THURSDAY,  APRIL 16,  2009

THE PRESIDENT STARTS HIS LATIN TOUR - AT 6:25 P.M. ET:  President Obama is in Mexico.  Before beginning his Latin tour, he issued a statement that's been reprinted in a number of Spanish-language newspapers.  There are good things and bad things.  Naturally, the president includes his boilerplate America bashing:

Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors. We have been too easily distracted by other priorities, and have failed to see that our own progress is tied directly to progress throughout the Americas.

Yeah, we've been distracted by other priorities, like the Cold War, preventing nuclear annihilation - stuff like that.  And there's more:

This week, we amended a Cuba policy that has failed for decades to advance liberty or opportunity for the Cuban people.

Okay, now that the Democratic California delegation has been satisfied, let's move on.  There are some good things in the president's statement:

That is why I look forward to the day when every country in the hemisphere can take its seat at the table consistent with the Inter-American Democratic Charter. And just as the United States seeks that goal in reaching out to the Cuban people, we expect all of our friends in the hemisphere to join together in supporting liberty, equality, and human rights for all Cubans.

That's directed at Chavez and his pals, some Americans included.  Let's see if the president can get through this trip without groveling, and maybe even noting some of the great things the United States has done for the world.

April 16, 2009   Permalink

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WILL NOT PROSECUTE INTERROGATORS - AT 5:31 P.M. ET:  The president makes a wise decision.  From The New York Times:

After a tense internal debate, President Obama officially announced this afternoon that his administration would not prosecute C.I.A. operatives for carrying out controversial interrogations of terrorist suspects, as the Justice Department began releasing a number of detailed memos describing harsh techniques used against al Qaeda suspects in secret overseas prisons.

“In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carrying out their duties relying in good faith upon the legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution,” Mr. Obama said in a statement issued by the White House.

COMMENT:  That is correct.  But don't think the left will be deterred.  The story points out that the CIA fears the release of this material will give aid to those who want a full congressional investigation into the agency's methods.  A similar investigation in the 1970s almost destroyed the CIA, and rendered it impotent for years, a goal of the far left then and now.

An examination of some of the interrogation techniques described in the story reveals that, yes, they were harsh, but far from torture, as we normally understand it.  The story contains this intriguing note:

Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, has pressed the White House for weeks to redact sensitive details about specific interrogation techniques. He argued that revealing such information would pave the way for future disclosures of intelligence sources and methods, and would jeopardize the C.I.A.’s relationship with foreign intelligence services.

The problem is that the Obama administration is now filled with mid-level appointees who are militant leftists, like the disgraceful Rosa Brooks, recently appointed to the Pentagon.  Arguments like Panetta's will not resonate with them at all, and the problem is particularly serious at the Justice Department.  We are getting a partial replay of the Clinton administration, under which barriers were set up preventing useful exchanges of intelligence information, barriers that aided the 9-11 murderers.

Enemies are watching.  Foreign intelligence agencies, with which we have relationships, are watching.  They will all draw conclusions.

April 16, 2009   Permalink

NOTE THE LANGUAGE - AT 3:42 P.M. ET:  From The Hill:

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) blasted "tea party" protests yesterday, labeling the activities "despicable" and shameful."

"The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs," Schakowsky said in a statement.

"It’s despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt," she added. "Not a single American household or business will be taxed at a higher rate this year. Made to look like a grassroots uprising, this is an Obama bashing party promoted by corporate interests, as well as Republican lobbyists and politicians.”

COMMENT:  The language here is entirely unacceptable.  Translated into plain English, Rep. Schakowksy is saying that no criticism is permitted.  Combine this with that absurd Department of Homeland Security memo warning of right-wing zealots who are interested in such things as abortion, and a disturbing pattern appears:  You must have no ideas but ours.  If you do, there's something wrong with you.

This will not be news to conservative college students.  They get this extreme approach on campuses all the time.

April 16, 2009   Permalink

MAYBE WE WERE WRONG - AT 8:51 A.M. ET:  We've said that Mr. Obama doesn't have any real foreign policy triumphs to his credit.  Maybe we overstated it.  Joe Queenan, in The Wall Street Journal, notes that the administration's scrapping of offensive, culturally hurtful terms like "war on terror" is having its results.  For example, the Taliban is responding with its own changes:

A Taliban spokesman reached in Pakistan said that the new phrasing was being implemented as a way of eliminating the negative associations triggered by more graphic terminology. "The term 'beheading' has a quasi-medieval undertone that we're trying to get away from," he explained. "The term 'cephalic attrition' brings the Taliban into the 21st century. It's not that we disapprove of beheadings; it's just that the word no longer meshes with the zeitgeist of the era. This is the same reason we have replaced the term 'jihad' with 'booka-bonga-bippo,' which has a more zesty, urban, youthful, 'now' feel. When you're recruiting teenagers to your movement, you don't want them to feel that going on jihad won't leave any time for youthful hijinks."

