Patterico's Pontifications

6/13/2014

Obama Is Losing Support from His Alumni

Filed under: General,Obama — JVW @ 2:27 pm



[guest post by JVW]

Rosa Brooks is a typical Washington liberal with all all the right credentials — Harvard undergrad, Oxford graduate degree, Yale Law degree, former columnist for the Dog Trainer, current professor at Georgetown Law (alma mater of future California State Senator Sandra Fluke!) — so she was a natural for the Obama White House in the early incarnation of Hope & Change. It is therefore interesting to note that despite having served as Counselor to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy (maybe the worst job title in all of Washington) she has unloaded on the sheer ineptitude of the Obama foreign policy:

https://twitter.com/brooks_rosa/status/477255213640728577

OK, sure she thinks that Hillary! would be a whole lot better so she definitely still resides in the leftist dreamworld, but maybe this is the turning point where she starts to question progressive shibboleths and see the world as it really is.

Or maybe she’s just angling for a job in a future Clinton Administration.

– JVW

P.S. — The Tweet embed suddenly stopped working on the preview for some reason, so just to be on the safe side I am going to include a screen-shot of her Tweet. Yeah, it will look stupid if the embed ends up working when this was published, but oh well. At this point what difference does it make?
Brooks-Tweet

47 Responses to “Obama Is Losing Support from His Alumni”

  1. Still wondering why the Twitter embed suddenly stopped working.

    JVW (feb406)

  2. unexpectedly!

    both the embed and Barry the Dimwitted’s responses to these issues.

    although, i’m sure Sam the Sham will be along shortly to explain in all to us. 😎

    redc1c4 (abd49e)

  3. future California State Senator Sandra Fluke!

    Please God, anything but this.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  4. I bet Cliven Bundy and Dinesh D’Souza are wondering, “Hey, how come Obama is paying so much attention to me !?”

    Elephant Stone (5c2aa0)

  5. It’s interesting to me that there are two wildly different, yet perfectly valid, interpretations of Obama’s foreign policy.

    One is my cynical view, but the other is this benefit of the doubt version where they are just clueless, stunned, paralyzed, and then dismissive of something they can’t handle.

    Dustin (7f67e8)

  6. IF you really want to get your blood boiling, see here: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=384506

    Apparently, the IRS is now claiming it lost all emails to or from Lois Lerner, but no one else, and all their backups over the two year period subpoenaed. A computer crash, they say.

    Anyone want to guess what IT people think about this? Not only did the dog eat the homework, but the dog then logged onto 15 servers and ate the homework there, too, then ate all the offsite tape backups.

    IANAL, but this does seem like a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice, involving countless easily proved headshot cases (did she delete the email?). Or a VERY clumsy lie. I’d go with lie because that’s what they do, and it is LOADS easier.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  7. Dinesh D’Souza needs to revise “2016”. It was hopelessly optimistic.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  8. 8) #HASHTAG

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  9. It wouldn’t fit, so I’ll add it:

    7) Who’s up for a round of golf?

    Who does he golf with, anyway? Any of the foursomes ever published?

    htom (412a17)

  10. Any of the foursomes ever published?

    Bet you they are all men.

    Kevin M (b357ee)

  11. Angling angler.

    AMartel (a99e2c)

  12. The cost of living is very high in Dreamworld

    AMartel (a99e2c)

  13. How many times must America be reminded that leftwingers can NOT be trusted to competently pursue and manage foreign and domestic policy and national security?!?!?! To do do is to do at your own peril.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  14. At least we had NASA’s wildly successful Muslim outreach program. 🙂

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  15. To do do? To do so…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  16. 5. Dustin (7f67e8) — 6/13/2014 @ 2:40 pm

    It’s interesting to me that there are two wildly different, yet perfectly valid, interpretations of Obama’s foreign policy.

    One is my cynical view, but the other is this benefit of the doubt version where they are just clueless, stunned, paralyzed, and then dismissive of something they can’t handle.

    I have a different cynical view.

    I don’t think Obama is interested in particular in making Bush look bad – not to this
    extent, and not as primary goal. If all goes wrong, he’ll maybe try to blame Bush, but it is not good for him for things to go all wrong because it makes him wrong, too. he can only try to shift some of the blame.

    What he is interested in, I think, is an appearance of consistency, and agreement with his supporters, and maintaining a position, or allowing others to mainain a position, of self-righteousness.

