What forces has Obama let loose?

Found at Instapundit: Ruth Wisse in the Wall Street Journal on “Obama’s Racial Blind Spot”. She’s only, of course, being polite in calling it a blind spot.

Barack Obama’s election to the presidency represented to many Americans this country’s final triumph over racism. Reversing the record of slavery and institutionalized discrimination, his victory was hailed as a redemptive moment for America and potentially for humankind. How grotesque that the president should now douse that hope by fueling racism on a global scale.

Iranian regime is currently the world’s leading exponent of anti-Jewish racism. . . . Whereas Adolf Hitler and Reinhard Heydrich had to plot the “Final Solution” in secrecy, using euphemisms for their intended annihilation of the Jews of Europe, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweets that Israel “has no cure but to be annihilated.” Iran’s leaders, relishing how small Israel is, call it a “one bomb state,” and until the time arrives to deliver that bomb, they sponsor anti-Israel terrorism through Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militias. . . .

Perhaps Mr. Obama is oblivious to what the scholar Robert Wistrich (who died in May) called “the longest hatred” because it has been so much a part of his world as he moved through life. Muslim Indonesia, where he lived from age 6 to 10, trails only Pakistan and Iran in its hostility to Jews. An animus against Jews and Israel was a hallmark of the Rev.Jeremiah Wright’s church in Chicago that Mr. Obama attended for two decades. And before he ran for office, Mr. Obama carried the standard of the international left that invented the stigma of Zionism-as-imperialism. As a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama felt obliged to repudiate his pastor (who had famously cursed America from the pulpit), and muted his far-left credentials. Mr. Obama was voted into office by an electorate enamored of the idea that he would oppose all forms of racism. He has not met that expectation.

Some Jewish critics of Mr. Obama may be tempted to put his derelictions in a line of neglect by other presidents, but there is a difference. Thus one may argue that President Roosevelt should have bombed the approach routes to Auschwitz or allowed the Jewish-refugee ship St. Louis to dock in the U.S. during World War II, but those were at worst sins of omission. In sharpest contrast, President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran is an act of commission. This is the first time the U.S. will have deliberately entered into a pact with a country committed to annihilating another people—a pact that doesn’t even require formal repudiation of the country’s genocidal aims.

To which Elizabeth Price Foley has added:

Exactly. Why most American Jews are standing silently by, like sheeple, in the face of these facts is a utter mystery to me. Why did American Jews not demand, at a minimum, Iran’s repudiation of its genocidal aims against Israel? Admittedly, such a repudiation would not have changed the hearts and minds of the Iranians, but it would have at least forced the Administration to publicly recognize and discuss Iran’s genocidal intentions.

As it stands, however, the genocidal aims of Iran toward Israel have been swept under the rug, not even worthy of discussion, which is exactly what the Obama Administration wanted. The Administration’s failure to even discuss the inhumanity of Iran’s racist/ethnic hatred is both shameful and telling, particularly given that Obama is our first black president whose entire presidency has focused incessantly on issues of race and ethnicity. The Obama Administration’s indifference to Iran’s hatred of Jews will further fan the flames such hatred across the globe.

The only explanation I can fathom for American Jews’ acquiescence to the Iran deal is that most are liberals/progressives first, Jews second. How tragic that this attitude has emerged only one generation removed from the Holocaust.

And if you are looking for a bit more along these same lines, there is Sultan Knish discussing The Useless Jewish Organization. This is from somewhere near the end, but you should read it from the beginning.

If Obama’s nuclear deal is to be defeated, it won’t be done by the establishment insiders. The establishment is invested in its own credibility and its politics. It will make a show of fighting the Iran deal before fundraising off its miserable failure. And the money will go to fund its progressive causes.

The establishment will not stand up to Obama, just like it didn’t stand up to FDR. The real action will come from ad-hoc coalitions, like the one behind the Stop Iran Rally, that throw things together. And it will come from a handful of kids somewhat that do what the adults aren’t doing.

It’s not an answer for me that Israel could damage Iran if it started up. The aim of policy ought to have been never to give Iran even the opportunity, but perhaps that was too hard. It is certainly too hard now that they have stopped trying, for no discernible reason. We are all living on the edge of a volcano. When it will erupt, it seems to me, is now only a matter of time, not whether. On the other hand, in spite of its rhetoric, why should the Iranians risk having their country turned into a nuclear wasteland. Tragically, that kind of calculation is all that stands between Israel and a nuclear war.

Aren’t you glad Obama is president?

