Will Barack Obama have a Jimmy Carter moment?
Posted on Friday, January 28, 2011 at 05:57 PM
Larger Text
Print
E-mail
37 Comments
RSS 
Recent Posts
- Obama administration getting caught in its own tangled web of deceit - has the White House been lying through its teeth
- Benghazi/Watergate - What difference does it make?
- In one day, 20 shot in Chicago - Officials blame the weather, we blame the officials
- They say success has many fathers, but Benghazi Libya is the orphan on the White House step
- Time to re think Islamic terrorism - It’s a war stupid
Archives
Events are moving quickly in the middle east and it should be apparent to everyone that it is time for strong leadership from the President of the United States. This could mean showing outward and material support for the present government, at least until there can be a peaceful transfer of power to another democratic form of government. But to do nothing would be a mistake.
It has been reported that the Muslim Brotherhood is behind the rioting in the streets of Egypt, their aim is to topple the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic form of government. Already Tunisia has toppled, Yemen is teetering and Jordan is getting restive. The Mideast is a powder keg ready to explode.
The comparison is similar to events back in 1979, when inaction by Jimmy Carter opened the door for Ayatollah Khomeini to come into Iran and turn it into an Islamic terrorist state. Iran has been spreading mischief and mayhem throughout the world and is on the precipice of getting nuclear weapons. We are still paying for Carters foreign policy weakness in the face of earthshaking events.
They say a smart man learns from his mistakes, but a brilliant man learns from other peoples mistakes. Obama has the opportunity to be a smart man as well as a brilliant man and salvage this situation. Help the Egyptian people to help themselves. Don’t let this anarchy create another fundamentalist oppressive state.
The real way to defuse the potency of the middle east is to stop being addicted to their oil. Mr. Obama, take the chains off of our energy industry and let us become independent by using our own energy resources. We have enough coal, oil, natural gas & hydroelectric for all of our energy needs far into the future, our technology will make them clean. Enough with the windmills, they will never generate enough power to help us. Remember this truth: You can make windmills with steel but you can’t make steel with windmills. PS. How deep is that global warming out there in the east?
37 comments
hancock | Jan 31, 2011, 07:32 AM EST
Didn't our current idiot say all 57 states? An incompetent empty suit.
Report abuse
seanomelbourne | Jan 31, 2011, 07:07 AM EST
How do Fox get away with the morning show I have never seen such a bunch of cretins led by Steve "the poodle"Doocy Ailes little puppy. Spreading their ignorance of Egypt and Egyptian politics to a base audience.They interview their experts who probably believe the pyramid is a place in Nevada. How gullible do they think their audience is.
Report abuse
pflynn70 | Jan 30, 2011, 09:23 PM EST
For the life of me, I can't figure this president out. I knew from the onset that he was a flaming liberal and had no experience to this high office. One look at his resume can easily make this conclusion but can he leave his base and his closeness to the far right nuts must be driving him crazy, he wants to be re-elected, BUT he see's the middle of the roaders have deserted him, he just has the far left loons on his side. His eago is saying "become more like Reagan but his past tells him differently. If he chooses to turn "moderate" just think of all the promises he mad to get elected and did he deliver on any? zilch, nada, nothing. The Hope & change was just the Trojan Horse getting into the Castle.
Another thing that bothers me, he is so high on his father, a man who deserted his mother, a mother who stood by him and he threw her under the bus in favor of his galavanting father who went all over having babies by other women, but he writes a book on his behalf, Dreams of my Father", He's a strange dude, maybe he's so damn smart that he's stupid?
Report abuse
peterson | Jan 30, 2011, 06:00 PM EST
At least I can think !! Obama can't with out a telepromter !!
Report abuse
Chico2001 | Jan 30, 2011, 03:39 PM EST
Who's talking about the previous president? It's always hilarious that when one side's incompetent leader gets in trouble, you have his people -- rather than defend him -- try to cast dispersions on their foes. All I know is, Obama and his party mocked Bush for saying Muslim nations deserved freedom. "What? Democracy for a bunch of dumb brown Arabs and such? No, no, no, you naive idiot! Why, those little subhumans just love having dictators stand on their throats. They don't want freedom. They're happy living in squalor and having their wives raped."