    You know: We were right. With a lot of profound “expertise”

    Actually having Iraq taken by a terrorist group is not a way of saying he was right, because he already said that wouldn’t happen. He’s now said ISIS takeover of some cities is
    temporary.

    So far it’s temporary anyway. You can’t prove otherwise. Not right away.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  17. “future California State Senator Sandra Fluke!”

    We are sooooo fluked!

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  18. Fluke me to tears… fluke me running…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  19. Fluke me sideways, they’re a clueless lot…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  20. Fluke me standing, such incompetence is criminal…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  21. President bum bucks has no fear, he has executive privilege.

    mg (31009b)

  22. I mean he said we were out of Iraq, how can he reverse himself?
    The thing is, this is far easier to prevent than to reverse.

    Anyway, probably feels he’s got to prevent the takeover of Iraq. That would be perceived as a disaster by everyone.

    But he wants to do it without the use of force.

    It sems like bombing counts.

    He’s trying to avoid failure, but by doing the minimum possible, and this is where he gets paralyzed. Because things very easily might get worse.
    CBS News has been told that the fall of Baghdad is not in any of scenarios the whote House is contemplating.

    What that probably means is that President Obama has no intention of evacuating Americans from Baghdad now, because that would send a bad signal, and lead to the fall of the whole country,
    and that means that if ISIS gets too close, he’ll send in the bombers.

    And the fact he’ll then be prptecting Americans will give him he special
    excuse he thinks he needs to intervene.

    I sure hope they’ll see it coming in time.

    ISIS is now within 60 miles of Baghdad. The streets are eerily quiet, says the CBS reporter, as some people are startying to leave the country.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  23. Maliki is asking Shiites to volunteer and get weapons.

    Does he really think this can work against a disciplined army?

    Obama has told Maliki not to ecpect any military help for a at least afew days. This is probably a lie. That is, he wants Iraq to save itself, so he’s trying to encourage it, giving Iraq only intelligence information and maybe some military advice.

    In reality, it seems pretty clear, he will intervene to stave off the fall of Baghdad or try to because I don’t think he’s going to try to evacuate the Americans out
    of there, and not even sending the helicopters there would reduce his presidential ranking below James Buchanan.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  24. Malfeasance.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  25. CBS News put one thing this way: Russia seems to have noticed that Obama is pre-occupied woth something els,e and they’ve sent tanls and missile launchers to the rebels in Ukraine.

    CBS is still talking about a religious war.

    It’s not really.

    They are interviewing Sunni refugees. The ones they get seems to say they are fleeing only because if they stay, the Iraqi army will shell their cities (like apparently it did in some other cases)

    ISIS laws would keep women at home, outlaw cigarettes and alcohol, and cut off the hands of thieves. Don’t they know they are also against music, and polio vaccination??

    ISIS has promised to destroy Shiite holy sites.

    The weapons ISIS has seized may be heading toward Syria, or so is an explanation. They also gopt as lot of banknotes in Mosul.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  26. when you realize how much of Food Stamp’s incompetence in foreign affairs accrues to the benefit of Vajajay Jarrett’s home country

    none of this is really at all mysterious

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  27. Is Valajay more loyal to Iran than the United States.

    That makes no sense.

    No, all this is because of attempts to “square the circle” so to speak.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  28. Indeed happyfeet.

    mg (31009b)

  29. She was born in Iran, but she’s African American, of the Bowman clan, Flournoy is generally pretty sharp for an administration official, Rosa Brooks, pretty much ‘removes all doubt;

    narciso (3fec35)

  30. Does he really think this can work against a disciplined army?

    This is not a ‘disciplined army’, it is a ragtag collection of thugs who instill fear wherever they go because they are completely ruthless in dealing with those who resist them.
    No one want to be the next person beheaded or crucified.

