Is Obama Tired Of Being President?

First, read this little item from Tevi Troy on Obama’s consumption – some would say over-consumption – of media. Now, I don’t really care about this sort of thing – the television I watch is something like 60 percent sports, 30 percent animated, and 10 percent Seinfeld reruns – but it just seems like the presidency would demand more attention.

But in the context of this NYT longread on Syria, it seems more troublesome.

Even as the debate about arming the rebels took on a new urgency, Mr. Obama rarely voiced strong opinions during senior staff meetings. But current and former officials said his body language was telling: he often appeared impatient or disengaged while listening to the debate, sometimes scrolling through messages on his BlackBerry or slouching and chewing gum. In private conversations with aides, Mr. Obama described Syria as one of those hellish problems every president faces, where the risks are endless and all the options are bad.

And then there’s the CNN interview Sebelius just gave.

President Barack Obama didn’t know of problems with the Affordable Care Act’s website – despite insurance companies’ complaints and the site’s crashing during a test run – until after its now well-documented abysmal launch, the nation’s health chief told CNN on Tuesday. In an exclusive interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta asked when the President first learned about the considerable issues with the Obamacare website. Sebelius responded that it was in “the first couple of days” after the site went live October 1. “But not before that?” Gupta followed up. To which Sebelius replied, “No, sir.”

Via: The Federalist
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HUD’s Power Grab > The Obama administration plots a wholesale federal intrusion into local housing policy

President Obama may have been distracted by Syria, but his domestic presidency proceeds apace, seeking what he heralds as “the transformation of the United States.” Especially is this true at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which aims to remake neighborhoods all across America, starting, as we’ll see, in Westchester County, N.Y.

SHAUN DONOVAN

NEWSCOM

Established in 1965 at the height of the last unambiguously progressive presidency, HUD enforces, among other laws, the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which forbids discrimination in housing on the basis of race and ethnicity. That act, together with other statutes, says HUD, also directs “program participants”​—​local governments and states that receive federal housing grants, and also public housing agencies​—​to go beyond simply combating discrimination. They are to take “proactive steps” to “address significant disparities in access to community assets, .  .  . overcome segregated living patterns and support and promote integrated communities, [and] .  .  . end racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty.” HUD has a name for all this proactive step-taking: Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, also known in HUD circles by its acronym, AFFH.

It so happens, however, that the transformation of America by means of AFFH has been a bit too slow in coming. Says HUD: “The current practice of affirmatively furthering fair housing as carried out by HUD grantees .  .  . has not been as effective” as it should have been. Indeed, housing secretary Shaun Donovan has called it “a meaningless paper exercise without any teeth,” a difficult metaphor to conceptualize, but you get the point.

Via: Weekly Standard

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[SPECIAL REPORT] Public Policy: For the Children

They care about them so much — until they don’t.

Although this article is not only about Syria, I will begin with Syria.

In his address to the Nation on Tuesday, September 10, concerning the August 21 chemical attack in Syria, President Obama singled out for special concern the hundreds of children who were killed, and invited his listeners to view the images. A few days later, on September 13, the Washington Post’s Philip Kennicott published an examination of this aspect of the President’s address in light of public opinion polls opposed to U.S. military action in Syria in a piece he entitled, “Why Syria’s Images of Sufferings Haven’t Moved Us.” Among other things, he wrote, “Images of children suffering form the ultimate emotional argument, compelling us to move from sentiment to action, from the particular to the universal, from passivity to engagement.” Undoubtedly, this is so. There are numerous examples, and not just examples from war zones. Recall the 18-month-old child who fell to the bottom of a 22-foot deep well: Jessica McClure in 1986, the subject of the 1989 TV movie,Everybody’s Baby.

In his address, the President belittled the prospects that a U.S. military attack would result in any extended air campaign or further intervention, or any retaliation by the Assad regime against the United States or Israel that the United States or Israel couldn’t handle. What he did not mention, and could not speculate on, was the degree of expected or unexpected “collateral damage.” We can assume there would be deaths of unarmed people, including children. Some of the children killed would be located near the targets. But there might well be more. It would be easy to envision that a regime that used chemical weapons would put children near targets to serve as human shields. Or use photos of dead children and allege that they were near the targets when killed or that they were killed when American weapons failed to hit their intended targets. What price, in the form of the blood of Syrian children, was President Obama willing to pay in order to deter the Syrian regime from engaging in, or to degrade the ability of the Syrian regime to engage in, chemical attacks that killed — Syrian children?

