Agree with Hengler here, Obama is the first President in our history who has refused the title leader of the free world:
President Barack Obama is resisting pressure to deliver an Oval Office speech explaining his policy on Libya — in part, because he doesn’t want to equate what he regards as a smaller, time-limited mission with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Administration officials haven’t ruled out a big speech, but Obama is reluctant to make a major address on Libya until the United States hands over most command and combat duties to its allies.
The man who couldn’t walk his dog without giving a speech now doesn’t want to give a speech because this war just isn’t worthy enough. What a leader.
And Krauthammer appears to have the nail on the head with this news just out:
NATO agreed to enforce a Libya no-fly zone on Thursday but fell short of a deal to take full command of military operations, and Western jets failed to stop government tanks re-entering Misrata to besiege its main hospital.
Libya’s government said it was in full control of the western city, with only a few al Qaeda die-hards holding out, though rebels said they continued to resist and accused the authorities of shelling Misrata’s main food mall.
Disguise on failure indeed.
This administration is a joke.
See author page
“This administration is a joke.”
Amen to that.
But Hillary has assumed command. While Obama is AWOL.
I share all of those concerns, Curt. And more.
Obama declared that Gaddafi has lost the legitimacy to lead Libya. He then said Gaddafi must go. If Gaddafi stays in control through more killing in spite of the ‘coalition’, will that make Gaddafi legitimate in leading Libya again?
Riddle me that, President Jet Set.
For Everything Obama does he always sets up a scapegoat/patsy to push the blame onto, why do yo u think that he has so many czars for every conceivable decision that he could possible make? Any wrong decision Obama makes will be blamed on the corresponding czar leaving Obama in the clear.. “Presidential Patsies for Perks”
I’ve been working and I have missed a lot, but why are we fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan and giving them air support in Libya?
We have launched many expensive missiles and have lost two expensive planes and are about to spend billions on this mission to stand with al Qaeda?
Why didn’t we just send one missile into his palace in the beginning?
If we don’t have a mission how will we know when we are done?
Does No-Fly mean we bomb tanks and troop convoys as well or is that just part of a kinetic war?
These are just questions I think about while working.
@Skookum:
Good luck getting any answers to your questions from Obama. Not only is he out of country, but those who speak for him tell us something different everyday, sometimes contradicting earlier statements.
Who’s in charge. The Mark’s brothers. Groucho, Karl, you get the idea.
@Skookum:Their is a long standing ban on purposefully killing political leaders, several officers drew up plans to kill Saddam Hussein in Gulf War1 however kept running into this roadblock. To get around this a group of officials reviewed weather Saddam could be called a “military leader” but were not sure how the public would react to such a claim. They at one point drew up plans to bomb several ba’athist buildings and “accidentally” kill Saddam but it never panned out. The US came up with numerous plans to avoid war with Iraq and take down Saddam at the same time but did not implement any of them, eventually the do nothing approach did not fair to good for Kuauit or the people of Iraq. I think its important to be proactive in the situation and realize we may have tribes of allies(just a guess). What they can do legally is kill Mugabies leading officers and scare the s*** out of Him. Its still a good plan but truthfully I will do a victory dance if Gaddafi gets hit with a tomahawk, legal or not.
Kind of confused why it’s such a disgrace in your eyes that he considers the fact that thousands of Americans are on the ground in danger in these two other wars – and none are in Libya – that perhaps it’s prudent that he best not equate this ‘war’ with the other two. Maybe you’re trying too hard. Everyone know you’d have been much more upset if Obama did in fact give a big war speech.
War is an openly declared state of organized violent conflict. We are at war in Libya- it is not a kinetic military action, as Obama’s staff has taken to calling it. Soldiers could die- we’ve already had one plane go down. It’s war. The only difference is that there was no authority to go to war and that Obama is doing his usual ‘call a spade a heart’ routine.
Curt, I would add — This adm9inistration is dangerously incompetent.
Is the definition of a kinetic war important?
kinetic- resulting from, relating to, or in a state of motion.
Is the antonym for kinetic war a non-kinetic war and is this a war of no motion? There doesn’t need to be an antonym, not necessarily, but I and many former military people are asking themselves if a kinetic war is something they missed in the military or just some new word that is meant to obfuscate and delude the public.
