Remember this quote as delivered to Obama from TOTUS?
The Bush administration has done so much damage to American foreign relations that the president take a more active role in diplomacy than might have been true 20 or 30 years ago. If we think that meeting with the president is a privilege that has to be earned, that reinforces the sense that we stand above the rest of the world at this point in time. It’s important for us in undoing the damage that has been done over the last seven years, for the president to be willing to take that extra step. (Source: 2008 Democratic debate at University of Texas in Austin Feb 21, 2008)
I recently asked several senior administration officials, separately, to name a foreign leader with whom Barack Obama has forged a strong personal relationship during his first year in office. A lot of hemming and hawing ensued.
One official mentioned French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is scheduled to bring his glamorous wife to the White House residence this month for a couples dinner with Barack and Michelle Obama. But in France, Sarkozy’s bitterness toward Obama, the product of several perceived snubs, is an open secret, reported widely in the French press. In a speech at the U.N. General Assembly in September Sarkozy appeared to mock Obama’s signature disarmament initiative, saying “we are living in a real world, not a virtual world.”
Angela Merkel’s name also came up: Obama and the German chancellor, I was told, share a down-to-business pragmatism. But Merkel, too, has been conspicuously cool toward Obama ever since he made Berlin a stop on his 2008 election campaign. She stopped him then from appearing at the Brandenburg Gate and was said to be miffed last November when Obama didn’t show for ceremonies celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. Anyway, diplomats say that Merkel has a much warmer relationship with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
No one named Gordon Brown. That’s fairly remarkable: The relationship between the sitting British prime minister and U.S. president has been consistently close over the past 30 years. Think Reagan and Thatcher, Clinton and Blair, Bush and Blair. But Obama has been portrayed as dissing Brown ever since he presented him with a set of DVDs as a gift during their first meeting in Washington a year ago. Last fall the British press reported that the White House had turned down five requests for Obama to meet Brown one-on-one at the United Nations or the G-20 summit.
No matter what one can say about Bush, he charmed many world leaders, and had a good working relationship with even those who had a different political opinion than he did. Even those who slammed him. He understood that world diplomacy was not about Bush, but, about the interests of the United States, and, that when push came to shove, it was “just business.” Obama treats everything as personal and being about Obama. For him, he seems to believe that meeting POTUS is a privilege, ergo the idiotic gifts to Brown’s and the Queen, blowing off the British press, a poor relationship with Sarkozy, and blowing off Germany for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Things did not go very well for Obama when he went to Germany for the WWII remembrance ceremony, where he managed to annoy, well, everyone.
Bush made friends with leaders all over the world. Remember the dancing he engaged in during a visit with Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Africa? Remember his great relationship with Israel? He had an excellent relationship with Putin, a wise decision. Bush took the time. He perhaps attempted to charm world leaders too much at times, but, he tried. Obama can hardly be bothered to pick up a phone, and he and his administration have made gaffe after gaffe, offered insult after insult. Someone needs to explain to President Neophyte that international diplomacy is about political interests, not about himself.
Obama hosted his very first state dinner on Tuesday, and was in for a bit of a surprise. It turns out that a socialite couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, were able to crash the party, cruising right on by the Secret Service guards posted at the entrance.
An aspiring reality-show couple that allegedly attended President Barack Obama’s first state dinner without an invitation were filmed by the Bravo cable network’s camera crews as they prepared for the event.
A Bravo spokeswoman on Thursday said the couple, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, had told camera crews for Half Yard Productions, which produces the reality television series “The Real Housewives of D.C.,” that they had been invited to the dinner “and the producers had no reason to believe otherwise.”
… She said the producers filmed the couple preparing for the event but didn’t follow them into the White House, where the Obamas were feting visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Ms. Salahi is under consideration as a cast member for “The Real Housewives of D.C.” The Bravo spokeswoman said the cast hasn’t been finalized. She called the incident a “personal matter” and referred additional questions to the couple’s lawyer or publicist.
Neither could be reached for comment Thursday.
A White House official on Thursday said the couple hadn’t been invited to Tuesday’s state dinner, and that an investigation was under way to determine how they made it inside the event.
“Agents at the gates failed to verify that these people were on the list,” the official said.
The Salahis — he in a tuxedo, she in a red-and-gold traditional Indian dress — apparently posed for photos with dignitaries at the party, including Vice President Joe Biden and Rahm Emanuel, the president’s chief of staff, and posted some of the snapshots on Ms. Salahi’s Facebook page.
… Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said an initial review “determined that, at one of the checkpoints, the procedures we have in place weren’t followed.”