COMMENT:  That Obama magic.  We knew it would work.  The rest of Queenan's column is just as illuminating. 

April 16, 2009   Permalink

OBAMA GOES SOUTH - AT 8:19 A.M. ET:  From The Politico:

MEXICO CITY— On his recent trip across the Atlantic, President Barack Obama was greeted enthusiastically by European leaders just glad that he wasn’t a president named Bush.

This week in Latin America, Obama will find a far more skeptical audience among leaders in this newly assertive region. It’s a group that will take some convincing that this time, a new American president will stay engaged.

Without the Spanish-speaking, governor-of-a-border-state cachet that George W. Bush initially brought to the table, Obama will rely on a hefty dose of show-don’t-tell diplomacy to prove his administration will be an active ally.

It’s an approach his aides say he laid groundwork for in advance of his arrival in Mexico City Thursday, a move that makes a statement in itself. Obama will be the first U.S. president in 13 years to travel to the country’s capital city.

COMMENT:  Let the groveling begin.  The president was severely criticized, except by the left in his own party, when he went on bended knee to Europe.  Let's see if he's learned anything.  He starts the southern tour with a performance in Mexico City today.  The Mexicans have a tendency to blame the United States for their problems.  No apologies, Mr. President.  Okay?

Next week Mr. Obama will have to contend with Hugo Chavez.  We fervently hope he doesn't do a deep bow.  Reserve that for the Saudis.

April 16, 2009   Permalink

THE PAIN IN SPAIN IS PLAINLY ON THE WANE - AT 7:50 A.M. ET: 

MADRID (AP) -- Spanish prosecutors will recommend against opening an investigation into whether six Bush administration officials sanctioned torture against terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, the country's attorney-general said Thursday.

Candido Conde-Pumpido said the case against the high-ranking U.S. officials -- including former U.S. Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales -- was without merit because the men were not present when the alleged torture took place.

COMMENT:  This is a political decision.  The desire of some leftists in Spain to try American officials was becoming a major story.  Bill O'Reilly has been plugging it, and it was rapidly turning into an unnecessary irritant in Spanish-American relations.  We hope Spain learns a little something from this.  Its concept of "universal jurisdiction," under which Spain can try anyone in the world, is ridiculous, and should be repealed.

April 16, 2009   Permalink

LENDING INSTITUTIONS NOT LENDING - AT 7:25 A.M. ET:  From the Washington Post.  Praise to the Post, a liberal paper, for a series of articles that confront the Obama administration with hard facts to contradict manufactured White House optimism:

Lending by the nation's largest banks fell 6 percent in February from the previous month, continuing a downward trend that began in October with the financial crisis, according to data published yesterday by the Treasury Department.

The 21 banks in the survey have received more than $211 billion in federal funding to support new lending with the aim of stimulating the economy. The money has not accomplished its purpose.

COMMENT:  Now Treasury is saying that the real purpose of the bailout money is to limit the decline in lending, not to stimulate new lending.  Hmm.  That's news to us, and isn't what Treasury said originally.  Republicans should pounce on this.  This is a huge amount of federal bailout money, and the bailout isn't working.  If the government would give me some money, I'll be happy to lend it to relatives.

April 16, 2009   Permalink

GREAT QUOTE - AT 7:18 A.M. ET:  From David Frum, former speechwriter for President Bush, on the Obama administration's support for a scheme to destroy a great voucher program for D.C. students:

It’s impossible to invent any justification for this abandonment of students struggling to overcome the already steep odds against them. But there’s no mystery as to the motive. Called upon to choose between the demands of politically active unions or the life chances of the most vulnerable citizens, the Obama Education department put the unions first. That is tragic news for those needy kids—and an ominous revelation of the new administration’s priorities.

COMMENT:  Underplayed, of course, by the media.  This is a sickening story, and could provide a major GOP campaign theme, if anyone notices.

April 16, 2009   Permalink

WEDNESDAY,  APRIL 15,  2009

OUTRAGEOUS JOURNALISM - AT 7:41 P.M. ET:  The AP reports on the latest diplomatic maneuvering between the United States and Iran.  Unfortunately, the AP report drifts from the facts, and is a late example of the kind of reporting that should have been corrected by an editor.  Remember editors?

