SATURDAY,  SEPTEMBER 19,  2009

THE TRUTH SETS IN - AT 8:32 P.M. ET:  Even the mainstream media is starting to realize that there are certain truths about President Obama's foreign policy.  From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — As President Obama welcomes world leaders to the United States this week, he has gone a long way toward meeting his goal of restoring the country’s international standing. Foreign counterparts flock to meet with him, and polls show that people in many countries feel much better about the United States.

But eight months after his inauguration, all that good will so far has translated into limited tangible policy benefits for Mr. Obama. As much as they may prefer to deal with Mr. Obama instead of his predecessor, George W. Bush, foreign leaders have not gone out of their way to give him what he has sought.

COMMENT:  You don't think that's because countries have their own interests, do you?  The identity of the person in the White House doesn't change those interests.

As for Obama's "popularity":  It's quite possible, I think, that Obama is popular because he hasn't pursued American interests.  It's easy to be popular when you're ready to give, and show no great interest in receiving.  Santa Claus is the most popular guy in the world.  Or Santa Bama. 

September 19, 2009   Permalink

AN IMPLIED COMMITMENT - AT 7:58 P.M. ET:  Obama spinners are trying to put a pretty face on the president's decision to cancel long-range missile defense in Eastern Europe:   From the Washington Times:

White House National Security Adviser James L. Jones says President Obama's decision to abandon a long-range missile defense site in Eastern Europe was driven by U.S. intelligence concerns that Iran is further along than previously thought in developing medium-range missiles that could strike Western Europe and the Middle East with nuclear warheads.

"We think they are heading toward weaponiz[ing] these missiles, which obviously we want to dissuade them from doing," the retired four-star Marine general told The Washington Times, explaining why U.S. officials dramatically shifted from years of focus on guarding against longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

COMMENT:  Now that Jones has said that Iran's medium-range missiles are a distinct threat, we can't just hope to "dissuade" the Iranians from putting nuclear tips on them.  We have to prevent  it, and that will be difficult, given President Obama's image of weakness.

By the way, the whole issue of the Iranian threat has been distorted somewhat in the press by the emphasis on missiles.  If Iran can perfect a nuclear device, and that's almost a certainty, it won't have to put a nuclear warhead on a missile.  It need only place that device in the false bottom of a freighter, sail it into an American or European harbor, and have a suicide crew set it off. 

September 19, 2009   Permalink

IN THE REAL WORLD - AT 7:44 P.M. ET:  From Fox News:

Investigators found research on New York City sports stadiums and sites related to the city's Fashion Week events on the computer of a man being questioned in an FBI probe of an alleged terrorist plot, ABC News reports.

Authorities have made few public comments about the progress of their investigation, but there have been numerous reports that Najibullah Zazi has admitted to ties to Al Qaeda while claiming he was not central to the suspected terror cell under investigation.

COMMENT:  There's been a remarkably indifferent reaction to this news on the part of the public.  Were clearly falling asleep, and those devoted to The One apparently believe that a wave of his hand or a burst of his rhetoric will erase all threats.  The man in question here was trained in Afghanistan, and it wasn't in rug making.

September 19,  2009    Permalink

AH, THIS IS WONDERFUL - AT 10:24 A.M. ET:  How often do we get to report a positive, optimistic story that brings back a noble past? 

Are some of you old enough to remember Vera Lynn, the singing sweetheart of British forces in World War II?  Her rendition of "We'll Meet Again" is a wartime classic that Americans loved as well.  All World War II buffs know it.  Well, Dame Vera is 92, still with us, still spry, and still on top.  Get this:

She beat the Arctic Monkeys, the Kings of Leon and the Beatles to the top of the charts this month, becoming the oldest recording artist ever to have a number one album – but the best thing about Dame Vera Lynn is that she hasn't got the faintest idea who the first two are. "They were just names to me," she says, eyes creased up in amusement. "And fairly odd ones at that."

Despite selling more than 24,000 copies of her re-released wartime anthem of hope, We'll Meet Again, in the past week alone, Dame Vera – on a working holiday in Antibes yesterday to promote her autobiography, Some Sunny Day – remains matter-of-fact. "It was a surprise, obviously, a wonderful surprise," she says, agile and Riviera-tanned in white linen slacks and a coral jersey top, "but when my lawyer called to say that I was in the top 10, I assumed he was joking."

COMMENT:  Congratulations, Vera.  It's so nice to have you back where you belong.

