disrespect for our fine military)
And the biggest unknowable, what will a post Qaddafi look like.
Skippy| 8.23.11 @ 5:50PM
Is Huntsman running for President?
With which Party?
Alan Brooks| 8.23.11 @ 8:16PM
Canuckistani,
they elected BOTH Bushes out of misguided loyalty to Reagan's alleged legacy. Now they feel guilt- but can't admit it due to their pride.
Bush was untouchable, he could do what he wanted:
"I'm the decider", he announced. And he was!
Clinton got impeached, however a Bush would have to do something much worse to get impeached.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.11 @ 8:22PM
...Bush would have to have started a nuclear war to get impeached. Do you know what Bush Senior did when served with a summons during the aftermath the Iran- Contra affair? he ignored it.
That's not merely loyalty-- that is Royalty.
Timothy L. Pennell| 8.23.11 @ 9:05AM
I agree.
If we want to SAVE THIS COUNTRY from becoming a THIRD WORLD basket case, for our Children? It's easy.
Throw this MARXIST/MUSLIM POS, the Hell Out, in 2012.
Him, and all his America Hating, Democrat SCUMBAG Buddies.
Simple.
Like him.
canuckistani| 8.23.11 @ 12:45PM
China is as red as they get and they are kicking our asses in economic growth.
Explain.
Canada has socialized everything, has lower unemployment, less debt and better health and education outcomes.
Explain.
Texas claims the best job growth during the recent economic downturn. Mostly from government and oil, not diversification or inspired "free-hand" methods.
Explain.
W| 8.23.11 @ 1:06PM
cannuck,
You are an idiot.
1. China is a totalitarian state. There are no labor unions, or laws for worker protection, or environmental laws. The workers are basically slaves, with no rights. China's economic figures cannot be validated since the commie government does not have opposition parties to question its policies or numbers. It sounds like you approve of this system.
2. Canada has not socialized everything. Many of the employers are American companies, such as Ford, McDonald's, and others. Name which big employers were taken over by the government.
Nobody goes to Canada for medical treatment, they all come to the USA for any complicated surgery.
As for education, you may have a point, with you as the prime example of an uninformed, uneducated lefty who spouts lefty cliches.
I assume you will be moving to China or Canada to take advantage of the superb educational, medical, and employement opportunities. And the free speech, freedom of religions, and other rights you will enjoy in China.
canuckistani| 8.23.11 @ 2:39PM
I'm not moving anywhere.
America is still the best chance for free thinking and change, if we can wring the know-nothings from the current discourse.
The bagger drum beats to dismantle worker protections and EPA standards and financial controls does not match well against facts or the avalanche of evidence they have zero to do with competitiveness. Access to capital, education and government engagement into innovation (yes, picking winners) are the markers of growth postured states. Unfunded healthcare liabilities for corporations is the tiebreaker when NA companies choose to invest in the US or Canada. Facts hurt, and inaction hurts more.
We are losing the battle of unsustainable healthcare costs. We are losing the battle for innovation dollars. We are losing the battle for skilled workers. Why would a company invest here under these conditions?
If you choose to sit there and bash BHO as a bearded marxist, you are a fool and should be ashamed to look in your children's eyes and tell them you are contributing to a better nation by jumping on the bagger bandwagon.
The rest of the world has real examples of a better way to stimulate business growth and innovation than the US has had for a generation. The solution lies in the people making tough choices and investments in things that will net dividends for our kids for generations to come. Tax cuts for speculators, endorsing a day-trading economy, subsidizing dead industries and withdrawing from collective projects is not inspired, it is basic short-term reasoning and a loss of long-term perspective.
I want my bill of rights and I also want my country back from the know-nothings. These are not exclusive ideals.
W| 8.23.11 @ 5:15PM
"wring the know nothings from the discourse"
You sound like a real first amendment guy. Your country is China, there you don't have to persuade with good ideas, you can impose ideas.
Your response is bloviating hot air, with no facts, do you work for the government ?
beebop| 8.23.11 @ 6:30PM
'government engagement into innovation (yes, picking winners) are the markers of growth postured states. '
Please. Grow up.
How many BILLIONS invested in Government Moters ELECTRIC cars and pissed away to GE and the car costs, what? $45K? How many folks are actually buying them (other than the government)?
Government produces nothing but holes in the pockets of tax payers. Cut it by 90 percent and it would still be bloated and ineffective.
Jive Bomber| 8.23.11 @ 1:58PM
I always get a chuckle when I hear about Canada's highly touted health "care". Firstly, Canada is actually it's own nation (well, they do have a big sister called Great Britain) and therefore, they do many things different than other countries. Secondly, let's not forget that the government has no business paying your bills, medical or otherwise. Granted, if you are a loser then that may sound a bit odd.