Meanwhile, while we agonise over Cecil, there is this to distract your attention. From Drudge:

IRAN: Obama Admin Lying About Nuke Deal for ‘Domestic Consumption’…
ARMS RACE: Saudis Want More Missiles…
Top French Official Contradicts Kerry Claims…
TEHRAN SAYS US EXPERTS BANNED FROM UN INSPECTIONS…
Rulers urge baby boom to double population…

But look on the bright side. There is also this:

Japan unveils ‘Death Star’ laser weapon…
Most powerful in world…

Oh, and I almost forgot:

China, Russia to hold military drills…

The future is shaping up so well.

UPDATE: The video above is of John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moni emphatically stating that they have not read the side deals with Iran. Nothing is any longer a scandal. But nothing makes sense any more either.

Go on, make sense of this

Obama has been perfectly consistent in his policy and the American media and the left in general have been perfectly consistent in their ignorance. Since Iran will lie, and Obama was perfectly aware that Iran has lied, how does one interpret any of this?

AMERICA TAKES IRAN’S SIDE…
OBAMA WARNS CONGRESS: HANDS OFF NUKE DEAL…
Deep skepticism…
FEARS OF NEW ARMS RACE…
How Iran Will Use Technology To Cheat…
NETANYAHU: ‘Historic Mistake for World’…
ISRAEL ‘NOT BOUND’, WILL DEFEND ITSELF…
ROUHANI: ‘God has accepted nation’s prayers’…
Centrifuges Continue to Spin…
MAG: Dems lie about inspections…
No breakthrough for Americans held in Tehran…

Brett Stephens said what needs to be said in March, Under Mr. Obama, friends are enemies, denial is wisdom, capitulation is victory. That was what needed to be said. The question now is what should be done?

Politics is what you can get away with

Went to the Andy Warhol exhibit at the MOMA yesterday which is the kind of thing you come to New York for. But what caught my eye was Warhol’s most famous quote, “art is what you can get away with”. Watching politics in the US, what may be true about art – there being a sucker born every minute – in Obama’s America it is true everlasting about politics. The media here, like everywhere, is to the left. But to mix the media with a presidential system emphasises all of the worst features of both. Obama routinely breaks the law in deciding what he will enforce that he, as the head of the executive branch, is sworn by law to do, while there are other things that he is forbidden to do but does anyway since there is apparently no ability to fight it, never mind the lack of will.

The American political system is corrupt from end to end. The combination of a lawless president and a media that will never criticise means nothing will be done since nothing can be done since the ability to create the storm before the resolution of a problem is entirely absent. This is a country evolving into masters and servants, with the tax gathering power and the ability to reward friends unprecedented in a democratic community. Once the richest country in the world, using average real incomes per head of population as the measure, the US is well down the list today and heading down even further. The elites will do well, and the rest will have enough to eat, mostly. But there is no freedom where it counts, which is the freedom to disagree with the majority view on anything.

But it is a Warhol presidency. Explain this in any conventional way, which is the story of the day to be replaced by another just like it that will distract from this, just as the day after will distract from tomorrow’s:

US blocks attempts by Arab allies to fly heavy weapons directly to Kurds to fight Islamic State

Middle East allies accuse Barack Obama and David Cameron of failing to show strategic leadership in fight against Islamic State

That’s tonight on Drudge. I wonder whether it will even crack the first five pages of the NY Times in the morning. If it’s not in the news, it effectively didn’t happen.

Obama smoking

obama smoking

It’s not just that a picture has finally surfaced of Obama reaching for a cigarette. What is remarkable to the point of astonishment is that it has taken six years for such a photo to finally see the light of day. This is not Obama sneaking off to the toilet to have a secret fag. If this is what he does normally, smokes with others around, then why you or I should think we know anything at all about what is going on is a real question. The picture is also not from some obscure source. It is from The Washington Post with the title, Let President Obama have a cigarette, already. Here’s part of the excuse-machine that is already being cranked up:

But for God’s sake. Let the man smoke an occasional cigarette if he wants to. “One cigarette takes 11 minutes off your life,” Obama’s NIH would tell him. So smoke three and don’t plan on watching a last episode of “Parks and Rec.”

Maybe Obama smokes two packs a day, which, at his age, is not healthy. That seems very unlikely; given his reliance on Nicorette — for which he has also been criticized — it’s fair to assume that his use of actual cigarettes is more sporadic. Even if he does, the guy has the best health care and the lousiest gig in the world. If he develops a preexisting condition as a result: good news!

If he’s not smoking on camera, if he’s not passing out Marlboros at the White House Halloween party, let him have an occasional cigarette. For those of you tempted to e-mail me a lengthy harangue about how irresponsible that attitude is, feel free. Please include your own personal bad habit and what your plan is to kick it.

Liars without character, both the president and the media that follows him around.

