SATURDAY,  MARCH 21,  2009

OBAMA STILL SLIPS IN POLL - AT 4:52 P.M. ET:  The Rasmussen survey for today shows continued slippage for the president.  Some 55% approve of the job Mr. Obama is doing, while 44% disapprove.  That's a gap of only eleven.  The day after inauguration it was 35.  Equally ominous for the White House is what Ras calls the presidential approval index, the gap between those who strongly approve and those who strongly disapprove.  Strongly approve today is 36%, strongly disapprove is 32%, a gap of four.  The day after inauguration it was 28.

March 21, 2009   Permalink

SARAH'S PLIGHT - AT 11:07 A.M. ET:  From the Anchorage Daily News: 

Gov. Sarah Palin owes more than a half million dollars to an Anchorage law firm that has defended her against ethics complaints, and she may create a legal fund to pay the bill, she said Friday.

Legal bills have mounted fighting complaints that she called partisan, false and frivolous, starting with "the politically motivated Troopergate probe," Palin said in a written response to questions.

She said the legal bills all stem from her actions as governor.

"I must defend against these baseless ethics accusations out of my own pocket as the use of public monies to do so could itself violate state law," Palin wrote.

COMMENT:  Like her or not, Sarah Palin has faced a disgraceful level of harassment and abuse.  Suing public officials is becoming a sport, meaning, as she says in the story, that we may reach a point where only the wealthy can serve - or those who have their own law firm.  We have to provide some protection for public officials who are frivolously sued, or we risk serious damage to our democracy.

March 21, 2009   Permalink

AJAMI ON AFGHANISTAN - AT 9:49 A.M. ET:  One of the marks of an outstanding analyst is the ability to show how different problems relate to each other.  One of the best is Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins, who cautions about failure in Afghanistan.  At a time when the president - see the two stories below - is genuflecting before the Iranian mullahs, it's critical that we keep our eye on where the fighting actually is going on:

We face today the oddest and most unexpected of spectacles: On its sixth anniversary, the Iraq war has been vindicated, while the war in Afghanistan looks like a hopeless undertaking in an impossible land.

This is not what the opponents of the Iraq war had foreseen. After all, Afghanistan was the good war of necessity whereas Iraq was the war of "choice" in the wrong place.

The Afghan struggle was in truth a rod to be held up in the face of the Bush administration's quest in Iraq. Some months ago, Democratic Party strategist Robert Shrum owned up to this fact. "I was part of the 2004 Kerry campaign which elevated the idea of Afghanistan as the 'right war' to conventional Democratic wisdom. This was accurate as criticism, but also reflexive and perhaps by now even misleading as policy."

Hmm.  Finally, an admission that a liberal could be wrong on anything.

And Mr. Obama?

The president is on the horns of a dilemma of his own making. In his determination to be the "un-Bush," he has declared his intention to repair what some have called "Brand America" and to pursue a nonideological foreign policy of multilateralism and moderation. His aloofness from what played out in Iraq is a hindrance to him when it comes to issuing any call to arms in Afghanistan.

However, reality intervenes:

Mr. Obama does not have to offer the Iraq campaign post facto vindication. But as he does battle in the same wider theatre of that Greater Middle East, he will have to draw the proper lessons of the Iraq campaign. This Afghan war can't be waged in stealth, and in silence. Half-measures will not do. This war will have to be explained -- or explained away. For it to have any chance, it will have to be claimed and owned up to even in the midst of our economic distress. It's odd that so articulate a president has not yet found the language with which to describe this war, and the American stakes in it.

COMMENT:  Ouch.  Ajami pulls no punches.  Combine this with the rebuff from Iran, with word that North Korea is about to thrill us with a missile launch, with its military implications, with Russia's announced intention to rebuild its military might, and Mr. Obama's campaign speeches sound like high-school orations.  The question is whether his policies will be more grown up.

March 21, 2009   Permalink

BOLTON BRINGS US BACK TO REALITY - AT 9:19 A.M. ET:  Writing in this morning's Wall Street Journal, the great John Bolton brings us back from Obama's fantasy world, to reality.  This relates to the story just below:

While President Obama's unanticipated Nowruz holiday greeting to Iran generated considerable press attention, his video wasn't really this week's big news related to the Islamic Republic. Far more important was that a senior defector -- Iran's former Deputy Minister of Defense Ali Reza Asghari -- disclosed Tehran's financing of Syria's nuclear weapons program. That program's centerpiece was a North Korean nuclear reactor in Syria. Israel destroyed it in September 2007.