Anyhoo....Here's the deal: My wife is Canadian, a doctor (Ob-Gyn) who practices in a US border town (pop. 5,000) and she's busy all the time. Not because she's the only OB in town - far from it. It's because 92% of her patients are Canadians who have traveled south to get some timely and decent medical care.
She loves it when liberals whine about Canadian vs. US healthcare - in the ensuing lecture/education, she eats them for lunch.
Sadly, her uncle (in Canada) waited over two years for hip replacement surgery. But the wait took it's toll and he died last month while still in recovery. No doubt there is a Canadian bureaucrat gnashing his teeth over having tossed away a perfectly good hip - "rats, if only we had once more delayed his surgery!"
But my wife says that hip didn't go to waste: they will remove it from the deceased, cleaned it up, and put it back on the shelf.
canuckistani| 8.23.11 @ 2:49PM
There are no horror stories from the US healthcare system?
Canadians live longer, spend 40% less on healthcare and have fewer birth defects than the US. They have fewer diabetics, lower chronic care costs and fewer costly complications. Their tort laws are stricter than ours, also reducing insurance costs for MDs.
While the extremes of the US healthcare spectrum: specialties are more available, public emergency rooms and uninsured services are dismal, are noted, the general healthcare for the 80% of Americans is substandard based on the US's overall outcomes versus Canada- and at a premium price.
We are debating policy on this site, and the policies chosen by competing nations have proven to be better for the country than our choices. Why the fear to examine them with reason?
Skippy| 8.23.11 @ 5:57PM
Don't 90%+ of Canuckians live within 100 miles of the US border?
I wonder why that is.
Jive Bomber| 8.24.11 @ 1:55AM
Canuck - I'm glad to have supplemented your knowledge regarding Canada's overrated healthcare system. However, you neglected to reply regarding Canada's status as just another country cut from mother England's cloth, so I'll fill in the obvious blank: America enjoys the freedoms now that no Canadian will ever live long enough to see.
PS. My wife's uncle didn't live to the average life expectancy in Canada.
Alan Brooks| 8.23.11 @ 8:19PM
"Throw this MARXIST/MUSLIM POS, the Hell Out, in 2012.
Him, and all his America Hating, Democrat SCUMBAG Buddies."
So you can elect a BushDoleMcCain? no thankyou. Think I'll pass on that one.
Michael Tomlinson| 8.23.11 @ 10:31AM
This was the guy who was going to make the Arab and Muslim world love us after the "evil" George W. Bush. Turns out that they hate us even more now thanks to Obama's apology tours.
TrueBlue| 8.23.11 @ 10:56AM
There isn't more hate, it's that they lost nearly all fear of us because the guy in charge has no spine. To get respect in the Middle East you must have power, but a spineless man has none, no matter the size of his army.
canuckistani| 8.23.11 @ 2:52PM
Perhaps the damage done by Junior was more than even BHO could imagine? We know for certain the ditch dug by Junior under the economy was.
Skippy| 8.23.11 @ 6:12PM
Flash!
Major earthquake near D.C.
It was a 5.8 and was centered on Bush's Fault.
beebop| 8.23.11 @ 6:43PM
Perfect!
No one will ever say "0bama's fault," because no one will want to utter his name after he slips into the ignominy he has earned.
Don Woods| 8.23.11 @ 10:40AM
I'd guess the reason the rebs couldn't find Kadaffy was they were looking the the Tripoli, Lebanon telephone book. In fact, I'd bet the citizens of Tripoli were shocked to find themselves in Lebanon.
Skippy| 8.23.11 @ 6:13PM
They couldn't find him because they were looking in the Men's dressing room.
C Smith| 8.23.11 @ 11:42AM
When Admiral James Stavridis, NATO's supreme allied commander reported "flickers" of al Qaeda and Hezbollah involvement within ranks of the Libyan rebels, he was soundly reproved. National security officials quickly denied the affiliation, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton immediately mitigated the allegation. However, as the Western coalition continues to facilitate rebellion within the Arab League, a vacuum is undeniably being created. The obvious question: what is going to fill the vacuum? There is an obvious answer, but is won't be forthcoming from Obama or Clinton, or Cameron or Sarkozy:
"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation" (Mathew 12:43-45).
http://the-day-of-the-lord.blo.....irits.html
k962| 8.23.11 @ 4:57PM
This is why there is no US foreign policy! The ivory tower professor Obama is just history ignorant
POST American| 8.23.11 @ 11:46PM
-------------------BOTTOM LINE----------------------
"The U.S. has one final task before its
own collapse, and RED China is brought in
as the Globalist world model -and 'enforcer'
---and that's to 'bring in' (ie franchise slums,
USURY and EUGENICS) the recalcitrant
Middle East."
-ALAN WATT
(essential online coverage)
-------------------ANY QUESTIONS?