Obama - As the world burns, the President fiddles.

[KeepTalking]

At least some don't get real vacations. So if a vacation may not be a vacation, , when do we KNOW they are not on the job ? For example, we know they are not working when playing golf and fund-raising...right?

First off, get back here with those goal posts!

Second, no we don't know that. For example, Lyndon Johnson famously secured votes for the Civil Rights Act while golfing.

How about these stunning numbers:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...vacations-George-W-Bush-point-presidency.html

Obama has hit the links 186 times since taking office, according to Knoller's records. Bush only played 24 rounds of golf throughout his entire presidency.
Meanwhile, President Obama has went golfing three times this week already while on holiday in Massachusetts even as the U.S. launched airstrikes on Islamic extremists in Iraq and contemplated a humanitarian rescue of Iraqis stranded on a mountain.

Bush attended far fewer political fundraisers that Obama while living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, as well.
In announcing Obama's 400th fundraiser as president on twitter Monday, Knoller said Bush had headlined 224 cash-gathering events at the same point in time.

We can also look at some of the other stunning numbers presented at that link:

Obama has taken 20 vacations compared to George W. Bush's 58

As of yesterday, Obama had taken a total of 129 full or partial vacation days compared to Bush's 381.
And those are just the days and times Bush visited his Prairie Chapel ranch in Texas. He also vacationed at his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine, seven times for a total of 26 days

Which was kind of the point before those goal posts went flying by.

My gosh, folks have noticed Obama's inordinate golf and fund-raiser "fiddling" - is it any wonder that anytime a crisis pops up that it interrupts either his golf game or fund-raiser?

Inordinate? Is it inordinate when compared to the 400 rounds of golf Bill Clinton played during his presidency? How about the nearly 900 rounds that Eisenhower played during his term? Or the 1000 rounds Woodrow Wilson played as president?

Do you really want to argue over a figure of speech?

No, I want to argue with the hyper-partisan sentiment that lies beneath it.

My sentiment not withstanding, many have noted that in the last 8 or 9 months that Obama seems routinely unprepared, often surprised, and oddly detached in his job (when not golfing and fund-raising); they have also noticed that other than when he gets excited over his "the bear is loose" opportunities to golf or pitch for money (he did his 400th the other day) he seems listless and disinterested.

Oh my, Obama must be a terrible president! So terrible that when he is in his second term, and no longer running for any political office, he is still doing fund raisers, because people still admire him as president. Unlike W, who was so toxic mid-way through his second term that no one in his own party would touch him with a 10 foot pole.

For example, as seen in the Bergdahl controversy,

You are still harping on that shit? Look, Obama brought a POW home. The same POW that the right was calling for him to bring home, until he actually did it. Then suddenly it was a controversy. Damned if you do, damned if you don't sums that up rather nicely.

the VA Scandal,

You mean he one that has been brewing for decades? Must be all Obama's fault. Might as well go ahead and blame him for the Veterans Bureau scandals during the 1920's that led to being shuttered after only 9 years, and then replaced with the VA. He is probably also to blame for the VA scandals in the mid 1940's, as well as the VA scandal in 1955, or the VA scandals of the early and mid 1970's, or that plagued Ronald Reagan in the 1980's. We have already laid the VA scandals from the 1990's at his feet, so I don't need to go there.

the Ukraine crisis, and the Iraq invasion by ISIS... he was surprised, then flat, and (in the last two events), unprepared - the contingency planning non-existent (of course, the same might be said regarding Obama on Libya, Egypt, Syria and Obamacare as well).

Obamacare again? And a veiled reference to Benghazi in the same sentence. You certainly are on point with all of the partisan talking points of the past several years, Max. Too bad the Affordable Care Act has proven to be a net gain for the nation's previously uninsured, as well as the under-insured, and the republicans own commission just cleared the Obama administration on Benghazi. In fact, it seems one major factor to the events at Benghazi was the Republican Congress' decision to cut back on embassy security funding around the world.

And it's not limited to the right, many have noticed his odd behavior and leadership faults. Among the "Democratic" and/or "left" members who have also noticed:

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/07/160191-chuck-todd-more-obama-disengaged-more-golf-fundraise/
"MSNBC reporter Chuck Todd called the White House “defiant” against criticisms coming from all sides that the president is too disengaged from the duties of the office. He even insinuated that President Obama purposely went golfing in a disdainful response to a New York Times article asking if he should have cut a trip to multiple fundraisers after the Malaysian plane was shot down, and the more criticism he receives, the more he’ll golf and vacation."