At this point, it is impossible to ignore Iran's active efforts to expand, improve and conceal its nuclear weapons program in Syria while it pretends to "negotiate" with Britain, France and Germany (the "EU-3"). No amount of video messages will change this reality. The question is whether this new information about Iran will sink in, or if Washington will continue to turn a blind eye toward Iran's nuclear deceptions.

COMMENT:  That John Bolton is so annoying.  He wants everyone connected to foreign policy to grow up.  What should we do with a man like this?

The Iranian defector's report proves that Bolton's warnings have been correct all along.  They've also been ridiculed.  What a pity if we fixed our economy, and sealed the doom of an American ally or an American city.

March 21, 2009   Permalink

SHOCK!  IRAN REBUFFS OBAMA - AT 8:59 A.M. ET:  A funny thing happened to President Obama on the way back from Leno:

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed overtures from President Barack Obama on Saturday, saying Tehran does not see any change in U.S. policy under its new administration.

Khamenei was responding to a video message Obama released Friday in which he reached out to Iran on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian new year, and expressed hopes for an improvement in nearly 30 years of strained relations.

Khamenei holds the last word on major policy decisions, and how Iran ultimately responds to any concrete U.S. effort to engage the country will depend largely on his say.

In his most direct assessment of Obama and prospects for better ties, Khamenei said there will be no change between the two countries unless the American president puts an end to U.S. hostility toward Iran and brings ''real changes'' in foreign policy.

COMMENT:  And so the supreme leader has spoken, and Mr. Obama's "outreach" comes crashing down one day after it's delivered.  Or does it?  There will be those around Obama - Samantha Power comes to mind - who may well agree with the Iranian leader and urge real "change" in American foreign policy.  It would be catastrophic change from our point of view.  But the Scowcroft, Power, Charles Freeman, Zbig Brzezinski school of foreign policy will give Obama an honorary degree.

What will it be, Mr. President?  Will you uphold American ideals and interests, or will you cave in order to get a photo op with some Iranian thug?  The fact that we have to ask the question, suggests, we admit, a certain lack of confidence in you and your administration.  Prove us wrong.

March 21, 2009   Permalink

FRIDAY,  MARCH 20,  2009

ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE - AT 9:48 P.M. ET:  From AP: 

U.S. officials said Friday the State Department will spend about $1 million to renovate, reconfigure and furnish the Washington workspace of special Mideast peace envoy George Mitchell and outfit satellite offices for him in Jerusalem and in New York, where he lives.

State Department spokesman Robert Wood said Friday that $27,000 has already been set aside to upgrade Mitchell's sixth-floor suite at the department's headquarters and that more money may be needed.

COMMENT:  You mean there isn't decent enough office space in Washington, New York and Jerusalem for this man?  At a time when Americans are hurting, and are outraged over bonuses at AIG, this is how they spend public funds?  And why are we, the American people, responsible for an office in New York, where Mitchell happens to live?

Does this administration have an absolutely tin ear, or what?  You couldn't make up a story like this.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

LOOK IN DARK SPACES - AT 8:29 P.M. ET:  From the Voice of America:

The State Department said Friday U.S. officials are looking for a reciprocal gesture from Iran after President Barack Obama's conciliatory holiday message to the Iranian people and government Thursday. Mr. Obama said in a broadcast for the Iranian new year holiday Nowruz that the United States wants "honest engagement" with Tehran based on mutual respect.

State Department officials say the broadcast overture by the President is only one of several gestures planned by the administration to back up its expressed interest in better relations with Iran. And they say they're hopeful Iran will at some point respond in a similar fashion so that the two countries - without formal relations for three decades - can open a real dialogue.

COMMENT:  One of several gestures planned?  Really?  I'd love to know what those "gestures" are.  Why don't the Obamans wait for some reciprocity before going further?  Must we grovel?  With each passing day the Iranians get closer to a nuclear bomb.  What, precisely, is this new administration doing to stop it?  Not much.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

ANOTHER INSULT - AT 8:19 P.M. ET:  From AFP:

The UNITED States said it was disappointed and surprised by Spain's decision to withdraw its forces from the NATO-led force in Kosovo, adding it had expected allies to act as one.

"We're deeply disappointed by this decision taken by Spain,'' State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

"If you recall, in 1999 NATO allies agreed on the principle of 'in together, out together.' So we are surprised by this decision,'' Mr Wood said.

"We were warned just before it was announced publicly."

Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon said some 630 Spanish troops with the KFOR force would be leaving the territory in stages by August in coordination with its allies, saying: "It's time to go home.''