Gee, you think?
Apparently, as long as you dress like this, you’re good to sneak into a White House state dinner:
Michaele posted photos and details of the event all over Facebook, shamelessly claiming that they were invited.
I was honored to be invited to attend the First State Dinner hosted by President Obama & the First Lady to honor India. In June 2010, the America’s Polo Cup will be between INDIA & the UNITED STATES. Please join me in this cultural celebration of politics, diplomacy, fashion, sports, entertainment & family fun.
She also posted scores of pictures — pictures of her with Marines, cuddling up to Joe Biden, posing with Indian Prime Minister Singh, with Katie Couric, and even Rahm Emanuel.
It’s difficult to imagine a couple more brazen or shameless. This woman was confident enough to waltz right on into the White House, yet stupid enough to post the pictures all over her Facebook. The sad — and worrying — thing is, if she hadn’t posted those pictures, the Secret Service probably never would have found out.
And it of course turns out that the couple is trying to break into reality TV. This gives them the notoriety to do just that, doesn’t it? It unfortunately also embarrasses the Secret Service, Obama, and pretty much the entire White House. It was Obama’s first state dinner, and how will people remember it? They’ll remember that two famewhore socialites snuck in and that his security allowed it to happen. This, for once, is not Obama’s fault, but he’s the one embarrassed by it inevitably. I wonder how long it will take him to blame this on President Bush, though.
What is scary is how easily they were able to get in. Imagine if these had been two terrorists. What if they had been bent on assassinating Obama? What if they wanted to plant a bomb? They would have been able to and no one would have been able to stop them, because security just let them through. Clearly, this little prank is much more than just a simple case of a couple crashing a party — it shows that there is a huge problem with Obama’s security around the White House.
Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter!
The Japanese media has reported that Obama’s recent state visit to their island nation was a big failure, but the U.S. media is mum on the mess that Team Obama made in Japan. He made multiple diplomatic gaffs and this is quite aside from the absurdly low bow that the incompetent president perpetrated upon greeting the Japanese Emperor Akihito.
Before we get to his other multiple fluffs and diplomatic errors, let’s explain what Obama was telling the Japanese people with his absurdly low bow. The sort of bow that Obama made is almost that of a “dogeza” bow. This is a sort of bow that is so low as to be considered a prostrated position. It is seen as an apology, a supplication, not a sign of respect. So, as we see, Obama once again showed that he wants to be known as the less-than president, that he is representing a prostrated people, and that he feels that to everyone he meets overseas he must apologize for this horrible U.S.A.
The inappropriate bow, however, wasn’t the only mistake that Obama committed in Japan. According to the mainstream Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun the visit was termed “miserable,” and “the worst US-Japan summit meeting in history” by Japanese insiders. Worse, the Japanese government was so upset at the visit that it retaliated at various points issuing slights right back to President Obama during his stay on Japanese soil.
From a translation by an American living in Japan comes news that Obama began the trip on a sour note when, with little advanced notice, the president seemed to arbitrarily change his arrival schedule in Japan throwing Japanese officials into chaos.
Obama was originally set to land in Japan on November 12, attend a summit meeting with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on the 13th, and then leave for Singapore on the 14th to attend the APEC Summit meeting. But according to the Japanese magazine, on Nov. 7 the Obama Administration abruptly changed plans and rescheduled the president’s arrival for the 13th instead of the 12th, shaving a day off the visit.
… their excuse for the delay was the shooting at Ft. Hood, Texas on the US Army base on November 5. But the fact of the matter is, the memorial service was on the November 10 and only took a day trip for Obama whereupon he returned immediately to Washington. After that, he had the National Security Council meeting on policy in Afghanistan on November 11th. However, he could have departed Washington D.C. right after that and could have still landed in Japan as everyone agreed and planned on, for the 12th.
In another slight to Japan, a Japanese ruling party spokesman noted that it was obvious to them that Obama was more interested in China on this trip anyway as four days were scheduled for the Communists while only two were scheduled for them.
The magazine notes that Obama was left waiting in a car for five minutes at the entrance to the Prime Minister’s Official Residence and this may have been a message of rebuke sent to Obama by Japanese officials for the president’s abrupt change of schedule.
Shukan Bunshun magazine also notes that while the Japanese had “a total of 14 officials, including six cabinet ministers, the Foreign Minister Okada, the Defense Minister Kitazawa,” the president’s retinue only consisted of members of “Team Obama” and no other American officials of high standing. This was taken as a message that Obama did not consider this meeting very important.
