James Carafano:
resident Obama’s West Point speech proved telling in ways he probably didn’t plan. The commander-in-chief tried to use the commencement address to quell concerns over a foreign policy that has produced nothing but controversy and setbacks since the debacle in Benghazi.
But the president scored more misses than hits with the audience, pundits and the press. Even The Washington Post acknowledged that the speech did little more than mow down a field of “straw men.”
As far as policy goes, the speech may have been a clarion call for little more than muddling through. But for prospectors of presidential rhetoric, it is a gold mine. And the biggest nugget is the paradox of an administration mimicking the caricature of the foreign policy it created to discredit the previous administration.
Every administration must define the enemy from which they are protecting us. During the Cold War, that was easy. But since the fall of the Berlin Wall, it’s often been less self-evident.
That can be problematic. Strategy, after all, is a competitive practice: the art of besting somebody—the Trojans, the Red Coats, the Nazis, whoever’s on the other end of the spear, the sword or the gun. “It is about getting more out of a situation than the starting balance of power would suggest,” Lawrence Freedman declares in his new book, Strategy: A History. “It is the art of creating power.”
And then, slapping the other side over the head with it.
During the Cold War, the enemy was in Moscow. The big challenge was to make neither too much, nor too little of the threat. George Kennan always argued for a tempered, measured threat assessment. On the other hand, the drafters of NSC 68, led by Paul Nitze, and Senator Arthur Vandenberg wanted to “scare the hell out of the American people.”
Getting the threat right was critical. It was the main selling point to the public about how much was enough to defend us.
But America’s long-time selling point for strategy crumbled with the Wall. No self-evident replacement arose until 9/11. From the rubble of the World Trade Center, a strategy for fighting a “global war on terrorism” (GWOT)—the “Long War”—emerged.
Apparently, not only was Obama insane to let 5 top terrorists out of Gitmo. Both Sean Hannity and Chris Wallace are as dimb as dirt to suggest that Israel does this same type of exchange? Not! Israel trades back PAWNS, not top level leaders that when back in the battlefield can do serious planning and terrorism. It doesn’t occur to these guys that this illegal trade is terrible, horrible Obama policy that only serves to help the Taliban. Besides, the idea that Obama wanted not to leave a soldier behind, Obama is full of hell! He left 4 to die in Benghazi! Soldiers expect to fight and sometimes die. D-day is an example. Bergdahl is a shill or should have “manned-up” fully knowing what it would mean to trade him for the spawn-of-hell.
It seems that the Arab in charge of investigating in the House the many illegal activities of Obama, Daryl Issa, is dragging his Muslim feet. It is taking him so long to investigate because he too is an Islamist like Obama. Any American patriot would have impeached Obama by now,
And now Obama through his short-sightedness and incompetence has sentenced many, many innocents to die in the future for his poliical expediency. Can’t the politicians in Washington multi-task. Obama did this trade as a prank to deflect attention from the VA scandal. Prosecute Obama for the many sandals and violations of law and the violations of our Constitution simultaneously. And let the press track all of Obama’s violations together daily. Impeachment is indicated; Obama is a derilict, callous degenerate and a depraved dog.
So much for “smart power.” The U.S. has more diplomatic losses than wins and to make things worse, billions of dollars are spent each year in enlarging problems in order to gain Congressional money.
The biggest threats in Africa listed by the CIA are diseases, because things such as Malaria and AIDS kill off more adults than violence which destabilize the region. Imagine Africa being a giant version of Lord of the Flies.
The CIA may have brought back polio. The Pakistanis believe the CIA ran the polio vaccine program in Pakistan ij order to find Osama Bin Ladin. Now the polio program has been shut down in Pakistan because the members have become targets. It’s just a matter of time before that spreads back to the U.S. and its allies.
Another odd contender is violence toward women, especially abortions of females. China once had an uprising where millions of males were violently trying to find women by attacking their husbands and boyfriends. The same thing is starting to happen in India. It’s possible the violence could spread to neighboring countries.
Superstitions and unemployment are also regional destabilizers which neither the military or the State Department can handle.
More citizens of the U.S. die from cancer in three years than from all the military conflicts involving U.S. citizens combined.
I believe that U.S. military’s traditional role is going to be less and less important as other factors destroy regions and allies and the military doesn’t have the equipment and training to meet those threats.
So true.
When a terrorist is arrested inside Israel he can be sentenced to prison.
Oddly (compared to here, for instance) his entire family will petition Israel to incarcerate them as well!
So, Israel’s ”prisons” are usually filled with women and children on their taxpayers’ dimes instead of them being a drag on their husband or father’s home country or territory.
Israel is very pleased to let these people go.
Now, as to Obama’s idea of an enemy:
This must help explain why, after ridding the Pentagon of $300 hammers and $1500 toilets, Obama has us paying more than 64 times the current market price for standard carbon-based fuels to put ”green” jet fuel into our military jets.
I read nothing in this article, but the title. My opinion is the greatest enemy of the USA sits in the white house. He has lied his way to the top and I hope he and his supporters get their asses kicked in 2014 and 2016. God help the USA.
yes please GOD, come back, we want you here, to take over the beast,
and send it down to hell where he belong, FOR ETERNITY,
@old guy: My guess was going to be Supreme Court Justice John Roberts.
True, there was a statement in the title but the rest was just the usual expected Obama bashing with the usual expected splash of Benghazi, for good measure I suppose.
Nanny G
and they found 9000,000,000,000, MISSING IN THE FEDERAL MONEY,
BYE