September 19, 2009   Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 10:09 A.M. ET:  From Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post, on Hillary Clinton:

By all accounts, she is the consummate team player and is often the best-briefed, most prepared person in the room. President Obama's aides say he values her advice and appreciates her dedication, dampening speculation that he and his erstwhile rival would not work well together.

But after eight months in office, Clinton, 61, sometimes seems torn between her inclination to lead and her need to function effectively within the administration, creating a certain tension between her aspirations and her status.

And...

The portrait that emerges from interviews and from the observation of Clinton's early tenure is one of an intensely political figure who wants to remain above the fray of day-to-day diplomacy and to work well with her fellow Cabinet members, but who also wants to stand alone from time to time.

COMMENT:  They key question is how long she stays.  Does she want to be tainted by Obama's appeasement policies, or does she believe in them?  Does she still want to be president, knowing that she'll be 68 in 2016?

Hillary thinks about Hillary.  And Bill occasionally thinks about Hillary, among younger others. 

My own sense is that Hillary still wants to be president, and will do what is needed to get there in 2016, or even 2012 if Obama chooses not to run again.  She may well want to place herself in a position where the party "owes" her the nomination, and where Obama will not stand in her way.  For all we know, and this is pure speculation, she may have made that deal with the president when she agree to take her current job.

She remains the most fascinating player in Washington, with both talent and several planeloads of baggage.  Watch her.

September 19, 2009   Permalink

THE GOLD IS TARNISHED - AT 9:54 A.M. ET:  California is, of course, our most populous state.  It is being hit hard economically, and that can have a ripple effect across the United States.  It's a state that travels by car, and car sales have to be affected by this.  From The New York Times:

LOS ANGELES — California’s unemployment rate in August hit its highest point in nearly 70 years, starkly underscoring how the nation’s incipient economic recovery continues to elude millions of Americans looking for work.

While job losses continue to fall, the state’s new unemployment rate — 12.2 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics — is far above the national average of 9.7 percent and places California, the nation’s most-populous state, fourth behind Michigan, Nevada and Rhode Island. Statistics kept by the state show California’s unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in 1940, said Kevin Callori, a spokesman for the California Employment Development Department.

COMMENT:  There could be political implications as well, but only if the Republican Party comes alive in California, and starts building constituencies among the state's diverse groups.  Barbara Boxer, not one of the Senate's bright lights, is vulnerable next year, and the governorship will be open. 

Republicans used to be elected routinely in California, especially that Reagan chap, but in recent years the party had to turn to Arnold to win the governor's chair.  Those electoral votes look awfully tempting, but the GOP has surrendered the state in recent years. 

September 19, 2009   Permalink

ANOTHER GREAT VICTORY FOR OUR DEAR LEADER - AT 9:44 A.M. ET:  From the Los Angeles Times:

Russia got what it wanted Thursday: The United States dropped plans for missile shield facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic. But if Moscow's initial reaction is any measure, Washington should not expect much in return.

Russian officials have been anticipating the U.S. decision, and regard it as proof that the United States has finally come to its senses. The Americans, one Russian official said, shouldn't demand rewards for finally fixing a mistake.

In recent weeks, Moscow has come under increasing pressure from the U.S. and Israel to take a harder line against Iran's nuclear program. But Russia doesn't feel particularly threatened by a nuclear Iran, analysts say. Instead, the Kremlin tends to treat Iran as an economic opportunity. And it embraces the Islamic Republic as a powerful nation hostile to the United States.

COMMENT:  We've been outmaneuvered, outnegotiated, and outplanned.  Hey, change we can believe in.

September 19,  2009   Permalink

FRIDAY,  SEPTEMBER 18,  2009

IS THIS SERIOUS? - AT 8:57 P.M. ET:  Michelle Obama has stepped into the health-care debate.  After Obama supporters claimed this week that racism fueled much of the opposition, Michelle plays the gender card:

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- First lady Michelle Obama sought support for the administration’s health-care plans from family advocacy groups and health-care professionals, saying the treatment of women under the current system is “unacceptable.”

As President Barack Obama campaigns to generate backing from voters for his health-care overhaul proposal, the first lady joined the effort today with a more focused pitch.

Michelle Obama said women are being “crushed by the current structure of our health care” because they often are responsible for taking care of family illnesses, arranging checkups and monitoring follow-up care.

COMMENT:  Pretty demeaning to women, I think.  You know, this administration would be wise to stop dividing the nation by groups.  Simply address the issues.

Michelle Obama's comments nudge her closer to her early campaign days, when she said that her husband's campaign made her proud of the United States...for the first time.

