So why is this self-inflicted?  The key piece of evidence is what the Palestinian leader is asking for from Israel: a cessation of settlements in the Gaza strip and a return to the indefensible 1967 borders.  I wonder where he could have gotten the idea that that was ever on the table?

Obama’s gaffe in May, that the talks should start “with the 1967 borders with mutually agreed swaps” certainly emboldened Abbas to ask for what was never on the table.  Add to that, Obama’s confused and counterproductive statements on settlements.  It’s clear that Abbas is trying to leverage Obama’s gaffe-a-day administration into an unsustainable position for Israel.  So congratulations, Obama, your speeches have finally had a real-life impact.

Smiley tries to re-define the word “lie” as giving information that turns out to be incorrect, whether or not you knew it to be at the time.  Logically, then Tavis Smiley must think Obama lied about the stimulus plan’s impact on unemployment.  Obama said that the stimulus would keep unemployment under 8%.  It’s been over 9% for almost his entire presidency.  By Tavis Smiley’s definition, Obama lied to the American people.  He wanted a Kenseyian solution, and he sold the stimulus bill to the American people.  The fact that Obama honestly believed the stimulus would work is, according to Smiley, irrelevant.

By Tavis Smiley’s confused attempt at logic, Merle Hodge lied when he said the Rams would beat the Eagles this week; and the entire sports world lied when they said the Patriots would beat my beloved Giants in Superbowl XLII.  It’s an idiotic stance to take, and if liberals at PBS think NPR was right for firing Juan Williams, PBS should take a long look at Tavis Smiley’s contract.

Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be.
But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.

At the time, the Spanish empire was crumbling and the United States had just purchased its newest territory, Florida.  Adams was arguing that America should not be involved in the wars for independence, and should instead remain a passive example of hope and democracy.  In the almost 200 years that have passed since Adams’s speech to Congress, a lot has changed.

It is true that stomping around the world, looking for monsters can draw unwanted attention, and can even create new monsters.  One could argue that al Qaeda would not have attacked the United States, had we not kept a base in Saudi Arabia.  Osama bin Laden’s 1996 and 1998 fatwas certainly support that view.  But leaving Saudi Arabia alone in the 1990′s would have meant empowering Saddam Hussein, the only leader ever to order the use of nerve gas.

Just as leaving England would have meant allowing Adolf Hitler to grow in power, or leaving Germany would have strengthened the Soviets and leaving Japan would have meant ceding the Pacific to China; allowing despots and dictators to grow to regional powers allows the monster to feed, to fester and to search abroad to satisfy its power lust.  Our strength does not feed tyrants–our weakness does. “None of the four wars in [the twentieth century] came about because we were too strong. It’s weakness that invites adventurous adversaries to make mistaken judgments.”

An environment that allows despots and tyrants free reign over their people or a region may have be tolerable when oceans served as moats, and men flew only in poetry.  Today’s monsters may still live abroad, but their reach has grown.

In 1821, the force required to raze a city would have been carried by ships–plural.

Only two years before Adams made his remarks, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic did so in 18 days.  Today, you can fly from LA to Singapore in 18 hours.  Correspondence that once was done by letters delivered on horseback, by train, by sail or steamboat, over the course of weeks or months, can now be done via satellite video conference in an instant.

Trips that would take a lifetime to plan and a fortune to finance can now be booked casually as a week-long holiday.  There is no place on Earth that cannot be reached from any other within 24 hours.  But the same technology that lets us relax in another hemisphere can also be used to kill thousands without warning on a clear, Tuesday morning.

In 1821, the force required to raze a city would have been carried by ships–plural.  It’s hard even for the federal government to miss an armada, and they don’t even have to grope coeds in the airport.  In 1821, Governments waged wars. Guerilla warfare was in its fledgling stages, and major conflicts were fought between standing armies.

Today, religious fanatics slaughter civilians indiscriminately.  One fanatic can kill hundreds. 19 fanatics can kill thousands.  The power to destroy a city can be carried in a suitcase, or in a plastic bag, wrapped in newspaper.  There are weapons that can wipe out entire cities in a blinding flash, infect millions with horrible disease or set an economy back for decades.   All that is needed is for one guard to miss a clue as the Ryder truck drives past; one TSA agent to be distracted; one metal detector to click when it should beep.

The monster may still walk abroad, but it can slip through our defenses without warning, act quickly, and leave nothing but tattered steel and broken bodies.  Do we trust our lives and our safety to our untrained citizens to see something and say something?  Do we rely on the TSA to succeed 100% of the time? Or do we ask SEAL Team 6, Army Rangers and the 10th Mountain Division to hunt the bastards down where they live?  I know who I trust more to get the job done.

To keep our lives and our liberty, rough men must slip into its cave at night and slit its beastly throat.

The first, and most important function of government is to protect its citizens from harm.  It is the primary purpose of the social contract–we join together to hold off the Hun.  In today’s world, protecting ourselves here, means slaying the monster abroad.  It cannot be allowed to grow, to breed, or to fester.  To keep our lives and our liberty, rough men must slip into its cave at night and slit its beastly throat.

Isolationism, whether out of economic conservatism or a laissez faire diplomacy, is institutional negligence.  If our government is to meet its primary responsibility, it must go abroad in search of monsters to slay.  To do otherwise is to invite the monster here–and it has no reservations about slaying us.

Obama’s FedEx moment is turning out to be ordering the SEALs to kill Osama bin Laden.  Obama is out singing his praises, noting how risky it was to send in the SEALs.  Don’t get me wrong, I agree that it was the right call, and I have the highest regard for our special forces operators.