Via: American Spectator

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Obama facing pressure from lawmakers to stand ground against Iran

On the heels of criticism over his handling of the stand-off with Syria, President Obama is facing pressure from Congress to stand his ground with Iran -- in the run-up to the U.N. General Assembly session in New York where Hassan Rowhani will make his debut visit as Iran's president. 

Rowhani has sent signals over the last few weeks that he's willing to engage the U.S. in talks over his country's nuclear program. Obama revealed in an interview a week ago that he and the newly elected Iranian leader have been exchanging letters. 

The communication raised the possibility that Obama, or perhaps Secretary of State John Kerry, might meet on the sidelines of the U.N. session, and jump-start a new round of talks aimed at convincing Iran to abandon any pursuit of nuclear weapons and open up its program to inspectors. 

Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., though, urged Obama to tread cautiously. 

"Like you, we viewed the election of Hassan Rouhani as an indicator of discontent amongst the Iranian people and we have taken note of recent diplomatic overtures by Iran," they wrote. "However, whatever nice words we may hear from Mr. Rouhani, it is Iranian action that matters." 

They wrote that a "credible and verifiable agreement" would be welcomed but "we also recall, however, Iran's prior use of negotiations as a subterfuge for progress on its clandestine nuclear program, as well as Iran's continued financing of terrorist activities." 

Via Fox Political News

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Hannity Wins: Liberals Humiliated

Sean Hannity wins. 

Liberals, having spent months predicting his television and radio demise, lose. 

Humiliated. Again.

But this is about more — much more — than Sean Hannity.

The entire episode swirling around Hannity’s future on Fox and talk radio is a reminder not simply of Hannity’s success and the abysmal failure of Hannity-hating enemies. It is in fact yet one more example of what the late William F. Buckley, Jr. referred to as the “hurtling irrationality” of the “liberal mania.” The real question is as easy as it is serious: 

Why are liberals so gullible? 

What does this Hannity dust-up say about the way liberals see everything from their bizarre assertions about Sean Hannity to ObamaCare, Syria policy and beyond? 

And — no small point for media obsessives - what does this say about the strength of the conservative base in the media?

Let’s focus on Hannity first — and yes, by all means, let’s name some names here.

Prime-time Fox TV it is for Sean. Still and again after 17 years, he remains at the top. Just this week these ratings freshly published over at Mediaite demonstrate his ability to beat the competition, repeatedly clobbering the rest of the field wandering around over there on the ratings deserts that are CNN, MSNBC and HLN. 

Via: American Spectator

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Syria's Assad: Removing chemicals a sensitive operation

Syrian President Bashar Assad wants to cooperate with diplomatic agreements that would compel his country to be rid of chemical weapons within a year, but there are technical issues to consider about such a sensitive operation, he said Wednesday night during an interview on Fox News.

Facing questions at the presidential palace in Damascus, from former U.S. representative Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and Fox News senior foreign affairs correspondent Greg Palkot, Assad said during the hour-long conversation that his government is committed to the agreement hammered out in talks with Russia.

"It's a very complicated operation technically and it takes a lot of money," Assad said, later elaborating that the price tag would be about $1 billion because the chemicals would be detrimental to the environment.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY: United States will monitor steps of agreement

MORE: Deadly bombing in central Syrian province

"It's not about will; it's about techniques," he said.

Assad also said if the United States wanted to pick up the $1 billion, that would help.

Of the year timeline, he said the operation would take "maybe a little bit less, maybe a little bit more."

The Syrian leader expressed skepticism about a United Nations report that says there is evidence that chemical weapons were used and that evidence also appeared to show aggression appeared to originate from Qasioun Mountain, where the Syrian Republican Guard is known to operate.

Assad said that sarin is known as a "kitchen gas."

"You know why?" he continued. "Because anyone can make sarin in his house."

He said there is evidence that "terrorists" in his country have used sarin.

Assad said he has "never" spoken with President Obama and said he was not sure if he would want to have a conversation with him.

"That depends on the content," he said.

Via: USA Today

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Syria To Miss First Deadline In U.S.-Russia Chemical Arms Deal

WASHINGTON — The ambitious U.S.-Russian deal to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons, hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough just days ago, hit its first delay Wednesday with indications that the Syrian government will not submit an inventory of its toxic stockpiles and facilities to international inspectors by this weekend's deadline.

The State Department signaled that it would not insist that Syrian President Bashar Assad produce the list Saturday, the end of a seven-day period spelled out in the framework deal that Washington and Moscow announced last weekend in Geneva.

Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman, said Wednesday that "our goal is to see forward momentum" by Saturday, not the full list. "We've never said it was a hard and fast deadline."