Consequently, after the meeting with Japanese officials, PM Hatoyama immediately left Japan for the APEC Summit essentially leaving Obama alone on Japanese soil even though Obama had several other high profile visits to wrap up in Japan. Japanese journalist Michael Yu noted that this was a message that Hatoyama did not feel much respect for Obama since, as host, he essentially abandoned his guest, President Obama, and flew off to Singapore.
The Japanese magazine characterizes this visit as the “worst” one ever.
“To tell you the truth, it had to have been the worst US-Japan Summit Meeting in history,” a source of ours at the Foreign Ministry revealed to us.
This is just one more example of “Team Obama” issuing one slight after another to our allies while slavishly devoting himself to our enemies. The British have felt it, the Germans, the French, and now the Japanese.
It all adds up to a White House that places little interest in good diplomatic relations with our allies.
I didn’t write it in my post on KSM, but, I did drop some comments around some sites wondering what the polls would say regarding Obama’s gaffetastic idea to prosecute KSM and the other folks involved with 9/11 in civilian courts in NYC, two blocks from the site where the World Trade Center stood. About that
But, you know what? All you folks who oppose Obama and Holder’s idea are raaaaacists. And mean. And hate our Constitution. Or something like that.
But six in 10 people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday say that the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks should be tried in the United States, as the administration plans to do, rather than at a U.S. facility in another country.
I have to wonder how that would have changed had the question said Guantanamo Bay rather than at a U.S. facility in another country.
“The decision to bring Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in front of a civilian court is universally unpopular – even a majority of Democrats and liberals say that he should be tried by military authorities,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “Despite that, most Americans say that he will get a fair trial in the U.S.”
So, in private, where the Obamazombies do not have to push their talking points, a majority think the Obama/Holder idea is dumb as a bag of rocks. Figures.
“Nearly eight in 10 favor the death penalty if that happens – including one in five who say they normally oppose the death penalty, but would support it in this case,” adds Holland.
Notice how Democrats tend to drop their beliefs in a heartbeat, depending on which way the wind blows?
Shockingly, the only left leaning site that seems to be sort of kind of covering this is TPM. No, wait, they are only pointing out the NY Gov. Paterson is against the plan. I’m waiting with bated breath for some of the bigger supports, who went down the insult people road when the plan was announced Friday morning, such as The Moderate Voice (snicker) and Alan Colmes, to post the survey.
Much has been written over the past 24 hours that does well to explain why the Obama Regime’s despicable decision to bestow unprecedented constitutional protections on those whose only connection to America is that they have directed the incineration of thousands of our innocent countrymen or worked not quite as “successfully” for the same or worse. So, I can’t really add much of substance in commenting on the news itself.
And guess who celebrates this as some sort of victory for “justice?”
It’s no secret that the greatest threats to America on the international stage can depend on the ACLU’s extended hand of friendship. The ACLU, as the most dangerous threat to this country from within, has long been writhing around passionately with every enemy of this country like mating slugs at the end of a mucus thread. That the ACLU not only cheers this latest attack on American national security is no surprise. After all, they are up to their ear holes in making sure KSM and Da Boyz get sprung, although the MSM seems to be ignoring the ACLU role. Jay wrote last year at PJM about the execrable “John Adams Project” that undoubtedly played a lead role in securing three hots and a cot for KSM while he awaits his circus trial:
The ACLU has launched an initiative called the “John Adams Project.”…What is it? In a nutshell, the ACLU has assembled a “Dream Team” of attorneys with an $8.5 million budget to defend terrorists currently held at Guantanamo. Who’s the primary object of the ACLU’s affection? Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
The ACLU, true to form, impugns the professionalism and competence of men and women of infinitely more honor than their accusers by referring to tribunals as “kangaroo courts.” But could the ACLU really be so scandalized that this mass murderer will stand before a military tribunal? Could the ACLU truly be standing up for his “fundamental rights?”
What is the true purpose of a multi-million-dollar campaign to get KSM off the hook?
The ACLU explains: “The ACLU chose to focus on Mohammed’s defense, Romero said, because he appears to be “the government’s top priority in the prosecution. And whether or not they are able to convict Khalid Sheik Mohammed under these rules may well determine the fate of the almost 300 other men who are detained at Guantanamo.”
So that’s it. The ACLU wants to set KSM and 300 other terrorists free or at least make it impossible for the tribunals to serve their function. Because KSM is the worst of the worst, because he is the terrorist in custody most responsible for 9/11, the ACLU is his champion.