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's president on Wednesday sent the clearest signal yet that the Islamic Republic wants warmer ties with the U.S., just one day after Washington spoke of new strategies to address the country's disputed nuclear program. Taken together, the developments indicate that the longtime adversaries are seeking ways to return to the negotiating table and ease a nearly 30-year-old diplomatic standoff.

President Barack Obama's administration has sought to start a dialogue with Iran -- a departure from the Bush administration's tough talk.

COMMENT:  A few facts:  First, the Bush administration, in its last year, did seek some engagement with Iran.  Second, the signal sent by Iran's president wasn't clear at all, and the AP shouldn't have gotten ahead of the story.  For all we know, this could be one more Iranian stalling tactic, a means of buying time for further nuclear development.  Attributing the most positive motives to the mullah regime was out of journalistic bounds.

April 15, 2009   Permalink

FRENCH ACTION - AT 7:18 P.M. ET:  The French have shown themselves to be more aggressive than we are in dealing with the pirate threat off Somalia.  This isn't entirely surprising.  When it comes to threats against its citizens, France can get very tough indeed, and the country's internal security measures would give the ACLU a series of heart seizures.  The latest French action, as reported by The New York Times:

French forces detained 11 suspected pirates during an assault on what they described as a pirate “mother ship” in the Indian Ocean off Somalia on Wednesday. ..

...The 11 suspects detaineed on Wednesday were being held on board a French frigate, the Nivôse, part of a European Union antipiracy task force patrolling in the area, the French Defense Ministry said in a statement.

COMMENT:  Hillary Clinton is calling for an international conference to confront the piracy issue.  Somehow, the guys on the scene in the American and French navies seem to do better without the lawyers.

April 15, 2009   Permalink

TODAY - AT 6:35 P.M. ET:  As announced here earlier, I did attend a briefing today by a high British political figure.  Unfortunately, it was all off the record, but a few things, because they have been reported publicly, can be noted: 

First, I was startled to learn that Germany is now almost entirely dependent on Russia for energy supplies.  This represents a serious security threat to the West should Russia, during a crisis, turn off the valves.  In 1948 we supplied Berlin with its essentials during the Berlin Airlift, after the Soviet Union sealed off the city.  But supplying an entire country?  Be watchful on this.

Second, not a shock to us here, we simply don't know enough about the pirate situation in Somalia - who knows what about pirate actions before they happen.  In other words, the pirates may have links that could prove very interesting.  Watch also for developments on this front.  More information is likely to come out.  I want to see names.

April 15, 2009   Permalink

NO BAMA BOUNCE - AT 6:19 P.M. ET:  Earlier in the week I arrogantly assumed that President Obama would get a popularity bounce from the Navy rescue of Captain Phillips.  Strangely, it hasn't happened.  Today's Rasmussen tracker shows the same spread between approval and disapproval - 55-44 percent - that we've seen for four days.  Just as significant, Ras's presidential approval index, the spread between those who strongly approve and those who strongly disapprove, stands at only two points, 35-33 percent, matching the lowest numbers Obama has received.  Those numbers were registered Monday and Tuesday.

So, unless there's a change tomorrow, we will conclude, at least on the basis of this one survey, that the people of the country gave Mr. Obama no credit for a role in the rescue.

April 15, 2009   Permalink

DOW CLOSE - AT 6:13 P.M. ET:  The Dow closed up 109 points, to 8030.

April 15, 2009   Permalink

NO SMOOTH RIDING - AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  From the Detroit News:

Fiat Group SpA CEO Sergio Marchionne is ready to walk away from a proposed alliance with beleaguered Chrysler LLC if the automaker's union workers do not agree to concessions that would put their pay on the same scale as workers at U.S. plants owned by foreign car companies.

In a story posted today on The Toronto Globe and Mail's Web site, Marchionne said not getting concessions from the UAW and CAW are a breaking point for talks.

"Absolutely we are prepared to walk," he said in the story. "There is no doubt in my mind. We cannot commit to this organization unless we see light at the end of the tunnel."

Fiat and Chrysler have been in talks in which Fiat would give Chrysler billions of dollars of small-car and engine technology as part of an alliance that could keep Chrysler out of bankruptcy.

COMMENT:  With GM being moved toward bankrupty by its federal nannies, we could see a doubly whammy in the coming months - a bankrupt General Motors and a Chrysler with no partner for the future.  The psychological effect on the economy could be enormous. 

You hear many people saying it:  Who wants to buy a car from a bankrupt company?  This is the view, even as President Obama assures us that the government will back warranties.  Can you imagine what the trade-in value of a car made by a bankrupt firm would be?  And Obamacare has yet to fix its first transmission.

