Shame Does Not Exist In This Dojo, Does It? No, Sensei!

November 16, 2009

Over at ABC, Jake Tapper blogs about President Obama’s inappropriate and so-stupid-it’s-insulting bow to Japanese Emperor Akihito.

Tapper quotes a friend of his, an academic with knowledge of Japanese customs, and a supporter of Obama:

“Obama’s handshake/forward lurch was so jarring and inappropriate it recalls Bush’s back-rub of Merkel.

“Kyodo News is running his appropriate and reciprocated nod and shake with the Empress, certainly to show the president as dignified, and not in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs.

“The bow as he performed did not just display weakness in Red State terms, but evoked weakness in Japanese terms….The last thing the Japanese want or need is a weak looking American president and, again, in all ways, he unintentionally played that part.

It’s good to see that even the Japanese press is covering for him by not running the picture.

Hot Air has more.

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Posted by Blaknsam

Profile In Courage: Obama In Japan

November 16, 2009

On his recent visit to Japan, Barack Obama was asked the same question every American president is asked when they go to Japan. “President Obama, you are a proponent of a nuclear free world, and you’ve stated first of all that you would like to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki while in office. Do you have this desire, and what is your understanding of the historical meaning of the A-bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Do you think it was the right decision?” The reporter followed this immediately with a question about North Korea.

The answer is really pretty simple. “The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was an unfortunate, but necessary, action. It brought a brutal war to a swift conclusion and saved millions of lives, both American and Japanese, that would have been lost in an invasion of the Japanese homeland.”

But that would be asking too much from the Groveler-in-Chief. Here’s how he answered:

With respect to nuclear weapons and the issues of non-proliferation, this is an area where Prime Minister Hatoyama and I have discussed repeatedly in our meetings. We share, I think, a vision of a world without nuclear weapons. We recognize, though, that this is a distant goal, and we have to take specific steps in the interim to meet this goal. It will take time. It will not be reached probably even in our own lifetimes. But in seeking this goal we can stop the spread of nuclear weapons; we can secure loose nuclear weapons; we can strengthen the non-proliferation regime.

As long as nuclear weapons exist, we will retain our deterrent for our people and our allies, but we are already taking steps to bring down our nuclear stockpiles and — in cooperation with the Russian government — and we want to continue to work on the non-proliferation issues.

Now, obviously Japan has unique perspective on the issue of nuclear weapons as a consequence of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And that I’m sure helps to motivate the Prime Minister’s deep interest in this issue. I certainly would be honored, it would be meaningful for me to visit those two cities in the future. I don’t have immediate travel plans, but it’s something that would be meaningful to me.

Okay, and your answer would be…?

The Japanese reporter then repeated the question, asking if it “was right” for the U.S. to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Maybe there will be an answer this time.

No, there were three sets of questions, right? You asked about North Korea?

No answer for you! Obama then went on to talk about North Korea.

I can only hazard a guess as to why this hanging curve ball was ignored by the President. My guess, and it is just that, is that an honest answer from Obama would have been yet another apology, this time to the people of Japan. But unlike his mealy-mouthed whimperings to the Arab world, an American apology for Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have been big news. Maybe even MSNBC would have covered it. Worse, it would have been very bad news for a President that’s looking more and more like an ineffectual weakling on the world stage. It’s one thing for Obama to go before our enemies and apologize for American arrogance (always in the past, never in B.O.’s America). It’s another thing entirely to apologize for something the vast majority of Americans are glad we did.

My guess is that Obama’s no student of history, that his knowledge of America’s past comes straight out of Howard Zinn’s America-bashing A People’s History of the United States, with a bit of Noam Chomsky thrown in for good measure. He probably feels that the bombing of the Japanese cities was somehow a great moral error because his gut instinct is to be “opposed” to nuclear weapons and to believe that America is usually in the wrong (at least, up until January 20th, 2009). He’s politcally savvy enough to know that his views aren’t shared by the proles who voted him into office, however, so he artlessly dodged the question twice.

One can only wonder what “Give ’em Hell” Harry Truman would say about such an obsequious poseur in the White House.

Hot Air has more, and Real Clear Politics has video of the whole exchange.

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Posted by Blaknsam

Obama At The Berlin Wall: Ich Bin Ein Great!

November 12, 2009

A few days have passed since the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, so I know I’m not the first to comment on this but it’s been nagging at me for days. I still vividly remember hearing the news that day when I got home from work. That night I sat and watched the live feed from Berlin, with thousands of happy Germans attacking the wall with chisels and hammers, pouring champagne, and revelling in the joy of freedom and the prospects of a united Germany. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen before: so many people, oppressed for so long, suddenly breathing the air of liberty. It was as if people trapped on the bottom of the ocean were suddenly allowed to breathe the air again.

It was the right thing to do for the President of the United States to address such an auspicious event, but once again Barack Obama failed miserably.

The Berlin Wall was the single biggest symbol of the Cold War between the free nations of the world and the Soviet Union. The Cold War was not a bad dream that we woke up from. The Soviet Union murdered tens of millions of people, imprisoned millions more, and crushed free nations under the jackboot of tyranny. In East Germany, the Stasi secret police were notorious for their spying on innocent citizens, and crushing any dissent from the ruling party. Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary…these are just some of countries that were held in the vice-like grip of totalitarianism by Mother Russia was long. Russia’s errors spread throughout the world, to China, Korea, Viet Nam, Cuba, Yugoslavia. The Soviet Union was not America’s competition; they were America’s enemy.

It started badly with an introduction by Hilary Clinton who said that Barack Obama “represents the fall of different kinds of walls.” You know it had to go downhill after that push.