COMMENT:  When you give an impression of weakness, when you grovel to other nations, this is what you get.  Spain is run by a left-wing, anti-American government, the very kind of government the Obamans said they could "engage" with.  Looks like the engagement is off.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

CARTER II? - AT 5:05 P.M. ET:  When you start seeing this from liberal sources, you know something is happening.  Michael Wolff, of Vanity Fair, the magazine of liberal liberals, writes:

Sheesh, the guy is Jimmy Carter.

That homespun bowling crap on Jay Leno, followed by the turgid, teachy fiscal policy lecture, together with the hurt defensiveness (and bad script for it) that everybody in Washington "is Simon Cowell… Everybody's got an opinion," is pure I’m-in-over-my-head stuff. Even the idea of having to go on Jay Leno to rescue yourself from the AIG mess is lame. Be a man, man.

The guy just doesn’t know what to say. He can’t connect. Emotions are here, he’s over there. He can’t get the words to match the situation.

This began, I’d argue, from the first moment. He punted on the inaugural. Everybody ran around like crazy trying to praise it because if Barack Obama couldn’t give a speech then what?

But now, at week 11, we’re face-to-face with the reality, the man can’t talk worth a damn...

...He’s cold; he’s prickly; he’s uncomfortable; he’s not funny; and he’s getting awfully tedious.

He thinks it’s all about him. That we want him for himself—that he doesn’t have to seduce, charm, surprise, show some skin.

So Jimmy.

COMMENT:  The preceding is not an endorsement.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

DOW CLOSE - AT 4:12 P.M. ET:  The Dow closed down 122 points, to 7278, effectively ending the rally that started last week, but fizzled in the middle of this one.

March 20, 2009

THE NUMBERS DON'T ADD UP - AT 3:57 P.M. ET: 

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional estimates, significantly worse than predicted by the White House just last month.

The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated Press Friday, predict Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That's $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget.

Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.

COMMENT:  Robert Hutchins, the iconoclastic educator of the last century, once defined an educated person as one who understood the sum consequences of his actions.  Under that definition, the Obama administration is filled with uneducated people, despite the letters after their names.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

OBAMA SLIPS IN POLL - AT 9:45 A.M. ET:  The president has slipped a bit more in the daily Rasmussen tracking poll on presidential approval.  As of this morning, some 55% of Americans approve of Mr. Obama's job performance, while 43% disapprove.  This is the lowest approval rating the president has registered to date in the Rasmussen survey.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

MORE FROM IRAN, JUST IN - AT 9:17 A.M. ET:  My Iranian dissident friend, Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi, has just sent us her translation of Iran's response to President Obama's videotaped message to the Iranian people:

According to Agence France Presse from Tehran, in reaction to president Obama's Norooz message, Ahmadinejad's spokesman said: "The Islamic Republic of Iran welcome's Obama's message, however demands practical shifts in the U.S. conduct in order to demonstrate a sincere attempt to redeem past mistakes."

Ali-Akbar Javan-Fekr said: "The U.S. must atone for it's past mistakes toward the Islamic Republic of Iran and must make fundamental changes in it's policy. Differences between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue to exist for as long as Washington continues to blindly support the evil regime of Israel."

Ahmadinejad's spokesman also added: "The United States must discontinue it's violent behavior, it must stop arresting Muslims and must stop supporting terrorist groups around the world!"

COMMENT:  As we wrote earlier, this isn't going to be easy.  There is absolutely no "give" in the Iranian response.  The sad fact is, though, that there are forces in Washington who'll want us to "compromise" with the mullahs - meaning we move and they don't.

March 20, 2009   Permalink 

TIME MARCHES ON, MAYBE - AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  From AFP:

US news weekly Time, which like other publications has been looking for ways to reinvent itself in print and on the Web, is allowing readers to put together their own personalized magazine.

The experiment, called "Mine," allows readers to create a print or Web version of a magazine with content drawn from titles owned by Time and its partner in the venture, American Express Publishing.

The titles are Time, Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Money, InStyle, Golf, and Travel + Leisure.

Readers are being encouraged to log on to timeinc.com/mine to choose content from five of the eight titles to create their own free 36-page "customized" magazine, which can be received either in print or online.

Time said 231,000 print and online copies of each issue will be available and readers can receive a new issue of "Mine" magazine every two weeks for 10 weeks.

COMMENT:  Interesting experiment, and we'll follow it.  Of course, Time, like Newsweek, seems to be fading away.  In their traditional formats these magazines are no longer needed, and both committed the classic blunder of injecting too much bias into their reporting. 