September 18, 2009   Permalink

HEY, WE'RE RECOVERING - AT 5:30 P.M. ET:  Remember, the economy is in recovery.  Don't let facts confuse you:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Forty-two states lost jobs last month, up from 29 in July, with the biggest net payroll cuts coming in Texas, Michigan, Georgia and Ohio.

The Labor Department also reported Friday that 27 states saw their unemployment rates increase in August, and 14 states and Washington D.C., reported unemployment rates of 10 percent or above.

The report shows jobs remain scarce even as most analysts believe the economy is pulling out of the worst recession since the 1930s. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said earlier this week that the recovery isn't likely to be rapid enough to reduce unemployment for some time.

The jobless rate nationwide is expected to peak above 10 percent next year, from its current 9.7 percent.

COMMENT:  A jobless recovery.  A Democratic politician's nightmare.  How can the Dems - "the party of the people" - go to the voters next year with a 10 percent unemployment rate, and claim recovery?   They can't. 

But the Republicans must have a stated economic policy of their own.  And they must have attractive candidates to present that policy.  Republicans should carry around photos of President Dewey to remind them of what happens when the complete job isn't done.

September 18, 2009   Permalink

AS WE APPEASE IRAN AND RUSSIA - AT 5:19 P.M. ET:  The terror scare we had here in New York earlier this week apparently was real.  From Fox:

The man under FBI investigation for alleged ties to a New York subway terror plot has admitted he has ties to Al Qaeda and is in negotiations to plead guilty to a terror charge, a source familiar with the investigation told FOX News.

The source said 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi, who until now had protested that he had no connection to Al Qaeda, changed his story Friday. Zazi reportedly told officials that he had received explosives training and may plead guilty as part of a deal to cooperate with the government.

An attorney for Zazi issued the following statement on Friday: "The FBI has asked to speak to my client's father, Mr. Mohammed Zazi, and we are cooperating fully with the FBI's request."

COMMENT:  A terror charge?  Is that what the story said?  Haven't the Fox reporters gotten the word that "terror" is no longer permitted?  He should be pleading guilty to a "manmade disaster" charge.  There is no such thing as terror.  That's a cultural construct invented by those who are insensitive to oppression and alternative lifestyles.

On a more serious note, this may have been a close one.  Law enforcement teams have apparently found a great deal of equipment consistent with bomb-making, at several locations in New York.

But with the Obama outreach policies, we're perfectly safe.

September 18,  2009   Permalink

OBSERVATION:  Have you noticed that only four groups have benefited from Obama's foreign policy?  They are Russians, North Koreans, Latin American reds, and Iranian mullahs.  Think about it.

NEW HAMPSHIRE TURNAROUND? - AT 9:58 A.M. ET:  We often like to examine individual states here because we have a federal system in America.  States count. 

Democrats have been gloating in recent years over the fact that New Hampshire, once a symbol of Republicanism, has been trending Democratic, in part because of immigration from Massachusetts.  But that trend may be weakening.  Consider this from Rasmussen:

Republican Kelly Ayotte leads Democrat Paul Hodes by eight points in an early look at New Hampshire’s 2010 race for the U.S. Senate.

The first Rasmussen Reports survey of the race to fill the seat being vacated by retiring GOP Senator Judd Gregg shows Ayotte ahead 46% to 38%.

And...

Voters in New Hampshire are closely divided over the health care reform plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats: 47% favor it, while 50% are opposed. But the antis feel more strongly, with 42% strongly opposed versus 30% who are strongly in favor of the legislation.

COMMENT:  So, New Hampshire is competitive, and it's up to the national GOP to give its soldiers in the state all the support they need.  Dems were expecting a Senate turnover, but that can clearly be prevented.

September 18, 2009   Permalink  

THE GANG OF 75 - AT 9:42 A.M. ET:  The great Michael Barone analyzes the 345-75 vote in the House yesterday to defund ACORN.  It was extraordinary.  Even a majority of Democrats, 172-75, voted against the corrupt leftist group.  All Republicans voted against it.  Democrats clearly wanted to get off the Titanic before the movie was made.  From the Washington Examiner:

This would not have occurred but for http://biggovernment.com/ the Big Government videos of ACORN employees encouraging tax evasion and prostitution. "Mainstream media" studiously ignored this big, big story, because it put Obama's political allies in ACORN in a bad light--such an egregious bit of biased coverage that it aroused derision and contempt from Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. But "mainstream media" couldn't cover up this scandal, as much as it wanted to.

And...