April 15, 2009   Permalink  

INEVITABLE - AT 8:14 A.M. ET:  Here it comes.  Reader Alan Weick alerts us to comments by a University of Maryland law professor on the rescue of Captain Phillips.  Naturally:

... it's dispiriting to see this very complicated issue immediately transformed into material for America's insatiable and childish desire to render all events into allegories about evil and heroes. The hijacking of this ship is an opportunity to learn more about the very volatile and complicated events unfolding in Somalia (which most Americans couldn't find on a map and know for only two things - famine, and the brutal murder of 18 U.S. soldiers in 1992 by Somali ganglords).

COMMENT:  The professor is Sherrilyn Ifill, cousin of super lib Gwen Ifill, of PBS fame.  Runs in the family.

April 15, 2009   Permalink   

PAKISTAN ON THE BRINK? - AT 7:41 A.M. ET:  As a nation we tend to ignore what's happening in Pakistan.  It's too confusing to summarize.  We don't know the players very well.  Pakistan never attacked us.  But Tony Blankley, writing at Real Clear Politics, has done a fine reporting piece warning that Pakistan may be on the brink of collapse, or takeover by Islamists.  If it happened, Islamists would be in control of Pakistani nukes:

Last week, David Kilcullen, a former Australian army officer who was Gen. Petraeus' senior counterinsurgency strategist and is now a consultant to the Obama White House, said Pakistan could collapse within months.

"We have to face the fact that if Pakistan collapses, it will dwarf anything we have seen so far in whatever we're calling the war on terror now," he said.

Kilcullen said time is running out for international efforts to pull both countries back from the brink. "You just can't say that you're not going to worry about al-Qaida taking control of Pakistan and its nukes," he said. "The Kabul tail was wagging the dog." He described the war in Afghanistan as a campaign to defend a reconstruction program. "It's not really about al-Qaida," he continued. "Afghanistan doesn't worry me. Pakistan does." He said that maybe we can manage Afghanistan and Richard Holbrooke can cut an international deal, but there is also a chance that Washington will fail to stabilize Afghanistan, that Pakistan will collapse, and that al-Qaida will end up running what he called "Talibanistan."

COMMENT:  Will President Obama take the necessary action to reverse this alarming trend?  How can he when the left wing of his party is even opposing the small things he's done up to now. 

I suspect that, if things deteriorate, the leftists and their friends in the press will simply spout the line that even a radicalized Pakistan is "entitled" to have nuclear weapons, and that we must respect cultural change.  After all, we have nukes.  The Israelis have them.  India has them.  We must be more tolerant.  Believe me, if things get bad, that line is coming.

April 15, 2009   Permalink  

STUNNING - AT 7:28 A.M. ET:  This is outraging a number of military officers.  From the great Bill Gertz at the Washington Times:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates denied permission for the U.S. Northern Command to use the Pentagon's most powerful sea-based radar to monitor North Korea's recent missile launch, precluding officials from collecting finely detailed launch data or testing the radar in a real-time crisis, current and former defense officials said.

Jamie Graybeal, Northcom public affairs director, confirmed to The Washington Times that Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, the Northcom commander, requested the radar's use but referred all other questions to the Pentagon.

COMMENT:  One reason given by sources is that the deployment of the super radar might have provoked the North Koreans.  Once again the new administration blinks.  Barely a day goes by without another story of new American softness.  You'll notice that the North Korean launch came and went, with merely a wrist tap in response by the "international community."  As the kids used to chant in the sixties, "the whole world is watching."

April 15, 2009   Permalink  

HOW KIND - AT 7:15 A.M. ET:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's president said Wednesday he is willing to forget the past and build a new relationship with the United States, adding that he is preparing a new package of proposals aimed at breaking the impasse with the West over his country's nuclear program.

The remarks by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to thousands in the southeastern city of Kerman took a conciliatory tone not usually heard in his speeches.

''The Iranian nation is a generous nation. It may forget the past and start a new era, but any country speaking on the basis of selfishness will get the same response the Iranian nation gave to Mr. Bush,'' Ahmadinejad said.

COMMENT:  Notice the spin on the story - the esteemed leader is taking a "conciliatory" tone.  There is nothing conciliatory about his remarks.  He's fundamentally saying that Iran will call the shots.  Sadly, given the first--three-months record of the Obama administration, he may be right.

The alarming thing is that there seems to be no urgency on the part of the United States or our allies.  Yet, each day brings Iran closer to a possible nuclear weapon. 

I think an agreement with Iran is actually possible, but it will involve so many loopholes as to be meaningless.  But, if we reach such an agreement, an obliging, Obamafied press can spin it as "some progress, better than war."  To an America worried primarily about the economy, that could be satisfactory.

April 15, 2009   Permalink