Via: LA Times

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OBAMA WASN'T READY IN 2008, ISN'T READY NOW

In 2008, the RNC warned what would happen if Americans voted to elevate one of the least experienced presidential candidates in history to the Oval Office. 

Like boarding a plane with a pilot who has never flown, we would be trusting the security of our nation to a man with no executive experience and a thin foreign policy resume. In the wake of crises, Americans would have to play the waiting game while we determined whether our commander in chief could perform on the world stage.

Enter President Obama’s recent handling of the Syrian Conflict: a batch of mixed messages to the American people and a Congressional sales pitch that convinced more people to vote against his proposal than in favor. Five years of on-the-job-training later, we have a president who cornered himself in what can only be described as a foreign policy debacle.

Worse, he had no plan and no experience on how to get out.

<>A day after Syria threatened retaliation and Vladimir Putin offered Obama an escape route, our President took the bait and handed a victory to Syria and Russia.  

Time’s Joe Klein writes:

He willingly jumped into a bear trap of his own creation. In the process, he has damaged his presidency and weakened the nation’s standing in the world.”

It’s not just Republicans who are questioning his leadership. His performance is so haphazard, he disappointed even his most ardent supporters.

The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus writes:

In the past few weeks, I have encountered not a single person outside the White House, Republican or Democrat, who has kind words for Obama’s performance. Scornful may not be too strong a word for the consensus view, though it is scorn leavened, at least among the more thoughtful critics, with appreciation for the no-good-options reality of Syria.”

His struggling poll numbers shows he isn’t winning over the American public either. 

Via: Breitbart

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Axis Of Obama

What is emerging out of the black comedy of Barack Obama's weakness and vacillation in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria is the revitalization of what President George W. Bush termed the "axis of evil."

By allowing himself to become what Ann Coulter charitably describes as "President Putin's bitch," Obama has not only taken yet another step in his purposeful overseeing of the decline of the U.S. as a world power, he has brought about a power vacuum that has seen Kim Jong-un restart his nuclear reactors and Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad grab the initiative as they dictate the terms of the ongoing war for the Middle East.

In reducing Obama to lackey status in world affairs and in order to further chastise his bitch for her reference to American exceptionalism, the atheist communist Putin played the God card, referencing the U.S. Declaration of Independence in the process, no less:

I would rather disagree with a case he [Obama] made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States' policy is "what makes America different. It's what makes us exceptional." It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord's blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Via: American Thinker

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Health care in Syria is 'hell on earth,' doctors say

DO I HEAR OBAMACARE???

Syria’s once sophisticated health system is “at breaking point” and parts of the country are completely cut off from any kind of medical service because of “deliberate and systematic attacks” on medical facilities and staff, senior doctors said on Monday.

Horrific injuries go untended, women are giving birth with no medical care and patients battling cancer, diabetes and heart disease, as well as victims of sexual violence, have nowhere to turn, 55 medical professionals from across the world said in a joint letter in The Lancet medical journal.

More than half of Syria’s hospitals have been destroyed or badly damaged in attacks, nearly 470 health professionals are imprisoned, and about 15,000 doctors have been forced to flee abroad, said the letter’s signatories.

“Such attacks are an unconscionable betrayal of the principle of medical neutrality,” wrote the doctors, who include Gro Harlem Brundtland, former director-general of the World Health Organization and Hany El Banna, founder of the Humanitarian Forum and Islamic Relief.

Of the 5,000 physicians in the city of Aleppo before the conflict started, only 36 remain, the letter said.

Via: Fox News

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Humiliated by Putin

Spooked because their constituents strongly oppose intervening in Syria's civil war and alarmed by President Barack Obama's inept handling of the crisis, members of Congress were about to vote down a resolution authorizing military strikes.

Mr. Obama was spared a humiliating defeat when Russian President Vladimir Putin tossed him a lifeline. Like a trout dazzled by a fisherman's lure, our president snapped up the bait.

"Putin openly despises your president," Russian political analyst Andrei A. Piontovsky told The New York Times. So why would he help Mr. Obama out of a jam?

The Russian leader was following sage advice offered by a Chinese general 2,500 years ago.

"Do not press a desperate foe too hard," advises Sun Tzu in "The Art of War." "Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across." If you know your enemy and you know yourself, you'll win all your battles, Sun Tzu said.

As Con Coughlin, defense editor of the London Telegraph, wrote, Mr. Putin knows that "Mr. Obama will grab any excuse he can find to avoid military action against Damascus."

And Mr. Putin knows that because he's so vain, Mr. Obama is more likely to act to protect his own reputation than America's. So when another stupid thing Secretary of State John Kerry said provided an opening, the Russians pounced.

