How’s that Russia “reset” going? Not so well, as the news this week shows. In addition to blocking tougher sanctions on Iran for its illicit nuclear weapons activities after a damaging report by the U.N.’s watchdog, Russia is “studying” building more reactors at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant.
Recently, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R–OH) blasted the Administration’s “reset” policy with Russia, saying: “Over the last two and a half years,” Russia “has been the beneficiary of American outreach and engagement. [Yet it] has continued to expand its physical, political, and economic presence…under the guise of…a ‘sphere of influence.’”
The reset strategy needs, as Boehner put it, to be reset. Despite years of “engagement” and outreach to Russia—and sacrificing key missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic to appease Moscow’s angst—Russia has given the Administration little help in ending Iran’s nuclear program.
Heritage’s Kim Holmes says President Obama’s reset policy is failing because it is based on false premises.
For example, Russia’s leaders do not share America’s worldview. To Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev, every American gain in the international realm is a potential Russian loss. It should surprise no one that Russia is using any potential conflict, such as Iran’s nuclear program, to extort disproportionate concessions from the U.S.—as it did in the New START agreement that lets Russia build and deploy more missiles.
President Obama’s reset policy has actually made Russia’s adversarial policies quite profitable for its leaders. It is time for the Administration to tell the truth about Russia and its leaders.
Emil Maineis currently a member of the Young Leaders Program at The Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit: http://www.heritage.org/about/departments/ylp.cfm
Nearly 200 Conservative bloggers were in the middle of a training session on data visualization when Occupy Denver launched their “surprise” effort to occupy the conference. The protest was a major fail in no small part because the Occupiers announced the “surprise” occupation attempt on Twitter.
When the Occupiers showed up they were met at the conference room door by dozens of cameras wielded by experienced bloggers.
The attempted failed occupation attempted after a brief and very one sided debate. The Occupiers were outnumbered, outclassed and totally incapable of articulating what was the point of their so-called protest. After about five minutes of chaos the Occupiers retreated from the conference facility with only one of their sorry group being arrested.
At 39 percent, President Obama’s approval rating now equals his all time low from two years ago, with 63 percent of those polled defining him as a “weak leader.”
Let me be clear: This president is failing.
The biggest hit was among Democrats, who dropped from 82 percent to 73 percent as a result of negotiations with Republicans over the tax deal. That’s right; the Democrat base is furious that compromise was reached. After two years of Republicans being cast as the ‘party of no‘ and having all the nation’s ills attributed to their supposed obstructionism by the MSM and the left, suddenly, a ‘party of no’ is exactly what the left expects from Democrats.
But their hypocrisy goes much further than their sudden belief that compromise is heresy. From opposition to Obamacare to uttering the phrase “take the country back,” Republicans have been accused of racism at every turn for doing no more than disagreeing with the President on matters of policy. In recent weeks, it’s become clear that Democrats are allowed to be as disappointed and upset with the President as they want without the racism accusations hurled at them. Apparently, it’s cool to oppose the President now. For the record, I opposed him before it was cool.
Since Obama has let them down on so many levels, from DADT to the wars to “Tax Cuts,” they have been unleashing Hell on him.
Here’s a screen shot from the Huffington Post summing up the feelings on the left:
It included scores of comments from angry readers who had become detached from their rainbow filled dreams of the Obama unicorn:
All of the money in the world wouldn’t get Obama elected to a second term, he already knows that. – Roach Coach
Obama has been Bush 2.0, complete failure. I worked my fingers to the bone working for him. I am no longer an Obama supporter after Obama did a presser today to disrupt Bernie Sanders. Think about it, he drug Clinton out to get attention, after he sold US out. – Melton244
Obama reminds me of one of those attorneys who will ‘close a deal’ with the least amount of work on his part. It’s a great way to bring in fees. – MSBeal
I REALLY hope someone strong runs against the fraud Obama. – Hawkai
From BoldProgressives.org, an attack on Obama’s conscience:
Mike Stark at the Huffington Post is calling for people to unsubscribe from Obama’s political arm Organizing for America:
Unsubscribing is easy; it will take you less than 30 seconds. You click the link at the bottom of the email, and they present you with a form asking for your email address and a comment explaining your reason for leaving. I suggest you leave the comment “I’m a fed up progressive” followed by any custom comments of your own. They need to know that this is a movement, and those words in common will give them something to measure by.
Look, the president, for whatever reason, seems completely unaware that he is losing his base, drip by steady drip.
The L.A. Times took the pulse of some Obama donors that are soured on his performance:
“I do not plan to support Obama and his reelection effort,” said Utah-based hedge fund manager Art Lipson, who gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party and its allies in recent elections. He views the tax-cut compromise as a giveaway to Republicans that will increase the deficit.
“He’s got many great qualities, but he is not a fighter,” Lipson said of the president. “I’ve met with many donors and the level of disappointment is extreme.”