If it is merely a smokescreen meant to delude the public, I will suggest to the president that he needs new bull shit writers. We have a fascinating language with a tremendous volume of words that can be called upon to distort and confuse the public. The coining of the phrase kinetic war isn’t one of our administration’s greater examples of exhibiting a command of the English language. Hopefully, our political generals and their pogues didn’t come up with this lame excuse of a way to lessen the effect and public opinion of attack another country.
America’s entry into WWII was precipitated by Japan’s kinetic attack on Pearl Harbor, but I don’t remember reading of any politicians or generals standing up to condemn Japan’s kinetic war on the United States.
War is a dirty business. A trite and almost silly statement, but not as silly as a kinetic war. Japan paid a tremendous price for waging kinetic war and we paid a terrible price to defeat them. Just as Japan learned, there is a tremendous price for waging a kinetic war and not finishing the job, I am sure we will pay a tremendous price for projecting an image of a sanitary Liberal type of war. Remember this man is obviously psychotic and very wealthy; he hates the US and now he hates Obama, don’t be surprised if he unleashes an unholy reign of terror on America in an effort to get even. “Kinetic War my ass” is what he is saying.
tarpon, not dangerously incompetent, just MIA
Missing Obama – Lack of Leadership
kinetic [kɪˈnɛtɪk kaɪ-]
adj
relating to, characterized by, or caused by motion
[from Greek kinētikos, from kinein to move]
We write as if being incompetent is benign; however if an incompetent president can engage us in wars at whim, especially kinetic wars, there is always the chance that the war might not be as benign as everyone thinks. WW I started with a simple assassination in the Balkans. This is the problem with kinetic or harmless war, there is the possibility of unintended consequences escalating into a conflagration beyond anyone’s control. The Balkans or the Middle East, take your pick for World War; i doubt if Barry can tell us about how the world slid into war or of the horrors of that little war with lots of kinetic energy.
Krauthammer hits it on the head. I do wonder how many folks in the propaganda industry known as the MSM are working on the coverup language and talking points he’ll be using. Skook as always has a great perspective on this. I have to disagree with rose#1 though. This administration is not a joke! This administration is the horror story one gets when an electorate refuses to take their responsibilities as voters seriously! This is what one gets when the electorate chooses to either ignore or have not been taught the ideals our country was founded on!
What is going on in the Mid east now is in exact correlation with the perceived weakness of this administration and America in general. As stated in the first sentence by Hengler, “Obama is the first President in our history who has refused the title leader of the free world”
That is fact! What more can be said?
JoeTote – I hear you. I cannot for the life of me figure out how we got in this mess, how we reached a point where we would elect this incompetent, narcissistic activist with friends like Bill Ayres and no record of accomplishment.
I hope we survive it.
I do think there’s hope – as he was an empty vessel with a mirrored facade. People saw in him every hope and dream they had for the future, they saw their own high ideals and believed he shared them. He does not. But the goodness of people still exists, so there is hope – if they wake up in time.
Start in Compton please. Maybe sections of D.C.. Parts of Houston, Phoenix, St Louis, Hartford, Newark, most of Newport News.
Krauthammer–like most of his ultra-right-wing cheerleaders–is content to sit on the sidelined an say the things that pacify his fans.
@Liberal1 (objectivity):
Oh dear, let’s not let you sit on the sidelines on a conservative blog with no one to pacify you. Here’s a bit of Eugene Robinson who shares similar roles as Dr. K…..columnist, talking head, just from the “ultra”-liberal perspective:
A Mission Wrapped in Confusion
By Eugene Robinson
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/03/25/a_mission_wrapped_in_confusion_109341.html
Feel better now?
Per Gallup, here are the Approval/Disapproval numbers for U.S. military actions since Grenada which was 1983. It does not include Desert Storm but G.H. Bush’s approval ratings for that was 80%. If a connection can be made between Qaddafi and Pan Am Flight 103 (yes, I keep harping on this), the approval for this should go up pretty dramatically if we take him out. If Qaddafi remains in power and/or the slaughter continues, which it most likely will because “no fly zones” and sanctions don’t stop genocide or remove dictators as that usually requires boots on the ground, then this will become even more unpopular because it will make Qaddafi look victorious and us inept.