The 75 districts represented by members who voted against defunding ACORN delivered an average majority of 72%-26% for Barack Obama. Only two of those districts, represented by West Virginia Democrats Alan Mollohan and Nick Joe Rahall, voted for John McCain. By my count, 29 of those districts are represented by members of the Congressional Black Caucus and 7 districts by members of the Hispanic Caucus. The 11 districts of those not voting averaged 54%-45% for Obama and the 2 districts of those voting present averaged 77%-23% for Obama. By my calculation, that means the average vote in the districts of the 345 members who voted to defund ACORN was about 50%-48% for McCain. As indicated by members' votes, mainstream America was clearly repulsed by the facts that "mainstream media" tried to conceal.

COMMENT:  Bulls-eye for Barone.  That's the kind of analysis you won't get in some of the trendier mainstream papers.  But it tells the story of who still insists on supporting ACORN.  As we indicated here yesterday, almost all the 75 come from safe districts.  Their constituents probably have no problem with funding the group.

September 18,  2009   Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  From Seth Cropsey, in the Weekly Standard, on Obama's abandonment of the East European missile shield:

The likely harm that results from this decision goes far beyond Europe. The U.S. has security commitments to Israel, Japan, and South Korea for example. How are leaders in those and other countries likely to regard the Obama administration's failure to honor American security commitments? Does President Obama understand that the United States' interest in keeping its word transcends his own political interest in continuing to distance himself from his predecessor?

The Obama administration has decided to dishonor a security commitment made to one of the United States' most reliable and dependable democratic allies, and to placate an increasingly authoritarian corrupt state that helped Iran build its nuclear power plant at Bushehr and supplies Iran with significant military equipment such as air-defense missiles. The decision is a sign of weakness, a confirmation that this administration does not see value in defending against ballistic missiles, and a wholesale invitation to aggressive behavior, not just from Russia.

COMMENT:  That is very well said.  We will be inundated with all kinds of excuses and justifications for Obama's decision to pull the promised missile shield from our allies, Poland the Czech Republic.  We will be told that the Joint Chiefs favored the decision.

But the issue isn't military, or scientific, it's political.  Militarily, there may be some short-term justification for putting the emphasis elsewhere, but there can be no long-term justification for canceling a system designed to counter the long-range missiles Iran will eventually have.  And, scientifically, the missile defense system has been consistently improved.  It may never be perfect, but neither has any defense system known to man. 

It's the politics that damage us.  We made a commitment to allies.  We broke the commitment.  Both those allies have helped us in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They will not help us in the future.

And who will trust us? 

September 18, 2009   Permalink

LATEST FROM OUR NEW NEGOTIATING PARTNER - AT 8:19 A.M. ET:  From London's Telegraph:

Clashes have erupted in Tehran between security forces and reformists, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told an anti-Israel rally the Holocaust was a "lie."

At least 10 arrests were made as fighting broke out in central Tehran between pro-Ahmadinejad supporters and backers of the opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi.

A witness claimed: "Security forces just arrested over 10 people. They are pushing protesters and beating them."

Khamenei, had warned the opposition against turning anti-Israel rallies into street protests against the clerical establishment.

Defeated presidential candidates said they would attend the rally.

COMMENT:  Nothing to see here, folks.  Nothing to see.  Just some more beatings and Holocaust denial.  Let's not exaggerate things.  As soon as Obama sits down with these people, all will be okay.

September 18, 2009   Permalink

TODAY SAN FRANCISCO, TOMORROW THE WORLD - AT 8:03 A.M. ET:  What is it about San Francisco, home of Nancy Pelosi?  This mayor, Gavin Newsom, may well be California's next governor.  Consider his latest thinking: 

Calling soda the new tobacco, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will introduce legislation this fall that would charge a fee to retailers that sell sugary beverages.

Newsom would need voter approval to tax individual cans of soda and sugary juice, but only needs approval from the Board of Supervisors to levy a fee on retailers. His legislation would charge grocery stores like Safeway and big-box stores, but would not affect restaurants that serve sodas.

Newsom wouldn't say how much the stores would have to pay or how the city would spend the fees. When he first floated the idea in 2007, he said the money would go to his Shape Up San Francisco exercise program and for media campaigns to discourage soda drinking.

The mayor said the city attorney's office has warned him the city would probably be sued over the matter, but he said it is worth the risk to try to curb a leading cause of obesity and diabetes.

COMMENT:  Be prepared, in the next few years, for a long list of foods to be banned or taxed, based on some trendy "research." 

Now, obviously we want children to have healthy diets.  But why do I think this won't do it?

September 18,  2009   Permalink