Also, a pet peeve:  I wish organizations would stop using words like "mine" or "my" in the names of their products.  It's an epidemic.  I get the sense that, pretty soon, hospitals will have "My emergency room" and "My dialysis center."  Even Apple Computer has fallen victim.  I subscribe to one of their services and it's called "My..."  I forget.  The "my" turned me off.  Enough already.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

BLOWBACK BY BROWNBACK - AT 7:59 A.M. ET:  From The Washington Times:

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas threatened Thursday to take advantage of a Senate rule to block the confirmation of Christopher Hill as U.S. ambassador to Iraq on the grounds that Mr. Hill misled him in promising to raise human rights in talks with North Korea.

"I am going to be doing everything I can to hold up this nominee," Mr. Brownback told The Washington Times.

Mr. Hill is to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

The threat raises the prospect that the Obama administration will go without an ambassador in Baghdad for a prolonged period at a sensitive time.

COMMENT:  Brownback will get criticized by the usual suspects on the left, but he should be cheered.  Hill, a talented diplomat, also has a bit of a reputation as the "Slick Willie" of the diplomatic corps.  His negotiations with North Korea, heralded as "successful" by the State Department spin machine, always seemed to wind up unraveling, or at least not producing the claimed result.  Let the Senate take its time with this nominee.  He's been appointed to one of the most sensitive posts in the world, Baghdad, to represent a president who's been opposed to our efforts there.  We don't need slickness in that position.  We need a straight shooter.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

HEERE'S BARACK! - AT 7:39 A.M. ET:  Everyone now knows that the president appeared with Jay Leno last night, a move I thought was unwise.  The result, widely reported this morning, was a gaffe in which the president seemed to compare his bowling score to something that might be on the level of the Special Olympics, which is designed for young people with disabilities.  The White House quickly covered:

"The President made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world."

COMMENT:  You lie down with talk-show hosts, you get up embarrassed.  As we said, the appearance was unwise.  Most Americans didn't see it.  They'll read only about the off-the-cuff remark.  Ronald Reagan came from show biz, but he wasn't show biz as president.  We hope this appearance isn't repeated.  You don't have to be hip to be president.  You have to be capable.

March 20, 2009   Permalink

OUTREACH TO IRAN - AT 7:30 A.M. ET:  President Obama has issued an unprecedented video, directed toward Iran.  From Reuters:

U.S. President Barack Obama issued an unprecedented videotaped appeal to Iran on Friday offering a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement to turn the page on decades of U.S. policy toward America's longtime foe.

"My administration is now committed to diplomacy that addresses the full range of issues before us, and to pursuing constructive ties," Obama said in a message released to select Middle East broadcast outlets timed for an Iranian holiday celebration.

Obama went further than he has since taking office on Jan. 20 in extending an olive branch to Tehran, which has been locked in bitter disputes with Washington over Iranian nuclear ambitions and support for militant Islamic groups.

In an unusually swift reaction to Obama's overture, a senior official said Iran welcomed "the interest of the American government to settle differences".

But Aliakbar Javanfekr, an aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said the Obama administration "should realize its previous mistakes and make an effort to amend them."

The story, of course, contained the obligatory swipe at former President George W. Bush, which will get the reporter extra credit in the mainstream media:

"I would like to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Obama said in a conciliatory tone that contrasted sharply with Bush's hardline approach. "We seek the promise of a new beginning."

Obama's willingness to talk to U.S. enemies like Iran has been welcomed internationally as a departure from what many saw as Bush's go-it-alone "cowboy diplomacy" epitomized by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Talk about press bias.  Those last two paragraphs deserve some kind of bias prize.

COMMENT:  We'll monitor this closely.  The president has made the gesture, so the "international community," whatever that is, can't say he hasn't tried.  But how far is he willing to go?  Is he willing to let Iran stretch out any talks endlessly, giving Tehran the time to move closer to a nuclear bomb?  Is he willing to compromise basic American policies and values?  Is he willing to throw Israel under the bus, which some "experts" advocate?  Iran will be one of the great tests, possibly the greatest test, of Obama's ability in foreign policy. 

We have no problem here with these public gestures, as long as our fundamental interests are protected, and not sliced away, piece by piece.  There is no reason to believe that Iran will change anything important in its behavior.  The question is whether the Obamans will recognize that, and say so publicly.  Diplomacy can result in a better world.  It can also result in a catastrophe, leading to war.  We've seen both in our time. 

March 20, 2009   Permalink