It would have been nice for Barack Obama to acknowledge the crimes against humanity committed in the Soviet Union and in East Germany, but during the course of his video presentation, he mentioned the “Iron Curtain” only once, and did not mention Russia or the Soviet Union at all. Nor did he mention the man most credited with winning the Cold War: Ronald Reagan, who famously stood at the wall and loudly demanded, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” He did not mention Margaret Thatcher, who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Reagan in her fierce condemnations of the Evil Empire. He did not mention Pope John Paul II, the Pope who came from a Communist country, and who traveled back to his home country of Poland and spoke of liberty, and embraced Solidarity, the fledgling union that was then in its infancy but eventually came to symbolize the yearning for freedom throughout the Soviet bloc.

But Obama did give a shout out to his favorite person in the whole world: himself.

“Few would have foreseen … that a united Germany would be led by a woman from Brandenburg or that their American ally would be led by a man of African descent. But human destiny is what human beings make of it,” Obama said.

The list of crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Soviet Union includes mass murder, unjust imprisonment, genocide, re-education camps, unjust war. But the fall of this Evil Empire has been reduced by the Megalomaniac-in-Chief to paving the way for a woman to succeed in Germany and a black man to succeed in America.

I remember watching those Germans chipping away at the wall with tears of joy streaming down their faces. What I don’t remember is thinking, “This paves the way for a man of African descent to lead America.” But for Barry, it’s all about him.

Hot Air has a whole wrap-up, with video.

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Would You Like Some Cheese With That Whine?

November 5, 2009

For the love of God, will you please stop whining about George Bush? It’s your administration now, for better or worse.

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Can You Hear Us Now?

November 4, 2009

I guess Cousin Pookie couldn’t be bothered to vote.

The spinners are in overdrive today on both sides of the aisle. The Republicans are claiming that happy days are here again and that 2009 is a clear indicator that the Republicans will take back the House and Senate in 2010. The Democrats are saying, “Election? Was there an election yesterday? It must have been tiny and insignificant.”

Advantage: Republicans!

The most important races from a national perspective yesterday were the Gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Democrats had written off Virginia several weeks ago when the handwriting was clearly on the wall, but even they couldn’t have predicted that Republican Bob McDonnell would crush his Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds by a wopping 18%. That’s not just a defeat, that’s the Democrat going down like the Hindenburg. Oh, the humanity of it all.

The spin from the Dems is that Creigh Deeds was a weak candidate who foolishly declined to follow the advice of that oracle of campaign wisdom, Barack Obama. He lost, say the Dems, because he failed to sufficiently embrace Obama.

(Insert eyeroll here.)

But then there’s that pesky New Jersey race. Not only did Jon Corzine embrace Obama, he was seen at several campaign events practically humping the President’s leg. New Jersey is one of the bluest of blue states, and Corzine one of the bluest of blue candidates. The President made several trips to New Jersey to sprinkle some of the same magic he used with the Olympic Committee, and Corzine actually ran attack ads comparing Chris Christie’s policies to those of the Democratic Devil, George W. Bush. If that’s not singing from Obama’s hymnal, I don’t know what is. Corzine offered a full-throated endorsement of all things Barack, and Barack returned the favor.

Far from the squeaker contest envisioned by so many, Chris Christie won by 5%. This in a state that Obama won by something like 17% (going on memory here, so don’t quote me). In New Jersey, for a Democrat to win by 5% it’s a tight contest. For a Republican to win by the same amount, it’s about a 9 on the Richter scale.

The other race that garnered national attention, the special election in District 23 of New York, went to the Democrat. The Dems are trumpeting this as a major victory. Nancy Pelosi is claiming last night was a victory for the Democrats, which makes her the Baghdad Bob of the House of Representatives. But this particular election was at least a moral victory for conservatives. Recall that the Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, was an extremely liberal Republican who was handpicked by a star chamber of town officials. She was at least as far to the Left as the Democrat, Bill Owens. The third candidate, the Independent Doug Hoffman, was clearly conservative. He was also, clearly, unknown only one month ago when his poll numbers were in single digits. But in the past month, overcoming idiotic endorsements by Newt Gingrich and the Republican National Committee, the conservative not only caught up to the Republican but forced her out of the race. He lost to the Democrat in the final tally, but the Republican still managed to siphon off about 5% of the vote even though she was no longer running. Put that in perspective: a conservative candidate with no name recognition came from nowhere in one month and beat the liberal Republican and came close to beating the Democrat in the general election. Call it spin if you want, but I’m claiming a moral victory.

Then there are races closer to home. In heavily Democratic Westchester County, New York, County Executive Andy Spano (seeking his fourth term) lost in a stunning upset to conservative Republican Rob Astorino, a loss foreseen by no one. In very liberal Maine, gay marriage was defeated at the polls. In my own hometown, there was a Republican sweep of the local offices, nearly all of which had been held by Democrats.

The Republicans are still a long, long way from reclaiming the House, Senate, and Presidency. Deservedly so, I might add. They have no one to blame for these years in the wilderness except themselves. But last night was a clear shot across the bow for the Democrats in D.C. Blue Dog Democrats in conservative districts will need to seriously think again before hitching their cart to Pelosi’s and Reid’s horse. Even Democrats in marginally Democratic districts will need to reconsider whether or not they want cap-and-trade or continued employment. It’s the “independents” who decide these races, and in both Virginia and New Jersey the independents went two-to-one in favor of the guys promising less government.

During the summer the Administration and the Democrats tried to marginalize the Tea Party movement as a mob of crazies who shouldn’t be listened to. Well, folks, can you hear us now?

Hot Air has lessons from Election Night, an Election Recap, and thoughts on the Gay Marriage vote in Maine. Michelle Malkin has an appropriate warning to the Republican establishment about the lessons they should take away from District 23.

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