Afghanistan Oct. 7, 2001 90 5
Iraq Jan. 13, 1993 83 9
Iraq March 20, 2003 76 20
Libya April 17-18, 1986 71 21
Afghanistan/Sudan Aug. 20, 1998 66 19
Somalia June 18-21 65 23
Haiti Sept. 23-25, 1994 54 45
Grenada Oct. 26-27 53 34
Kosovo/The Balkans April 30-May 2, 1999 51 45
Libya March 21, 2011 47 37
@Liberal1 (objectivity):
LOL!
Content to sit???
Are you mental?
Dr. Krauthammer is a quadraplegiac.
He has been since his college days.
____________________
OK, it has been brought up that Obama has authorized jets and missiles against Gaddafi’s forces.
But what about the replacements?
Are we building new jets?
Are we building new missiles?
Or is Obama deliberately missing the target that would end this immediately while he runs through our military inventory?
I see Obama wants to cut the military budget …. a lot.
The current air campaign is confusing.
Gaddafi has this week stated that he has no intent on relinquishing power under the current Low Risk approach to terminating his tenure. So that means, “I’m not flying into exiled retirement in Ryad,” which in turn means “I’ll keep killing my own people, while you send missiles into Libya.” He’s not about to raise the white flag, and probably won’t do so even if the attacks increase in intensity. The ONE WEEK+ delay in the attack which was a result of Indecision, seriously weakened his Opposition, and the rebels retreated totally.
We have little comprehension of who that Opposition really is comprised of. Is this a replay of the timid war against Slobodan Milosevic that saw us inadvertently supporting al-Qaeda? Libya is actually a number of little “countries” artificially grouped into one. Unlike the revolt we witnessed in Egypt, in Libya we are involved in a civil war between tribal factions. What choice is left now that we are well beyond the No Fly Zone feint? A replay of a Milosevic type parade of Gaddafi in front of the International Court in the Hague for war crimes? . . . I think not. The only sane decision is for a decisive action on Gaddafi personally with extreme prejudice.
Indecision is a dangerous thing – as the old saying suggests, “He who hesitates is lost.”
@another vet: TV do not stop there! Give us your analysis. You are the guy with the INTEL background.
Randy,
My opinion still stands that if Q is connected in any way, shape, or form to Pan Am flight 103 he needs to meet Saddam Hussein and we’ll just have to deal with whoever replaces him one way or the other and that may well be a group of people who are allied with Al Qaeda in which case the minute they export terrorism they will have to meet the same fate. If he’s not connected, we still need to finish the job we started or look inept. Like it or not, that’s the position POTUS has put us in. As you know, all they understand over there is brute force.
Dealing with this crap wouldn’t be as crucial if we’d ever get off of our dependency on oil from that region. We’ve been dealing with this issue for decades and for some reason we just can’t seem to solve it even though we can put someone on the Moon which when you think about it, is old technology for us. We are looking at almost 50 years. Between our natural resources and technology we should be able to solve this problem. Despite this country’s faults, it is still the greatest nation on the planet and we can overcome our dependency on the foreign oil problem if we put our mind and resources to it.
A few facts I heard while driving.
Libya has the highest grade crude in the world; in other words, it requires less refining and therefore is the cheapest to refine. May we assume that a kinetic war is a war for oil?
If it is a war for humanitarian reasons, why do we ignore North Korea, Darfur, Syria, Iran, and Somalia?
Unrelated, at least for now, The Egyptian military has formed an alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood: an alliance that was formed before the demonstrations started.
About Obama walking his dog: Let´s not forget he PROMISED it would be a kennel dog. I know the conservatives on FA didn´t believe it when he said it. I knew he couldn´t stand to have just an ordinary dog. Would a kennel dog warrant a separate plane ride to be with the Obama´s?
Let´s not make the mistake of giving our King-in-Chief any credit for what he says. Most of the time I don´t think he knows what the TOTUS is going to tell him what to say until he reads it. Remember him reading the Irish PM speech and didn´t know it, even after he heard the PM read it earlier in the day?