    A Marine recon battalion w/air support could turn this around; the entire Iraqi army hasn’t a chance as long as they’re being led my Maliki crony’s.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  31. Sammy, it is a religious war:
    The ISIS is Sunni, the Iraqi army was purged by Maliki of any significant Sunni presence, both in leadership, and within the ranks. The Iraqi Gov’t and Army is Shia.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  32. See being born in Iran, is the least of her problems:

    http://kleinonline.wnd.com/2013/07/07/new-york-times-profile-scrubs-valerie-jarretts-radical-ties-family-closely-linked-to-bill-ayers-frank-marshall-davis/

    yes, I know Maliki can be a jerk, but we saw this movie ten years ago, it doesn’t end well,

    narciso (3fec35)

  33. ISIS, is Salafi, possibly the most extreme sects of Sunni Islam, except for the Wahhabi branch of the Hanbali

    narciso (3fec35)

  34. If, as I suspect, Obama has decided to intervene, if, and only if, Baghdad is in danger of falling
    (he can’t let that happen without evacuating the Americans there, and he knows that evacuating the Americans would almost cause the fall of Baghdad and besides it’s not likely to be
    100% successful, meaning he would do what he just said we never do, that is, leave people behind) how close does ISIS have to get to Baghdad before he starts bombing??

    30 miles? 20 miles. 15 miles?

    And if you have decided to try to defend Baghdad, what is the sense of waiting until your hand s forced, and they closer to Baghdad rather than furtehr away?

    Of course he thinks that by not telling that to Maliki he can cause Iraq to defend itself.

    And they probably think this is a rather distant possibility.

    But Iraq has no military plans.

    You know, I think Obama and the U.S. military is in the position of expecting Iraqi divisions and assets that aren’t there or aren’t functioning, to do something. Maliki is trying to recruiot an army right now. More sense would be to find any trained soldiers and take only full;y committeed volunteers – at all ranks.

    Sammy Finkelman (324ec1)

  35. I put this all on Colin Powell.
    He and the crew at State got their knickers in a severe knot over General Jay Garner being appointed to head the first Coalition Provisional Authority, and convinced W to replace him and his Pentagon/CIA crew – who were going to leave significant Sunni and Kurdish influence in the new government – with Paul Bremer and toadies from the State Dept who were bound a determined to give the major play to the Shia because they were the ‘majority’ within the country. What we’ve seen since then can be charitably described as The Tyranny of the Majority.
    It was Bremer who put Maliki in place – just remember that.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  36. Well possibly, but at least two of Garner’s team, Bodine (who blocked John O’Neil’s investigation into the Cole,) and Eagleton served in Iraq during the Anfal campaign, the army and the security forces have been the elements that broke Iraq, disposessed the Shia and the Kurds for 35 years,

    narciso (3fec35)

  37. 36- It was well known that the Baathist Party was a Sunni party, and they favored their own. Though just the opposite holds true in Syria: The Baathist Party of Syria is controlled by the Alawites, and represses the Sunni majority. I think there’s a post up somewhere today comparing and contrasting the two.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  38. Lets remember who this esteemed policy maker is;

    http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/03/28/let_them_go

    narciso (3fec35)

  39. 37…more…
    But, in both cases, minority groups controlled the countries, keeping them relatively stable – though that’s not to say serious repressions were under way. We have seen that The Tyranny of the Majority does not result in stable countries. Once the Sunni’s take complete control of Syria, it will be a mess, especially if the ISIS is in control. And then there’s that absolute garden-spot, the Shia paradise of Iran.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  40. We should give free transportation home to every detainee at GITMO, in their coffins.

    askeptic (8ecc78)

  41. Lord, I sure hope Chuck Todd, Candy Crowley, Martha Raddatz, Robin Roberts, Brian Williams, Charlie Rose, Georgie Steponpoupolos, Wolf Blitzer, Bill Scheiffer, and a host of others are holding up okay. This apocalypse must be rock in’ their world.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  42. and poor Josh Earnest… Baptism by teh Biggest Fire Ever Recorded.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  43. To be fair, baby steps, but you must crawl before you can walk;

    http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/18/the_case_for_intervention

    narciso (3fec35)

  44. hope that Josh Earnest
    can develop knuckleball
    he’s gonna need it

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  45. here’s the top comment at national soros radio’s latest post on the matter

    NNPPRR • 4 hours ago

    All religious conservatives have a tendency for violence. They choose to smite, and it’s all backed up by whatever text they prefer.

    happyfeet (8ce051)

  46. let there be no misunderstanding, the Taliban, Boko Haram, Ansar al Sharia, and now ISIS, all end at the same point, AQ argues over the tactics, not the ends,

    narciso (3fec35)

  47. I think we are seeing what Rush Limbaugh predicted. He says that the left protects the ideology over anything else, so if and when Obama fails, they will toss him aside. It’s not liberalism that’s bad, it’s that darn president!

    Sort of a variation on the excuses made for the failures of Russian communism.

    Patricia (5fc097)


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