In response to a reporter's question, Mr. Kerry said Syrian dictator Bashar Assad could avert a U.S. military strike -- which earlier in the day he said would be an "unbelievably small, limited kind of effort" -- if his regime gave up its chemical weapons.

This was a "major goof," one official told CNN. He "clearly went off script."

What a swell idea, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. We'll ask our ally to turn his chemical weapons over to an international body. Mr. Assad readily agreed.

Via Real Clear Politics

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Backing Down On Syria Doesn’t Mean U.S. Won’t Strike Iran

President Obama declared that the United States is still prepared to act militarily to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons despite the decision to pursue a diplomatic deal and not strike Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons.

He also acknowledged that his approach to the Syria crisis has been uneven, but defended it as producing the right results.

Obama spoke in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” taped Friday before the United States and Russia agreed on a plan to bring Syrian chemical weapons under international control in order to avoid military strikes.

But Obama said Iran should not interpret the diplomatic response — coming after he threatened to use strikes — as suggesting that the United States wouldn’t attack Iran to stop the development of nuclear weapons.

“I think what the Iranians understand is that the nuclear issue is a far larger issue for us than the chemical weapons issue, that the threat . . . against Israel that a nuclear Iran poses is much closer to our core interests,” Obama said. “My suspicion is that the Iranians recognize they shouldn’t draw a lesson that we haven’t struck [Syria] to think we won’t strike Iran.”

Via: Washington Post

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CONGRESS MUST RECAPTURE ITS LOST WAR POWERS

“It was a damn near-run thing,” said the Duke of Wellington.

The Iron Duke was speaking of Waterloo.

And for the United States, it was a damn near-run thing that we are not now in a major war — with an enraged Arab and Muslim world viewing sickening videos of dead and dying Syrian women and children from U.S. missile strikes.

Next time, we may not be so lucky. Next time, we may not have Vladimir Putin to pull our chestnuts out of the fire, as he did by seizing on yet another gaffe by John Kerry and converting it into a Russian plan to have Syria identify and surrender its chemical weapons.

Putin pulled President Obama back off the ledge. He saved Obama from having either to ignominiously climb down from his “Assad must go!” and “red line” bluster — or act on his ultimata and plunge us into a war the American people and U.S. military do not want to fight.

Putin was acting in Russia’s interests. But in preventing a U.S.-Syrian war, Putin’s interests and ours are one.

Russia does not want a confrontation over U.S. missiles falling on its Syrian ally. Do we? Russia does not want a wider Mideast war, which is what a U.S. strike would bring, with Russia and Iran racing to support and re-equip their stricken Syrian ally. Do we want that wider war?

Via: Human Events

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Decisiveness Overrated? White House Thinks Yes

President Barack Obama’s Syria strategy may not have been particularly decisive, but that’s not a bad thing, according to the White House.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney defended his boss Thursday after a blistering few weeks of criticism in Congress and elsewhere over his handling of the Syria crisis.

Carney said the American people “appreciate a president who doesn’t celebrate decisiveness for decisiveness’ sake.” He also said Americans like that Obama is open to “new information” and adjusts his course accordingly.

Carney said that in the end, the president will deserve credit if the diplomatic initiative with Russia to get Syria to give up its chemical weapons arsenal succeeds.

Carney brushed off criticism from the Syrian rebels that simply taking Assad’s chemical weapons does not hold him accountable for the gassing of his citizens.

And he reacted strongly to Vladimir V. Putin’s op-ed in The New York Times, which ripped Obama for calling America “exceptional.” But Carney didn’t go so far as to say the president was “insulted,” as Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, did earlier Thursday.

“We’re not surprised by President Putin’s words. But the fact is that Russia offers a stark contrast that demonstrates why America is exceptional,” Carney said.

“Unlike Russia, the United States stands up for democratic values and human rights in our own country and around the world. And we believe that our global security is advanced when children cannot be gassed to death by a dictator,” he said.

Carney said Russia “is isolated and alone in blaming the opposition for the chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21.”

And he said that there’s “a great irony” in Putin placing an op-ed “because it reflects the truly exceptional tradition in this country of freedom of expression. And that is not a tradition shared in Russia.”

That said, Carney sought to keep the pressure on Russia to deliver on its proposal with a verifiable, timely destruction of Syria’s chemical weapons.

Russia “has put its prestige and credibility on the line in backing this proposal to have Syria, the Assad regime, give up the chemical weapons that until two days ago it claimed it did not have [and] turn them over to international supervision with the purpose of eventually destroying them.”

Via: Roll Call

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