I don´t think he has much to say about what goes in his speeches. Many others are writing them for him. That is why he has time to golf, keep track of sporting events, golf, go on vacations, golf, and throw as many parties as he does. Is he still averaging one party every three days?
“This administration is a joke.”
Even the comedians think that Obama is good joke material now. It took them over two years to figure it out though. Who would have thought that the propaganda media would someday realize their perfect leader would turn out to be a joke?
@Skookum: “Why are we fighting al Qaeda in Afghanistan and giving them air support in Libya?”
You never let a good war go to waste. You always leave a little seed so another one can crop up later and keep the US economy growing.
“We have launched many expensive missiles and have lost two expensive planes and are about to spend billions on this mission to stand with al Qaeda?”
We are not standing with al Qaeda. We are standing with the companies that make military stuff.
“Why didn’t we just send one missile into his palace in the beginning?”
The United Nations has a rule against taking out a country´s leader. It is OK for each side to kill hundreds of thousands, but we can´t take out the one that is the problem. I am guessing that if the problem leaders were taken out that we would have peace in most of the world. The UN doesn´t want that.
“If we don’t have a mission how will we know when we are done?”
That info will be on the TOTUS as soon as we are done and Obama gets back from his vacation.
“Does No-Fly mean we bomb tanks and troop convoys as well or is that just part of a kinetic war?”
I had a hard enough time learning what kinetic energy is. Now I have to learn what a kinetic war is? Did he actually say, “kinetic war?” Usually politicians come up with ways of NOT saying WAR. Remember the Korean “police action?” I am guessing it is another way of not saying war.
“These are just questions I think about while working.”
These are just answers I think about while I decide whether to do anything today or just goof off, since I ain´t working any more.
Smorgasbord, I think the official designation was kinetic military action; I shortened it to kinetic war, purely for aesthetic reasons.
18o missiles at 1.25 million a piece is a fair amount of money in a few hours, but it doesn’t even compare to the total costs for fuel to keep our planes in the air.
Let’s see we can’t kill leaders, because it is not true sportsmanship.
How sportin
@Smorgasbord: @Skookum: Skook, you must have heard that on NPR! LOL
Now that we give material support to Al Qaeda, should we freeze our assets and invade ourselves?
PV, finally, we get some critical analysis and creative thinking. This idea makes more sense than our bumbling in Egypt and Lybia.
@Skookum: #29
Only the UN says we can’t take out the leader. If we dumped them we could take out the problem like a doctor takes out the problem with a human body. It would be like a doctor not being allowed to take out an appendex that could rupture.
@Smorgasbord:
This made my wife so mad she couldn’t see straight for weeks. My wife, of course, works at a shelter trying to find some very good dogs homes. Both of mine were shelter dogs. No doubt that Obama’s dog is from a very good breeder, and I certainly don’t disparage those, however, many breeders mistreat their animals, locking them up in small cages in very poor conditions, beating the animals mercilessly and allowing all sorts of health issues to go on untreated. And this is where the majority of petshop animals come from, yet people still continue to buy them simply to say they have a “pure-bred” animal.
Obama stated one thing, yet did another. That isn’t a surprise.
@johngalt: Isn’t the Obama dog a “Kennedy”? Must be a high bred.
@johngalt: #34
I would like to see the pet stores also sell shelter dogs. The people who can´t afford the pure bred dogs might buy the other. The store would probably increase their income by bringing in people who normally wouldn’t buy one. A new pet means new toys and other stuff for them.
@Smorgasbord: That’s an excellent idea. My two mutts are both shelter dogs. I will probably be getting all of my dogs from here on out from the shelter I adopted them from. They are both awesome and it’s almost like they appreciate what you did for them.
@Randy: 35
The story goes that someone bought the dog and returned it. Kennedy bought it and gave it to Obama. That is how they came up with a non-shelter dog in the Obama family. If the Obama royalty can come up with a solution to taht problem, solving the world´s problems will be easy.
@another vet: #37
My brother recently took in three cats that would have been killed if he didn´t. As all cat owners have found out, he doesn´t own the cats, they own him. He has accepted it that way and they are getting along fine.