As for arrogant, Obama sure is -- an arrogance born of ignorance. Heck, he probably doesn't even know where Egypt is. He bizarrely confused Iraq and Afghanistan just the other day. Go listen to him off teleprompter some time. He stutters and stammers like he's been hit in the head with a stick -- up until he can hit upon some line he's memorized.
This is not the change I voted for, that's for sure. I'm incredibly disappointed -- and all the looking backwards in the world to make comparisons isn't going to change that. Hell, this guy was supposed to be the OPPOSITE of Bush, right, and now pepole are saying, "Well, sure he's arrogant, but so was Bush?" Same Gitmo, same Secretary of Defense, same wars, same domestic spying? Ugh!
Report abuse
McNamara31 | Jan 30, 2011, 02:48 PM EST
haasny007 Great post. Love to see facts and political clarity. And for the post below who describes Obama as "arrogant" (all in caps too!) What would they call the prior administration who blew through a surplus and went on to bring this country to its financial knees and our 401K's and college funds with it?
Report abuse
DennisQ | Jan 30, 2011, 02:33 PM EST
I've been unsuccessfully predicting the demise of the Republican Party for at least a decade. I didn't think George Bush would be elected, much less re-elected. So it's not unusual for me to predict that they will self-destruct before the 2012 election.
Republican success in the 2010 election came about because their backs were to the wall. They won't have that do-or-die motivation in the next election. In fact they won't have much motivation at all, if they have to rally behind the likes of Mike Pence or Mitt Romney. Their strongest candidate won't stand a chance against Obama.
They won't have a track record to run on either. Their majority in the House of Representatives means that they will introduce doomed legislation such as the repeal of the health care reform act that the last Congress passed. If John Boehner decides to make a go of it as Speaker, the Democrats have enough dirt on him to destroy him.
Look instead for a Democratic resurgence between now and 2012, especially if the long-moribund economy shows signs of life.
Republican success in the 2010 election came about because their backs were to the wall. They won't have that do-or-die motivation in the next election. In fact they won't have much motivation at all, if they have to rally behind the likes of Mike Pence or Mitt Romney. Their strongest candidate won't stand a chance against Obama.
They won't have a track record to run on either. Their majority in the House of Representatives means that they will introduce doomed legislation such as the repeal of the health care reform act that the last Congress passed. If John Boehner decides to make a go of it as Speaker, the Democrats have enough dirt on him to destroy him.
Look instead for a Democratic resurgence between now and 2012, especially if the long-moribund economy shows signs of life.
Report abuse
kevinhayes | Jan 30, 2011, 02:09 PM EST
Al Jazeera is doing the best job by far on reporting on Egypt - that's why Mubarak is trying to shut them down there. And Pox News (not!) has Mike Huckabee, that well known Arabist - give me a break. Next thing they'll have the half governor ( "I can see Russia") pronouncing on the Middle East - or is that a step too far even for Roger Ailes? You can increasingly see that the brighter Faux News people are uncomfortable interviewing the KnowNothing It's obvious that the Muslim Brotherhood is a bystander, not that that won't change in a revolution like this.
Report abuse
haasny007 | Jan 30, 2011, 12:17 PM EST
First of all, provided the economy does not deteriorate between now and 11/2012, Obama will be comfortably reelected by a slightly lower margin than in 2008. The unrest in Northern Africa is a mere blip that will not affect American politics.
Secondly, the Republican clowns who are lining up to run against Obama are Fox News employees for the most part and have nothing to offer other than far-right extremist proposals. It is becoming increasingly clear that not only are they ignorant about American history (Michelle Bachmann: "John Quincy Adams and the other founding fathers were working tirelessly on abolishing slavery....") but they have also no clue about economic policy. Paul Ryan named Ireland and the UK as examples of budget deficits run amok causing an economic crisis in the two countries. The truth is that Ireland ran budget surpluses prior to the financial crisis and what brought that country down was largely unregulated banks who made bad investment choices. This fact does not suit at all the Republican ideology of "as little regulation as possible".