The Daily Show joined in on mocking the President and noted that his “Confidence borders on delusional” for entrusting Bill Clinton with his message:
Ignoring for the moment the insanity of people being this upset that the government isn’t going to take more money from citizens, it’s clear that the left’s love affair with the President is not only over, but has reversed course and is heading straight for Bush-league waters. Their disillusionment with Obama could perhaps be even worse than their hatred of Bush since this would add betrayal to the list of grievances.
I suppose most of them will excuse the double standard on presidential criticism by using terms like “stockholm syndrome” and “self loathing” to exclude themselves as being racist for opposing the first black president.
Of course, the reality is they are disappointed because President Obama has failed to push through their progressive agenda. He’s failed to provide the necessary leadership to be ‘the one they’ve been waiting for.’ He’s failed to do more than merely articulate what the left wishes for while being incapable of accomplishing virtually any of it. Indeed, despite his lofty promises, he has maintained and, in some cases, even pursued agenda items from the Bush administration. His failure to enact the left’s utopian vision, his impotence in policy and weakness in both word and deed have finally revealed to the left just how badly they got taken in 2008.
Instead of a story about sexual predation and a cover-up by government employees, this became a story about hypocrisy — a particular obsession of the U.S. media in recent years.
The American Spectator has a very good article examining Ron Paul’s disliking of Ronald Reagan and the conservative publications and people who helped shape Reagan’s very conservative ideology. This is a must read for anyone curious about who helped shaped Ron Paul’s ideology on foreign policy.
Why am I not surprised by the White House’s response to being asked about Jim Hoffa’s statement at an Obama rally recently? Hoffa stated in reference to Republicans “Let’s take these sons of bitches out.” Their response was basically “no comment.” Video below.
The negative rhetoric just keeps on coming from the left. This time Joe Biden gets in on the act by stating “You are the only folks keeping the barbarians from the gates” at an AFL-CIO rally in Cincinnati. I can’t help but wonder whom he is referring to as “barbarians.”
Shortly after the horrific shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona we heard from Democrats including the President stating that there needs to be a ‘new tone’ in the political arena. It’s is becoming very apparent that the Democratic party are neglecting to censure their own. This is very evident in the extremely harsh rhetoric coming from Democrat Representative Maxine Waters. She recently stated that “…as far as I’m concerned, the Tea Party can go straight to hell!”
The Huffington Post reported the following:
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) had some harsh words for the Tea Party at a forum in Inglewood, California Saturday.
With California’s jobless rate now 12 percent, the second-highest rate of unemployment in the nation after Nevada, talk about jobs, the economy and the partisan squabbling in Congress dominated the “Kitchen Table Summit.”
“I’m not afraid of anybody,” Waters told the crowd. “This is a tough game. You can’t be intimidated. You can’t be frightened. And as far as I’m concerned, the Tea Party can go straight to hell.”
CNN’s Political Tracker blog reports that Jim Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters, referred to congressional Republicans by saying, “Let’s take these sons of bitches out.” I guess this is part of Obama’s “new tone.” The article continues:
“Everybody here has a vote,” Hoffa said Monday. “If we go back and we keep the eye on the prize. Let’s take these sons of bitches out and give America back to America where we belong.”
The event was part of Obama’s Labor Day plans to spend the day with “workers and their families as well as discuss his bipartisan efforts to create jobs and strengthen our economy,” wrote the White House in a press release.
On Sunday, Hoffa called American companies that do not spend their capital in the United States unpatriotic.
“I think the president should challenge the patriotism of these American corporations that are sitting on the sidelines,” Hoffa said on CNN’s State of the Union.
Hoffa has presided over the Teamster’s 1.4 million members since 1999.
“We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They’ve got a war, they got a war with us and there’s only going to be one winner. It’s going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We’re going to win that war.”
“President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let’s take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong.”
10. August 16, 2011, across the Northeast. Striking Communications Workers of America declare “open season” on Verizon. Dozens of cases of sabotaged cable lines are reported.
7. August 6, 2011, Boston, MA. Local IBEW 827 storms Verizon VP Bill Foshay’s neighborhood and union members scream “We’re here to fight” in front of his private residence on a weekend afternoon.
Tobin said he has received much heckling, and that a teacher even told him she hates him because it made her feel good. The “utter lack of civility and harassment of reporters,” as anchor Gregg Jarrett described it, is truly breathtaking and seems like a weird strategy to try and win support for one’s cause.
2. February 24, 2011, Providence, R.I. Rhode Island union supporter to cameraman – “I’ll f**k you in the ass, you faggot.” The eruption starts at 7:32 in this video.
1. February 23, 2011. Democrat Rep. Michael Capuano of Mass. revs up Big Labor goons (starts at 1:50 in the video): “Get a little bloody.”
