Barack Hussein Obama had better savor those manufactured outpourings of love from school children while he can because at the rate he’s losing friends, those mindless ditties may soon be all he has left. The most recent casualty among his one-time admirers is French President Nicolas Sarkozy. According to the Wall Street Journal, neither Sarkozy nor British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (whom Obama had snubbed and alienated earlier) was too thrilled with Obama’s handling of the revelation at the G-20 Summit last week that Iran was maintaining a secret facility for making bomb-grade fuel.
The Journal reports that Sarkozy in particular “had been ‘frustrated’ for months about Mr. Obama’s reluctance to confront Iran” about its secret enrichment plant “and saw an opportunity to change momentum.” He had favored releasing the information a day earlier in front of the U.N. Security Council, seeing this as way of rallying international support for strong action against Iran. The Obama administration had scotched the idea, insisting that it would “’spoil the image of success’ for Mr. Obama’s debut at the U.N. and his homily calling for a world without nuclear weapons.” Can’t have an international crisis upstaging one of Obama’s “moments” in his well-rehearsed role Leader of the Free World.
Nor was Sarkozy thrilled with Obama’s tone once he let the cat out of the bag. Iran, Obama said, is “going to have to come clean and they are going to have to make a choice.” That’s it? Not exactly the sternest rebuke in the history of the U.S. presidency. In any case, it seems as though Iran has already made a choice, and that’s to poke a finger squarely in the eye of the pansy the American people elected to lead them. The day after Obama issued his statement, Ahmadinejad made a statement of his own, telling Obama essentially to take a hike.
As Richard Cohen notes in the Washington Post, Obama is all about issuing deadlines and ultimata and then promptly forgetting all about them. Ahmadinejad, apparently mindful of this, knows enough to ignore what little bluster Obama summons up.
Sarkozy in the meantime has not been so passive in his condemnation of Iran or Obama’s continued desire for talks. “[W]hat have these proposals for dialogue produced for the international community?” he said following Obama’s G-20 bombshell. “Nothing but more enriched uranium and more centrifuges. And last but not least, it has resulted in a statement by Iranian leaders calling for wiping off the map a Member of the United Nations. What are we to do? What conclusions are we to draw? At a certain moment hard facts will force us to make decisions.”
Comments 21
Iran’s all over but the Israeli bombing Howard, deal with it.
The only remaining question of significance is when the first reporter will ask Sarkozy, Brown and the other European leader former Obama sycophants, “How’s that workin’ out for ya?”
I know it’s totally wrong; but I’m going to enjoy watching Europe squirm as Muslim immigrant populations grow, Russia advances and the Iranians increase their targetting range. Were it up to me we would be putting in place immigration laws barring Europeans who voted, even once, for the Green and various Social Democratic Parties.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Don’t understand that in conjunction with the rest of the post.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
CK – “Don’t understand that in conjunction with the rest of the post. ”
We keep coming back to the subject of what to do about Iran, even though we all know in our bones that the Obama Administration isn’t going to do anything effective about Iran.
It leads to the rest of the post because I’m enjoying a bit of mad glee at what the Europeans have got for themselves now that America is being lead by the sort of fellow they’ve always wanted.
I admit to a bad habit of getting off topic and becoming, or at least appearing even upon my own re-reading, a bit confused or disjointed. I used to feel worse about that before I read a completely confused and disjointed Gary Wills column the other day. . .
September 29th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
@Sully – So somewhere in there you’re thinking that Obama’s actually America’s first European president?
September 29th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
@fuster – sounds about right, except that Obama doesn’t hate Europe quite as much as the Europeans do.
September 29th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
@Sully —
Sully, I’m actually with you on this one. It is a bit lunatic to look at a situation like this and say simply, “Gee, this ought to be interesting to watch,” but that’s kind of where I am. But then, hey, I atoned yesterday for the past year’s sins. Why not start racking up a new year’s worth?
September 29th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
That’s the spirit!
September 29th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
Sarko needs to take a pill and repeat to himself, “There are no WMD in Iran.”
September 29th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Count me in for a just a tad of “mad glee,” enough for a sardonic smile as the Europeans who trashed Bush’s policies suddenly find that as Sarko puts it, “at a certain point hard facts will force us to make decisions.” No fun, especially when you haven’t had to do it for a while and are a bit rusty.
Sarkovy and Brown, though, don’t deserve to have to handle this all alone. Obama’s “strategy” for the UN address and the G20 meeting really cut both our allies off at the knees. Oh, well, there are no distinctions among nations, anyway.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
@Margo –
Margo, I see you’re also ready for a fresh year of sinning.
September 29th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Howard, when I read those confessions I realize that with a few exceptions, like “usurious interest” and outright “robbery,” I do most of those things every day. I’m trying to prioritize a few; if that doesn’t work I’ll spend one day a week in the closet and see if that helps reduce my “error footprint.”
September 29th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
@fuster – First European president, no. He’s our first president to be besotted with Europe, as so much of our cultural élite is. For example, for most of my Facebook friends, the compelling reason why we need a government health care plan is that all the countries in Western Europe have one. The question of how it would actually affect life in the US doesn’t come up.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
Just as Bush didn’t deserve to have to handle Saddam all alone when those bastards Chirac and Schroeder were in office.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
@Peter Shalen – I guess I never got to hang with those folks. The elitists I’ve known found it quite provincial to fail to mock that Eurotrash.
September 29th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
@fuster – And what’s their take on the health care bills?
September 29th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
@Peter Shalen – Their firms pay for their health care, so what’s all the hassle about?
September 29th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
@fuster – You definitely don’t mingle with the same crowd as I do.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
@Peter Shalen – (Just another reason for you to be thankful.)
University health plans ain’t much, are they?
If you’re a VP for a multinational Pharma, a hospital VP, surgeon, internist, partner in a law firm, or just a child of a multimillionaire factory owner you never see a medical bill.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Margo – “Sarkovy and Brown, though, don’t deserve to have to handle this all alone. ”
I respect your opinion but don’t share it. Britain and France have been living in a post-history fantasy world for decades. Their militaries are hollow shells, their people are happy to free ride on us while carping at us with superior sneers on their faces, and their leaders are promoting a bureaucratic tyranny in Brussels which refuses to abide by popular referendums seeking to limit its power. Britain is not the worst of the European nations, and Sarkozy was not in power when France outright conspired to betray us in the runup to the Iraq war but they bear responsibility if only as citizens of their countries during that period. And they and the Germans lent all sorts of aid to Obama during the campaign because he is, in fact, the sort of toothless European style president they have always wanted.
The rational part of my mind knows and accepts that we probably should pull their chestnuts out of the fire in service to our own self interest; but I think they and their peoples certainly “deserve” whatever they get if things go south, and, were I in charge, I would extract a high price for any co-operation or help we give.
The European nations have mostly been near useless to us as allies for decades. Limited usefulness alone would be bad enough if they made an effort to pull their weight, but they don’t, and they’re actually scornful of help.
September 29th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
My meds have kicked in, I’m calmer now. I love everyone unreservedly, even the French.
September 30th, 2009 at 12:10 am
@Sully –
Don’t operate on yourself if you have heavy machinery.
If you start to look faint, try to reach me here at the center.
http://www.engrish.com/
September 30th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Post a Comment