This PR stunt can only serve to undermine American credibility by creating the illusion – sure to be propagated by the mass media – that mass killers are somehow being denied “justice.” Think our enemies don’t appreciate the ACLU’s efforts on their behalf – on both legal and the PR fronts? Clearly, this will leave America more vulnerable to attack.
NEW YORK – In a major victory for due process and the rule of law, the Obama administration will announce today that the five defendants represented by the John Adams Project who have been charged in connection with the 9/11 attacks will be tried in federal court rather than in the Guantánamo military commissions. However, the administration will also announce that it will continue to use the illegitimate military commissions system to prosecute some Guantánamo detainees, including the defendant accused in the attack on the U.S.S. Cole. The American Civil Liberties Union has been working through the Project, a joint effort with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), to provide legal assistance to the five individuals accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks and other military commissions defendants. The Guantánamo military commissions proceedings have been plagued from the start with legal challenges and international condemnation due to their disregard for basic due process rights.
“The transfer of cases to federal court is a huge victory for restoring due process and the rule of law, as well as repairing America’s international standing, an essential part of ensuring our national security. We can now finally achieve the real and reliable justice that Americans deserve. It would have been an enormous blow to American values if we had tried these defendants in a process riddled with legal problems,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “However, it’s disappointing that the administration has chosen to prosecute some Guantánamo detainees in the unsalvageable military commissions system. Time and again the federal courts have proven themselves capable of handling terrorism cases while protecting both American values and sensitive national security information. Justice can only be served in our tried and true courts.”
This just didn’t seem to smell right, so I ran it through Babel Fish (translating from ACLUgandan to English) and here’s what came out:
BIZARRO CITY – In a major legal and propaganda victory for al Qaeda, the Obama administration will announce today that the five demented killers represented by the John Alan Muhammad Memorial Project who were responsible for the slaughter of nearly 3,000 innocent Americans will await acquittal in federal court by Leftists in New York rather than standing before the incompetent troglodytes who “serve” our country in the Armed Forces…The American Civil Liberties Union has been working through the Project, a joint conspiracy with the National Association of Criminals Disguised as Lawyers (NACDL), to provide legal assistance to the five individuals who’ve blessed us with the glorious 9/11 holiday. The Guantánamo military commissions are staffed by drooling fools in odd uniforms with weird oak leaved, eagles and stars on their shoulders and collars and who are despised by our international comrades.
“The transfer of cases to federal court is a huge victory for al Qaeda and is sure to threaten our national security. We can now finally achieve the real and reliable justice that Americans deserve, but we think should be applied to international terrorists, who until now have never in history been granted the constitutional rights that were once reserved for American citizens. It would have been an enormous blow to ACLU self-esteem and fundraising if we had tried these murderous thugs in a process that actually would have resulted in justice being done,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “However, it’s disappointing that the administration has chosen to prosecute some terrorists using those idiots with really short haircuts. Time and again the federal courts have proven themselves willing to advance the ACLU agenda, truth, justice and national security be damned. This has us just tickled pink.”
As diabolical as this latest move by the Obamanable Administration is, even more demented is the symbolism of trying Mohammed mere steps away from the site of the greatest act of evil — an act of war, not the street crime the Obamanable Administration is treating it like — ever committed against America on our own soil. Miles, or even blocks, away from the husbands, wives, children, mothers and fathers who were left behind to mourn because of the act of terrorism directed by the very man who has now been extended all the protections of the American constitutional system by virtue of nothing but robbing so many innocent AMERICANS of the same, forever.
Say KSM goes free…the blood of all those innocents murdered, on 9/11 and by those aspiring future Islamist killers emboldened by our manifest lack of will and strength, will be splattered and smeared all over the walls of ACLU headquarters.
Update by Lobo: Just a point I want to get covered, but not enough for a post of its own.
The military commissions are obviously constitutional because Congress instituted them and that power is vested in them.
Article III
Section 1. The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
Section 2. The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed; but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
Congress set up the Commissions for the express purpose of trying enemy combatants. I can not find any vested power in the Executive branch to order ECs tried in federal courts.
I do find it amusingly ironic that for 8 years, liberals screeched about the US going into foreign countries and forcing “democracy” on it and now their leader is ordering foreign enemies be brought into a country they hate, filled with people they want to kill, and force a democracy they despise, on them.
You might want to check out a point that Levin made. (I couldn’t get to it from Google search and could backout)
he said something to the effect that the combatants weren’t “mirandized” and that will create a technicality right from the get go. I’d be willing to bet that Obama is counting on that one!
