Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Krauthammer: Obama’s Syria address “one of the most odd presidential speeches ever delivered”



◼ Video - The Right Scoop

◼ Reviews in for Obama speech: “Incoherent,” “disingenuous,” “nothing new” - Ed Morrissey/HotAir



◼ Annotated Transcript Of Obama's Confusing Syria Speech (With Snark and Truth Added) - Yid With Lid



◼ Obama Syria address: Mike Allen's top takeaways - Politico

◼ Obama's Strange FDR Quotation - Bill Kristol/Weekly Standard

Presumably Obama didn't know the context of his quotation from FDR. But it seems inadvertently fitting that Obama quoted not the FDR who fought Hitler but the FDR of the 1930s. As it happens, the day after the San Diego speech, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. Italian troops repeatedly and brazenly used poison gas in that conflict. The world, including of course the U.S., expressed "deep concern"—but did nothing.

◼ Obama’s Syria speech: An illogical argument from a paralyzed president - Jennifer Rubin/Washington Post
The president is paralyzed because the first part of his argument, one which conservatives wholeheartedly agree with, does not match his call for inaction or, in the best case scenario, a Russian brokered deal.

Gone is the demand that Assad “must go.” Gone is any penalty for using chemical weapons. Gone is the demonstration of resolve meant to signal seriousness about chemical weapons. Gone is the notion that we care about the plight of Syrians or that 100,000 dead stir something beyond empty rhetoric. Gone is any deterrent effect to Iran. By throwing the ball to Congress and then to Russia, Obama has effectively taken the use of force off the table, letting the Russians and Assad set the ground rules. From a moral and geopolitical standpoint, this is a debacle that will extend throughout the Middle East and beyond.
◼ No passion, no new arguments as Barack Obama restates unpopular case for Syria strike - Peter Foster, in Washington/Telegraph
◼ Barack Obama’s Syria speech was an incoherent mess – he is outperforming Jimmy Carter as the most feeble US president of modern times - Nile Gardiner/Telegraph
◼ Obama´s Syria speech almost irrelevant - BBC
◼ Syria Tells You Everything You Need to Know About Barack Obama: Fumbling, Flip-flopping, Marble-mouthing... - Ron Fournier/National Journal
◼ Unbelievably Small: Obama Cuts Syria Speech to 15 Minutes, Will Pitch Diplomacy and War - Ben Shapiro/Breitbart
◼ Making Sense of Syria - Peggy Noonan/Wall St. Journal
◼ There´s Almost No Chance Russia´s Plan for Syria´s Chemical Weapons Will Work - Yochi Dreazen/Foreign Policy
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