But, as President, was that really a gutsy call?  What really is the risk here?  Obviously, the other option was an aerial attack, either by stealth or predator.

So, let’s list out the pros and cons of each:

Aerial Attack

Pros:

• Quick, not much planning.
• Little or no risk of American servicemen being captured.

Cons:

• Little, if any certainty of Osama’s death.
• Collateral damage.
• The “Asprin Factory” risk of getting it wrong.
• Little to no chance of getting additional intel from the house.
• Pakistan gets its panties in a bunch over the breach of its sovereignty.

SEAL Team 6

Pros:

• Certainty of getting Osama (or knowing that you didn’t).
• High likelihood of gathering additional intel.
• Little or no risk of collateral damage.
• No Aspirin Factory Risk.

Cons:

• Low, but non-zero risk of casualties.
• Pakistan gets its panties in a bunch over the breach of its sovereignty.

So, either way, the Pakistanis would be upset, but sending in the SEALs meant certainty of getting the objective and little collateral damage, if any.  Of course, sending men into battle is not a decision to take lightly, but making the choice between (1) sending in the most ruthlessly efficient, highly trained and competent commandos; (2) lobbing in bombs from 30,000 feet or (3) letting the world’s worst terrorist slip through our grasp again–how is this a tough call?  Why does it take 16 hours to make this call?

The implication, then is that Reagan’s handling of the Cold War was a misstep; that America’s success in the Cold War was not worth the negative press and hurt feelings it brought. Perhaps Obama is right; perhaps the world was better off with a divided Germany, an ever more powerful and belligerent Russia and a feeble and weak America, just the way Obama’s predecessor in ideology left it.

But perhaps not.  Perhaps the world is better off with peaceful (though perhaps corrupt) democracies spreading globally.  Perhaps the world is better with a united Germany, able to drag Europe, kicking and screaming, out of the next Dark Ages. Perhaps, by freeing the world, we will finally be at peace because a democracy free to choose will never choose war.

Reagan was famously asked what his strategy was for the Cold War.  “Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.” was his reply.  More and more it seems that Obama’s response to a similar question today would be “We lose, they win.” This seems more likely to be the Obama doctrine than the laughable “leading from behind,” but perhaps it’s the same thing.

1. No Drama. The preferred, natural state of things.  Decisions are guarded with extreme secrecy, but the atmosphere is one of cohesion, a sense of camaraderie, and the lack of drama. Biden gets a pat on the back.
2. Cool. Smoking habits increase, rounds of golf are more tense and Teleprompter warmed up. Biden gets the occasional icy glare.
3. Wee-Weed Up.  Standard alert for August and September. Key metrics are demagoguery; inability to eat your waffles; irrational clinging to guns and religion.  Biden gets head slap.
4. Deep Concern. “Long planned” family vacation taken abruptly.  Carefully worded statement drafted for circulation among stakeholders warning that both sides must show restraint, and honor our traditions of [insert tradition here].  Fundamental rights must be respected, violence avoided and open communications allowed.  Biden slapped silly, sent to war zone.
5. Grave Concern. All 58 states put on high alert; hands extended (preferably over our head, with palms out) to those with clenched fists.  International community mobilized; clinging to guns and religion now rational.  Harshly worded statement issued regarding international norms and standards of common decency; use of violence strongly condemned.  Biden sent to undisclosed location at US Naval Observatory.

The thing about Obama is that he is too naive to realize that dictators are not just poor, misunderstood people who weren’t hugged enough as children. Simply saying that Qadaffi should step down is useless. Saying that and then saying that you are tying the hands of the most powerful military in the world so they will not do anything about it, is shooting yourself in the foot.

There are three ways to get rid of a brutal dictator:

1. Convince him that you’re willing to come into his home at night and slit his throat.
2. Convince his army and mercenaries that they are better off coming into his home at night and slitting the dictator’s throat–and let him know that.
3. Wait for him to die in power.

By waiver and waffling, Obama has taken 1 and 2 off the table. That’s the trouble with Barry.

When it’s planes in the sky,
bombing all day and all night,
That’s linguistics.

When the tanks form a line
Bullets whiz and then whine,
That’s linguistics.

The world reaches the brink
Don’t act, just sit and think,
That’s linguistics.

Lots of eloquent words,
Drop like candy-filled turds,
That’s linguistics

When you call it one thing,
Swing voters will swing,
That’s linguistics.

When our focus report shows,
That support ebbs and then flows,
That’s linguistics

Bombs will rain on the shore,
But we’re not calling it war,
That’s linguistics.

Apologies to UPS.

This fails for several reasons.  First, there were between 270 and 400 Jews who died in the World Trade Center.  This is likely more than 10%.  Second, terror attacks do not kill at random, they kill those in and around the place of the attack at the time of the attack.  Only a truly random vector would provide a death toll that matched the population demographics.

Finally, and most idiotic, the demographics of New York City show that 27% of the population is Black, yet only 7% of those who died were Black.  So, Malik Shabazz, what did the New Black Panther Party know about the terrorist attacks, and when did it know it?

Before Obama won election in 2008, a typically frank Joe Biden had this to say to supporters of his then candidacy:

“Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate, and he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you – not financially to help him – we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

“Gird your loins,” he told Obama’s supporters.  Since that time, several international crises have occurred.  Here is Obama’s response and the effects so far:

So ask yourself, are our relations with the countries mentioned above better or worse than they were before Obama became president?  Are we, and is the world, safer or more perilous thanks to Obama’s policies?

We may need to gird more than just our loins in order to survive the next three years.