Thirdly, Democrats will make sure and be successful in letting the electorate know who got us into this mess in the first place and that in reality, the Republican party represents the wealthy, the privileged, the well-connected and has been fighting a relentless war on the middle class, those who work hard to make ends meet and putting their kids through school, while consistently fighting tooth and nail to give tax breaks to the millionaires.
Report abuse
PhlutiePhan | Jan 30, 2011, 12:15 PM EST
You have to understand that something else is going on here. Margaret Scobey "do" is the ambassador. I believe that you have to "look under her bed" for a "smoking gun". Obama is a "global socialist" and is "very sympathetic" to Muslim interests. "All cards are on the table". You have to suspect everything.
Report abuse
jdi2269 | Jan 30, 2011, 12:04 PM EST
ONE OF THE MANY WAYS OBAMA IS INEPT IS HIS ARROGANCE THAT HE KNOWS BETTER THAN ANYONE. HE WILL NOT LISTEN TO REASON ONCE HE HAS TAKEN A STAND. CARTER WASN'T VERY SMART, BUT OBAMA'S ARROGANCE IS MUCH MORE DANGEROUS TO THE UBITED STATES!
Report abuse
REMITROMJR | Jan 30, 2011, 11:48 AM EST
Obama will certainly have a "Jimmy Carter moment".
That will take place on January 20, 2013 when he finally walks down the White House stairs as the ex-President having been defeated by a conservative Republican in a landslide!
Report abuse
DennisQ | Jan 30, 2011, 04:57 AM EST
Although the collapse happened on his watch, Carter didn't lose Iran. As seanomelbourne points out, the seeds were planted in 1953 with the overthrow of Mossadeq. If you need to blame an American president, you can start with Eisenhower.
American foreign policy should be based on America's interests, isn't it obvious? To regain influence in the Middle East, we need to reclaim our status as an honest broker. Do Arabs have any reason at all to trust the United States? They do not.
The invasion of Iraq was a blunder. Not only did it promote Iran's dominance in the region, we are also seeing a generation of young Muslims coming to power that are either hostile or indifferent to American interests.
Instead of choosing between two undesirable outcomes, we've ended up stuck with both of them at the same time. We'll have to start by regaining our neutrality, and build from there. It won't be easy, but let's acknowledge how we got here - by overplaying a hand that turned out to be weaker than we'd surmised. Let's start by reforming the CIA, which has become a rogue agency. As things stand, they are more of a liability than an asset.
American foreign policy should be based on America's interests, isn't it obvious? To regain influence in the Middle East, we need to reclaim our status as an honest broker. Do Arabs have any reason at all to trust the United States? They do not.
The invasion of Iraq was a blunder. Not only did it promote Iran's dominance in the region, we are also seeing a generation of young Muslims coming to power that are either hostile or indifferent to American interests.
Instead of choosing between two undesirable outcomes, we've ended up stuck with both of them at the same time. We'll have to start by regaining our neutrality, and build from there. It won't be easy, but let's acknowledge how we got here - by overplaying a hand that turned out to be weaker than we'd surmised. Let's start by reforming the CIA, which has become a rogue agency. As things stand, they are more of a liability than an asset.
Report abuse
Monsoonman | Jan 29, 2011, 09:45 PM EST
So what's your solution lad? Devil? Or the deep blue sea?...Since you're an atheist that should be easy. So support a repressive murderous islamo state with nukes? Or a repressive semi democracy? You get a choice of bad and not so bad...I'll take the not so bad meself.
Report abuse
#Right-Wing Picks
-
Right-wing shock jock Pete Santilli slammed for vicious attack on Hillary Clinton...
-
New York GAA report: Goals the difference for Rockland against Long Island Gaels...
-
Conservative news entertainment complex claim Barack Obama leader of Al Qaeda...
-
Boston man confronts Infowars conspiracy nuts over 'false flag' claim...
Report abuse