@Smorgasbord: My Beagle mix turns one tomorrow and her “brother”, who is a Black Lab/possibly Greyhound mix, will be 2 in a couple of months. It definitely gives us humans a good feeling knowing we saved them. The shelter I deal with is a no kill shelter which is nice.
@Smorgasbord:
Smorg, the breeders are cranking out mixed breeds now, they call them designer dogs and are asking fortunes for them. A Yorkie or Maltese mix is going for $800 around here. Everyday I go on craigslist to check for free kittens, hamsters, bunnies, etc…..we warn the people giving them away because of the snake owners that prowl the site for food, always charge for animal babies. Anyway, it’s a downer of an experience seeing people getting rid of pets because they have no time, they are having a baby, new job, etc. beautiful animals that are shuffled off from their …..sarc, forever homes.
Then I also have four feral cats living under the sun porch because they lost their “forever homes.” Wish I could put a face or name to the people I’ve grown to be so angry with.
@another vet:
The shelter my wife works at is also a no-kill shelter, although that is a misnomer for all of them. They must kill some of the animals when they run out of room, but still the people keep giving their pets up. It is a never ending battle for my wife and the rest of the good people that work at the shelter.
Now, though, they are being threatened by an ignorant, stupid liberal city councilman who believes the city itself should be taking care of these animals, instead of the city and county paying the shelter to take strays. His answer to the problem of overcrowding? Kill more of the animals sooner making more room. He is a disgusting little troll of a man, and yet, he sways all the democrats on the council to his way of thinking.
@Smorgasbord:
Your idea, while having some merit, is a bad one. All it does is continue to perpetuate the cycle of abusive breeders and unhealthy animals. I do not purchase anything from any pet store that sells “puppy mill” dogs. Not food. Not toys. Not even items for my fish tank. I will not monetarily support a business that supports those puppy mills, and urge others that I know to do the same.
Sadly, too many of us are spur of the moment lovers of animals. If they provide gratification to a personality that thrives on vanity, the animal will be cast away when the boost to the weak ego is no longer provided. I have horses, dogs, birds, and cats; the birds just sing and make me laugh, the cats are affectionate but they are independent killers of mice, rats, and rabbits, the horses are friends but they have the urge to migrate and wander the earth, now dogs are the true friends of man. If you develop a relationship with a dog, you will have a true friend in this life. A friend who accepts you whether you are sick, tired, mad, or just having a bad day, they don’t care, they love you unconditionally, until death.
@Missy: #41
If actual animal LOVERS say how pure-breeds are raised, and how many are killed, they would think twice before buying one.
@Smorgasbord:
Ditto that, Smorgabord.
I had a friend who LOVED Scottish Fold cats.
She had no idea that they were the minority survivors of litters.
About 1/2 were normal-eared and simply given away, fixed.
Then 2/3rds of the rest had a defect that meant they were killed.
Only 1 in 6 was a successful Scottish Fold!
BTW, every time I see your nick I think of the days when Swedish smorgasbords were common around here.
Now I have to go to Solvang to find one.
@Nan G:
Nan, one of my last year’s strays was a Scottish Fold, I thought it’s ears had frozen or had some sort of birth defect. It came with an open wound, was tame and would not leave the deck, I took him in for neutering and he was already done. I eventually kept him on the porch until a young couple finally answered one of my ads. They immediately knew what he was and were delighted, had I known he was something special I could have put that in the ad and he would not have had to stay on my ice cold porch for three months.
I also managed to tame and adopt out two other cats last year, the cats I have left will never be tamed, so sad but I feed and water them, don’t know what will happen when we move.
@Smorgasbord:
I know, I’ve learned quite a bit since I started volunteering at the shelter and working with our local cat rescuers. Our animals have all eventually had to leave us, we have never once considered giving up our pets. One exception, the little chihauhua we took in before Christmas had to go live with my daughter & family because our dog attacked him while I was holding the baby(couldn’t get to them to stop it). Everything went well until my great-grandchildren visited, Rio decided he wasn’t about to share his kids. The chihuahua was to tiny(3 ils) for anything like that to happen to him again, fortunately, he is loved where he is now and will remain there forever.