April 13, 2009

4/13: Obama's 3 A.M. Moment

Conservative bloggers spent much of the past weekend accusing Pres. Obama of demonstrating weakness in his response to the kidnapping of an American sea captain by Somali pirates. Righty bloggers called Obama "our Eunuch-in-Chief" and accused him of "intend[ing] to hobble the United States of America" through his policies of "accommodation and capitulation". After U.S. Navy SEAL snipers killed three of the pirates and freed the captain, a few conservative bloggers praised Obama for authorizing the Navy's use of force. However, most righty bloggers refused to give Obama credit for the rescue, complaining that his administration was "too cowardly to let slip the dogs of war" and arguing that the situation was resolved only because the captain and the Navy took matters into their own hands. Liberal bloggers, meanwhile, are accusing their conservative counterparts of rooting for the Navy's failure out of a short-sighted desire to humiliate Obama.

What can we take away from this episode? Although the economy has replaced national security as the most important issue in the minds of Americans, conservative bloggers remain quite preoccupied with foreign affairs issues, as demonstrated by their recent frenzy over Obama's bow to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. While righty bloggers are obviously opposed to Obama's domestic agenda (hence the "tea party" protests), they are equally opposed to his approach to foreign policy, which they warn will lead America to "the precipice".

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Andrew Sullivan (1, 2, 3, 4) and various liberal bloggers (Yglesias, Lewison, Hamsher, Benen) are criticizing the right-wing "tea party" protests, arguing that they're not spontaneous grassroots uprisings because Fox News and other outlets have been promoting them.
• Conservative bloggers (Horner, Lewis, Powers, Hinderaker, Reynolds) are buzzing about the upcoming tea party protests and pushing back against liberal critics.
• Conservative bloggers (Liebau, Powers, Painter) are criticizing Obama for flying a pizza chef from St. Louis to Washington so that he could prepare lunch for 140 White House guests.
• Liberal bloggers (Yglesias, Morrill, Benen, Willis) are criticizing Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) for alleging that 17 unnamed House members are "socialists."
• Liberal bloggers (Greenwald 1, Greenwald 2, Roth, digby) are blasting Obama for adopting some of George W. Bush's controversial legal positions on detainee rights.

SOMALI PIRATES: See, Obama? Nobody Respects You!

Conservative bloggers spent much of the weekend accusing Obama of demonstrating weakness in his response to the kidnapping of an American sea captain by Somali pirates:

• RedState's bs: "The Somali 'pirates' are at it again, and this time they've provided the United States with that foreign policy crisis that VPOTUS [Joe] Biden predicted would occur. The pirates terrorists are now targeting US-flagged and manned vessels, and that puts our Eunuch-in-Chief in a position where he must (heaven forbid) make a real decision. To no one's surprise, he and his administration have decided to play nicey with the terrorists and negotiate with them. [...] It's very simple: the pirates are terrorists. Terrorists only understand force. Using 'hostage negotiators' simply shows the Somalis and the other Muslim (and other) terrorist communities out there that Fluffy isn't going to lift a finger to stop them. The emasculation of the United States is well underway, and it will not stop until something far worse than a rowboat full of buffoons with guns hits us."
• Pajamas Media's Roger Kimball: "The Age of Obama is shaping up to be another age of 'negotiation,' i.e., an age of accommodation and capitulation."
• Power Line's John Hinderaker: "This could be a sort of acid test: if the Obama administration can't bring itself to visit harsh retribution on pirates, when will it ever be willing to use force to defend American citizens and American interests?"
• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "The pirates have not heeded our power because thus far we have shown an unwillingness to wield it. Just as with religious-extremist terrorists, they will feast on American targets as long as they sense that reluctance to seriously deal with the problem."
• NRO's Victor Davis Hanson: "Piracy may or may not be a matter of American national security, but the American people will not for long stand the notion that a captive brave American ship captain risks his life to escape, while formidable American naval power either cannot or will not punish the miscreants."
• RedState's Warner Todd Huston: "[T]hese skinny, underfed, unorganized and ill-equipped pirates are making a fool of what is ostensibly the most powerful man in the world. [...] Obama is being tested from the most unlikely of sources. He is failing that test and showing the world that his 'America Sucks' tour of Europe was not mere glad-handing boilerplate. Obama is proving that he means to defang the most powerful nation in the world. Obama apparently intends to hobble the United States of America. If this is not the case, he'd better step up to the plate and end this pirate outrage quickly."

SOMALI PIRATES II: You Still Suck, Obama

Although CNN reports that Obama "granted two separate requests from the Defense Department to go forward with a military operation to rescue Captain Richard Phillips," most conservative bloggers are denying that Obama deserves credit for the rescue:

• Gateway Pundit: "Sorry libs. Obama did not give the direct order to kill the Somali pirates. You'll have to wait another day for the cut-and-runner to earn his hero badge."
• RedState's Jeff Emanuel: "Despite the Obama administration's (and its sycophants') attempt to spin today's success as a result of bold, decisive leadership by the inexperienced president, the reality is nothing of the sort. [...] Instead of taking direct, decisive action against the rag-tag group of gunmen, the Obama administration dilly-dallied, dawdled, and eschewed any decisiveness whatsoever, even in the face of enemy fire, in hopes that the situation would somehow resolve itself without violence -- thus sending a clear message to all who would threaten U.S. interests abroad that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has no idea how to respond to such situations, and no real willingness to use military force to resolve them."
• RedState's Caleb: "Playing pansy politics with pirates put the Captain's life at increased risk. His first escape attempt was thwarted by the thugs as Phillips remained adrift from the aid and cover of the US Navy, which sat restrained by an administration too cowardly to let slip the dogs of war. Each day the tension and humiliation of a nation grew. The emboldened pirates fired upon our men of action, who thus restrained could not yet act in kind. The terrorists' defiant lack of fear inspired their fellows to target other American vessels. All while the community organizer in chief flipped through his conflict resolution handbook. But here, at long last, the captive captain is free. He leapt clear and our faithful Navy, apparently at last free to take the safety off, rid the world of three contemptible degenerates and have the fourth in custody to question. So the bold leap into the sea frees the President of the burden to act. In the end, Captain Phillips wasn't saved by the President, but by his own courageous plunge and the deadly professionalism of our men with guns. The President, you see, was saved by the Captain."
• Hinderaker: "Scott [Johnson] noted earlier this morning that the White House is taking credit for the rescue of Captain Phillips. That's OK with me; in fact, I hope Obama gets some credit, as it may embolden him in future crises where military force may be necessary. However, based on what we know so far, it doesn't appear that the rescue owed much, if anything, to the White House. [...] In fact, the White House gave the most cautious authorization for the use of force that it possibly could have. Obama -- like, more significantly, Captain Phillips -- was saved by the willingness of the on-scene commander to stick his neck out and the skill of the Navy's snipers."

SOMALI PIRATES III: Credit Where Credit's Due

Other conservative bloggers offered Obama mild praise for his handling of the situation:

• NRO's Jonah Goldberg: "Good for President Obama. He approved the rescue. It was the right thing to do, with no small amount of risk. And God bless the SEALs."
• Morrissey: "Kudos to the SEALs, and kudos to Obama for making the right call. If this had gone badly, he would have taken the blame, so it's fair to credit him with taking the steps necessary to finally bring this to a happy conclusion."
• Right Wing News' John Hawkins: "I suspect that I will rarely have a chance to say this over the next four years, but I think Obama did a reasonably good job of handling the Somali pirate crisis. All the Americans are safe, three pirates are dead, and we have one captured pirate. Personally, I think we should hang the pirate without a trial, dump his body overboard, and go on a massive pirate killing spree in Somalia to show them what's going to happen every time they take an American. However, in all fairness, I do have to admit that George Bush probably wouldn't have gone that route either and it's entirely possible that this incident will have a deterrent effect. After all, what's the ultimate message here? You capture a typical vessel and they pay you ransom. You capture an American vessel and not only do you not get paid, the Navy shows up and kills you."

SOMALI PIRATES IV: America Wins, Conservatives Lose

Liberal bloggers are blasting their conservative counterparts who criticized Obama's handling of the hostage crisis:

• Daily Kos's DarkSyde: "This should never have been a political issue. And for most red, white, and blue Americans it was about as non-partisan as it gets. But nutballs on the fringe right just couldn't help themselves: while armed terrorists were holding a brave, innocent American at gunpoint, a few extremists elements were barely able to contain their glee at the thought of the terrorists winning, or at least for Phillips to remain captive or worse, all so that they could try and make the President look bad for a news cycle or two. What was for the rest of the nation a joyous Easter miracle has right-wing eliminationists furious. They're angrily denouncing the details of the rescue, vainly trying to revise events to fit their failed ideology. It's revolting, beyond the pale, and something this nation will not soon forgive or soon forget."
• AMERICAblog's Chris in Paris: "As the hostage crisis developed, the hard right had been mocking Obama, hoping that he and yes, America, would fail. As much as they try and run away from their desire to see everything fail during this Obama administration, it is their own hatred of Obama that failed. They have been all too willing to give him none of the credit for a success and all of the blame should anything go wrong. The reality, of course, is that both extremes are not correct though it never works out that way in the real world."
• Balloon Juice's John Cole: "Anyone who thinks that several most likely illiterate Somali thugs, armed with AK's and probably geeked to high heaven on khat, decided to attack a flagged American container ship as a test because there is a perception that Obama is weak, is just a full-fledged idiot and should be institutionalized."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Thanks For Nothing, Evan Bayh!

Open Left's Chris Bowers:

"It is becoming increasingly obvious that the Senate, rather than the Obama administration, is the biggest obstacle to progressive governance right now. If we were dealing with only the House and the Obama administration, there would be a noticeably more progressive government in America. From health care reconciliation, to 100% auction cap and trade, to a larger stimulus package, to bailout reform, to bankruptcy 'cramdown' reform, and even to executive compensation, the Senate has moved to the right of both the House and the Obama administration. As such, it is the Senate, and not the Obama administration, against whom we should be directing more of our distrust and pressure.

Just imagine what we would have accomplished in terms of legislation without the Senate over the past few months. The stimulus would have had a hundred billion more in spending, 100% auctions would be on their way, hundreds of billions for new health care would be on its way, bankruptcy 'cramdown' would be law, EFCA would be law, executive compensation limits would be far more severe, and on and on and on. However, if we had the Senate but there was no President, the legislative accomplishments would have been pretty much the same."

LEST WE FORGET: Some Guy Who's Not Stephen Colbert To Deliver College's Commencement Speech

From The Onion:

"STATE COLLEGE, PA -- Penn State students were devastated Monday to learn that their commencement speaker will be 'some dork scientist' who discovered DNA, authored the groundbreaking book The Double Helix, helped establish the Human Genome Project, and is not late-night talk-show host Stephen Colbert. 'This is so lame,' said senior biochemistry major Beth Reiss, whose hero ever since she discovered her love for science has been Stephen Colbert. 'We didn't work our butts off in the lab for four years to sit and listen to some brainiac without his own insanely popular television show.' As of press time, the Nobel Prize-winning nobody was deliberating over perhaps opening his commencement speech with a joke."

Posted by Ian Faerstein at April 13, 2009 01:30 PM