America’s first naked retreat in history is nothing to celebrate.
This has been a terrible defeat for Barack Obama. And I know a lot of Americans out there are chirping like songbirds now that he has publicly humiliated himself by strutting his vanity when he should have been reciting his constitutional catechism, leading him to march right to the precipice of war without so much of a mention of Congressional backing…then suddenly needing it when his putative allies abandoned him.
Pride goeth before a fall.
But this is not the time for celebration, for a far worse thing has happened than the permanent egg stain on Obama’s face, for now we also know we have a Congress, especially Republicans, who seem quite content to let Obama assert unilateral authority to make war. It’s not just that Obama marched up to the breach, but no one shouted “Stop.” In fact, John McCain complained that he was moving too slow (about which more later).
Obama has retreated under fire, in the face of the enemy, only that enemy is not Syria, but his own childish policies, fabricated by his own childish staff, and thought immutable and invincible by his own childish vanity.
I’m glad we now have this settled in our minds.
In the end, Obama couldn’t pull the trigger, even as it was an illegal trigger, and in the end his self-duping has insured he will never see the true nature of his folly. Obama believes in nothing but the inerrancy of his own words, so will not accept a public comeuppance, at least not publicly. But he is expert at back-stabbing, and is a physical coward, so beware!
A year ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the fall of the Assad regime was just a matter of time. “Not if, but when.” And the Washington world fell into a swoon. Then last week Secretary of State of John Kerry, the highly decorated and thrice wounded John Kerry (“tho’ he shed no Blood”) said the American attack on Syria was a just a matter of time. And the White House echoed, “Not if, but when.” (At some point even Democrats can’t walk away from these words, for it embarrasses even the press to try and cover for them.)
Then the British, those “damned colonial imperialists,” decided that this week was the week they should return the Churchill bust back to Barack Obama, stamped “Postage Due,” and Obama’s idea of a multinational coalition, Them and Him, fell into a heap like so much dirty laundry.
Suddenly, all the legal questions that had been asked in private for over two weeks suddenly were whispered no more.
If not from the Congress, if not from NATO, if not from the United Nations, just where did Barack Obama’s authority to attack another member state of the UN unilaterally come from? No one asked, and Obama did not offer, instead strutted around like Il Duce with training wheels. And then, two days ago, some Republican congressmen, and one lone Democrat, penned a letter, asking the president to confer with Congress first. “Ask us for a vote. Please.” Personally, when the rent is three months past due, I prefer a demand-letter, but that’s just me.
Republican fear of appearing partisan, afraid to ask even the most basic constitutional questions, should mute our gladness about Obama’s failure. Instead of applauding Obama for walking back from the breach, they should have been sounding alarms and posting signs “Slow Down, Breach Ahead” weeks ago. And they should have been shoving rolled up socks into the mouths of that turdcoat McCain and his worm Spot, who have been pushing for unilateral action for months, ever since McCain met with the Syrian “rebels” and came away with the same warm fuzzy opinion of them that Obama had for the Muslim Brotherhood during those nostalgic swinging-door days at the White House before the Egyptian people rose up against them. And probably for the same reasons.
I swear, I do believe al Qaeda, instead of blowing it up, could sell the Brooklyn Bridge to John McCain if only they’d first kiss his hand.
As for the actual cause of action in this lawsuit passing as warfare, beneath it all, there is still no solid proof as to who actually set that gas loose in Syria. The government couldn’t prove a drop of this in a court of law, in other words. The Brits as much as admitted it, and it was key in their Parliamentary vote deciding not to intervene.
That we might be even indirectly (McCain wants to do it directly) assisting terror groups in Syria, as it seems occurred in Libya, (and the jury is still out on the Brotherhood in Egypt), should be anathema to Americans, and it should have been anathema to us months ago, not just a few hours ago. That the “rebels” may also have access to gas has been alleged for months, not days. And that they may have delivery systems (prosecution experts assume missiles, but artillery shells will also suffice, I’m told). Then the source of all the “hard evidence” turns out to be actually little more than electronic chatter sourced back to various Arab groups, then later revised to say the CIA is the source, the same unshakably-reliable CIA Hillary, Kerry and Obama lampooned and called liars not that long ago. Oh, those were the days!
On such evidence, triumphantly reported to us by Biden and Kerry, we must set aside the What-if-things-go-badly? because of our intervention. One English historian likened the maze of alliances in the Middle East right now to be akin to the alliances in Europe in August, 1914, asserting they can go very badly indeed.
And then, what would the unvaliant Obama do?
Being a cowboy it was assumed that Bush would try exactly what Obama has in fact done, to march straight up to the borders of Iraq, flip Saddam off with one hand and the Congress and American people off with the other, then launch an attack.
Bush did no such thing, instead, he built a coalition of nations, real countries, not Cracker Jack toys like Belize and Iforgetastan, obtained UN sanction, a process taking months, including almost 100% of the Democrat congress (for which they later repented). Only then did he move in. Still the obdurate Left accused America of an illegal attack on a sovereign nation.
So how will they vote this time? Do they get their noses rubbed in those old protests just to cover Barack’s hide, or do they waltz with the devil what brung them to the dance in the first place?
My guess is that Barack can’t win a vote in Congress, just rubbing salt in an already open wound. But he asked for that vote to buy time (eight or nine days), so beware.
As I began, if you are salivating at watching all this come undone for Obama, just remember, to the rest of the world, this is the United States who is retreating, and there are certain nations out there, Iran comes to mind, who will try to make use of it while they can. Remember the last time America came to such a crossroads? It was when they seized the American embassy in Tehran and held America hostage for 444 days. Oh, we came back with a vengeance, in the visage of Ronald Reagan, but if you haven’t looked lately, Iran won, and have been moving forward ever since. Today, they understand that we are not likely to put up with a putz like Obama for much longer, so they have to get while the gettin’ is good. The ball may be already rolling.
I don’t see a new Reagan among the gelded Republicans these days to staunch this new round of bleeding, but maybe he (or she) will show up soon. Only, as you see the public personalities of Hillary, Kerry, Rice, and Power being publicly shredded by their international counterparts, and Obama quivering beneath his desk (there go the vacations to the Azores), just remember, this spells real dread for America.
Coward? Yes. And now revealed. Indifferent, vainglorious bastard? Yes. And known for years, only now punctuated by a mark America will carry long after this man-child has departed the scene. Imperialist? Yes, and now revealed, only sadly by events rather than a vigilant Republican opposition.
We are walking into a new era, People. So holster your glee.
PTG