A moderate alternative to more violent Islamist groups

Not really news, but it is interesting to find confirmation: Obama secretly backing Muslim Brotherhood:

President Obama and his administration continue to support the global Islamist militant group known the Muslim Brotherhood. A White House strategy document regards the group as a moderate alternative to more violent Islamist groups like al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

The policy of backing the Muslim Brotherhood is outlined in a secret directive called Presidential Study Directive-11, or PSD-11. The directive was produced in 2011 and outlines administration support for political reform in the Middle East and North Africa, according to officials familiar with the classified study.

Efforts to force the administration to release the directive or portions of it under the Freedom of Information Act have been unsuccessful.

It’s Iran, not Chicago, so they don’t get it

Obama keeps up with the nudge, nudge, wink, wink but these ayatollahs just don’t get it. Ayatollah Khamenei Accuses WH of ‘Lying,’ Being ‘Deceptive,’ and Having ‘Devilish’ Intentions. If only they would play along, pretend that everything is just like Obama says it is, then there would be no problem in getting this stitched up. It must frustrate the daylights out of Obama that the Iranians weren’t brought up on Alinski. Instead, we have this:

Beginning earlier this month and in the days since, Obama and his advisers have attempted to portray the negotiations as major step forward. During an appearance in the Rose Garden on April 2, Obama said the U.S. and its allies have “reached a historic understanding with Iran.”

Khamenei does not agree. “There was no need to take a position” on the supposed deal before today, Khamenei said. “The officials are saying that nothing has been done yet and nothing is obligatory. I neither agree nor disagree [with any deal].”

“What has been done so far does not guarantee an agreement, nor its contents, nor even that the negotiations will continue to the end,” Khamenei elaborated.

“I neither support nor oppose it,” Khamenei reportedly said of the proposed deal. “Everything is in the details; it may be that the deceptive other side wants to restrict us in the details.”

It gets much worse.

When Obama announced that a “framework” for the deal was in place earlier this month, the administration released a fact sheet purportedly showing the agreed upon “parameters.” The White House said the terms outlined in the fact sheet “reflect the significant progress that has been made in discussions between the P5+1, the European Union, and Iran.”

Khamenei would beg to differ.

“The White House put out a statement just a few hours after our negotiators finished their talks…this statement, which they called a ‘fact sheet’, was wrong on most of the issues,” Khamenei said, according to Reuters. Khamenei added that the fact sheet, which doesn’t match Iran’s understanding, exposes America’s “devilish” intentions.

So it’s unanimous then. Obama is lying.

What exactly is Dick Cheney getting at here?

You know that thing about if it walks like a duck. This is Dick Cheney discussing Obama:

If you had somebody as president who wanted to take America down, who wanted to fundamentally weaken our position in the world and reduce our capacity to influence events, turn our back on our allies and encourage our adversaries, it would look exactly like what Barack Obama’s doing.

But still no one comes right out and says what everyone thinks.

And here is Hugh Hewitt’s full interview with Dick and Liz Cheney in which the above quote appears. The whole thing is short and should be

Let’s talk about how bad the economy is and not the deal with Iran

From Drudge today, the main set of stories, no doubt representative of the distraction on the deal with Iran that will be universal across the American media:

RECORD 93,175,000 AMERICANS NOT WORKING…
Record 12,202,000 Blacks Not In Labor Force…
Record 56,131,000 Women…
January, February jobs numbers revised down dramatically…
Fed Cuts Growth Forecast to ZERO…

And then there’s Iran. A few stories, just below the fold of no prominence whatsoever:

Congress divided on Iran Deal…
Joyful Iranians dance into night…
‘It doesn’t appear as if Iran agreed to do anything specific’…
PRUDEN: A deal built on lies…

Obama’s major policy focus six years ago was on fixing the economy. It’s old news how bad the economy is, but at least it gets the Iranian deal out of the news, stuff that no one is really interested in, these faraway countries of which we know little. What the foreign policy news will be like six years from today no one can know, but it’s likely to be as good as everything else Obama has done. Pure wreckage from end to end.

An idiot or pretending to be an idiot

Let me get this right. Obama is in secret negotiations to arrange a deal with Iran to allow it to build nuclear weapons. Iran has said that it seeks to have nuclear weapons so that it can wipe the Jewish State off the map. Israel has been using whatever ports it can to find out what Obama and Iran are up to. Obama is infuriated with Israel because it has been spying.

OK, let’s face it. Obama is either an idiot, or he is pretending to be an idiot. No one in the position that Israel is in would do anything other than stay on top of every manoeuvre now being made by every party in the Middle East.

That the media in the US asks not a question about what is going on is not news. Everything goes on quietly with hardly a murmur while Iran moves closer to nuclear capabilities. It is inexplicable to me. But there it is and it’s not changing soon enough for me.