Well, actually, it’s working out pretty much like the last five “recovery summer’s” have worked out for the US economy. In other words, not so much.
Let’s rewind a bit, to 2009, shortly after the Pretender President took office. Since any semblance of reliable reporting about this administration by US sources is pretty much out of the question, let’s turn to the UK’s The Guardian for a trip down memory lane.
On 4 June 2009 Barack Obama bounded on to the stage at Cairo University to deliver a speech which promised to seek “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world”. It was, he said solemnly, a time of great tension.
Speaking from a lectern set against a backdrop of plush red curtains, Obama sought to move beyond the toxic legacy of the 9/11 attacks, the US-led invasion of Iraq, the “war on terror” and the long and occasionally bloody impasse on the Palestinian issue.
Expectations were enormous. Even at the time it was hard to imagine that this young African-American president with Muslim roots could meet them all. …
The 55-minute speech was widely praised for its eloquence and ambition, but the reviews were mixed. For one commentator, the key was to get beyond the courtesies – mujamalat in Arabic – to the beef.
In other words, President Obama’s most important friend and advisor – his Tele-Promp-Ter – did a great job. The President reads well, you’ll not find much criticism about that. On the other hand as the article notes prophetically with respect to everything this President has touched, where’s the beef?
In Cairo, Obama touched on the broad issue of political change in a sclerotic Arab world whose rulers sold themselves as guarantors of stability and western interests. That required an especially delicate balance. Watching as he spoke was Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, a US ally for whom democracy was a dirty word. And Obama had spent the previous night at the desert ranch of the octogenarian King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, the indispensable guardian of cheap western oil supplies.
America, the president said, with a humble nod to these ageing Arab autocrats – and in a lightly coded reference to Bush’s controversial “freedom agenda” – did “not presume to know what is best for everyone”.
Two important points right here. Hosni Mubarak, and Egypt, have been allies of the US in the Middle East for a long time and through some very tough times. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Mubarak is anything approaching a “good guy”, he’s not. He was, however, an Arab leader who generally acted in the best interests of the US in the region, and at the very least, he did not actively oppose US interests. Egypt is also the only Muslim nation in the Middle East that has accepted Israel’s right to exist as a nation.
Obama noted that he didn’t know what was right for everyone, a veiled reference and criticism of President Bush’s “Freedom Agenda”. Whether or not you agree with Bush’s agenda, one thing is certain, President Bush had a very good sense of what was right for the citizens of the US, especially in his administration’s dealings all over the world. The same cannot be said for our current President, and I would expand that to include the idea that he doesn’t know what’s best for Americans here at home either. And he doesn’t give a damn.
After watching five years of his Presidency and reflecting on the years in Chicago prior to his election, Barack Obama is driven by nothing more than a desire, no, a desperate need to be liked. The longer he’s in office, that need to be liked is morphing into a need to be adored. Beyond that fragile surface, there’s not much more than an empty suit. Or chair, Clint Eastwood was right.
Fast forward to September 11, 2012.
As President Obama released a 9/11 message praising the Arab Spring, protesters in Cairo, Egypt were storming the U.S. embassy and ripping down the American flag. In shades of Jimmy Carter’s hostage crisis in 1979 that put the exclamation mark on a failed presidency, the disparity between rhetoric and reality in Obama’s foreign policy will add a precarious dimension to his re-election bid. …
The mainstream media will do their best to bury the Egyptian uprising story the way they buried the “fast and furious” scandal [and Benghazi]. Or else they will attempt to spin the protesters as “far, far, far right religious extremists” and “ultra-conservatives” and thus not representative of the Egyptian populace …
But Barack Obama has been a vocal supporter of the “democratic” Arab Spring movement, which brought to power radical Islamist groups across the Middle East, including the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. President Obama intervened in Egyptian politics to help remove former president Hosni Mubarak, which ushered in martial law and a stand-off between the military government and competing Islamist parties.
A couple of thoughts here. I’m old enough to remember Jimmy Carter. Carter’s overriding trait was, and is, being a coward. He couldn’t make difficult decisions and when he tried, the decision had so much waffle room that it was doomed to failure. That same trait is evident in Obama.
President Obama is probably the most totally out of touch President who’s ever held the office. He’s busy praising the Arab Spring while protesters in Egypt are ripping down the American flag and our Ambassador in Libya is being murdered in Benghazi. Please note that the linked article makes no mention of the YouTube video.
Finally, what sort of warped thought process could drive someone to support a process that would give massive political power to a radical Islamist group like the Muslim Brotherhood?
Fast forward to this week. Think of it as Bummer Summer for the President. First there was the petition in Egypt…
Egypt braced for protests against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on Sunday, the anniversary of his turbulent first year in office, after a week of violence that has killed eight people, including an American.
US President Barack Obama expressed concern at the mounting violence and urged Morsi to be “constructive” with the opposition.
The grassroots movement Tamarod — Arabic for rebellion — said it has gathered an unverified 22 million signatures of Egyptians who want Morsi to resign and snap elections held.
“Expressed concern…” Mr. Obama’s found his niche. Expressing himself. He won’t be actually “doing” anything. And, the total population of Egypt is 82.5 million.
And yesterday…
CAIRO (AP) — Tens of thousands of opponents of Egypt’s Islamist president massed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and in cities around the country Sunday, launching an all-out push to force Mohammed Morsi from office on the one-year anniversary of his inauguration. Fears of violence were high, with Morsi’s Islamist supporters vowing to defend him.
Waving Egyptian flags, crowds packed Tahrir, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak, and chants of “erhal!”, or “leave!” rang out.
On the other side of Cairo, thousands of Islamists gathered in a show of support for Morsi outside the Rabia al-Adawiya Mosque near the Ittihadiya presidential palace, which the opposition planned to march on in the evening. Some Morsi backers wore homemade body armor and construction helmets and carried shields and clubs — precautions, they said, against possible violence.
Here’s the scene in Tahrir Square…
This won’t end well. If you need something to be thankful for today, be glad you’re not working in the US Embassy in Cairo.
********** UPDATE **********
A close up of the crowd…
Any questions?