Chuck Fucking Todd?!?! You have to be kidding me. Compare his interview with Obama to the one he did with W, then get back with me on exactly how "democratic" and "left" that guy really is.

 

[Medicine Man]

ISIS Fighters HAUL-ASS!!!
January 31, 2015

*​

"Two purported ISIS fighters interviewed for a news agency working in ISIS-held territory have given the same reason for the militants' retreat from the Syrian city of Kobani: the constant pummeling by coalition airstrikes.

On Monday, Kurdish fighters declared that they had released the city on the border to Turkey from ISIS' grip after 112 days of fighting.

The efforts of the Kurdish fighters -- known as the YPG, or People's Protection Units -- on the ground were backed by an extensive campaign of airstrikes by the U.S.-led international coalition against ISIS.

And according to the interviews given to ISIS-aligned Amak news agency in Syria, it was those airstrikes that won the battle for Kobani, referred to by the fighters as Ayn Al-Islam."

"Ya' screw with the bull....ya' get the horn!!!"​

 

[ideologyhunter]

It's not a perfect world. In a Perfect World, we would have elected McCain in '08, he would have taken sick leave due to complications from that throbbing vein in his forehead, and we would have had the Thrilla from Wasilla to tame the Islamic world and usher us into the New American Century. It didn't happen, so now the only sensible strategy is to hunker down in front of the TV and watch Fox News, pulling the blinds to block out the dark skies over America, and dreaming of the day the Kenyan is impeached.

 

[Medicine Man]

Chemical Weapons Expert Killed
January 30, 2015

*​

"A chemical weapons expert with the Islamic State (IS) militant group in Iraq has been killed in a coalition airstrike, the US military has said.

Abu Malik's training provided IS with "expertise to pursue a chemical weapons capability", a statement said.

He served as a chemical weapons engineer under former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, before joining al-Qaeda in Iraq and then IS, the US said.

The US-led coalition has carried out nearly 2,000 strikes against IS.

Mr Malik was killed in a raid near Mosul on 24 January, according to the US.

His death is expected to "degrade and disrupt" IS and weaken their ability to produce and use chemical weapons, the US military said."

.

 

[maxparrish]

Just when you thought Obama apologist narratives had already plumbed the bottom of pin-headed nonsense, MM's sinker falls into the marinara trench of foolish plather.

The giddy celebration of saving one town in 112 days of fighting, requiring 75% of the air strikes in the theater is a disturbing break with reality.

The following graph says it all about Obama's 'grand strategy':

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I seem to remember 100,000+ Iraqis killed and 10,000 American soliders killed or maimed... and that was when we had our troops in Iraq. I don't recall such a visceral attitude towards those in the White House from the likes of you then.

 

[maxparrish]

I seem to remember 100,000+ Iraqis killed and 10,000 American soliders killed or maimed... and that was when we had our troops in Iraq. I don't recall such a visceral attitude towards those in the White House from the likes of you then.

Well, that certainly makes those graphics of ISIS victory disappear.

 

[arkirk]

Just when you thought Obama apologist narratives had already plumbed the bottom of pin-headed nonsense, MM's sinker falls into the marinara trench of foolish plather.

The giddy celebration of saving one town in 112 days of fighting, requiring 75% of the air strikes in the theater is a disturbing break with reality.

The following graph says it all about Obama's 'grand strategy':

So all that bombing and helping the "moderate rebels" hasn't helped that much? What are the brand names of the weapons ISES uses? If you want peace, you have to stop sending weapons into these countries and stop imagining you have allies in the area you don't really have. Max's maps and charts like usual spell hopelessness. What is hopeless on both sides is that the world can be changed through the means of violence in any way excepting increased human suffering. I suspect Max is faulting Obama for not socking more juice into his violent "solution" not less. The ME is like a bucket of water with sand in it that keeps being stirred. The less stirring, the lower the sand lays in the bucket. Max and Obama have essentially the same idea...raise the level of violence and beat those who we disagree with into surrender. This is not happening. We have a glowing example of this not happening in Gaza where the people are periodically pounded with massive bombings, yet they do not surrender and behave. If Max's idea is escalation of violence, would this not amount to just a bigger version of Gaza in Syria and Iraq?

Those who are feeding this conflict....U.S., Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. There is no violence in Syria that does not have an outside source. We have a mealy mouthed Secretary of State who alternates between outright insulting language and highly conditioned alleged diplomatic talk going nowhere. The solution will only come in this conflict when we stop feeding the factions we have pitted against each other. If we can slow the flow of ALL WEAPONS into the area, the contesting parties will eventually decide there really is no longer any point in throwing rocks at each other and perhaps agree to accepting peaceful help with sanitation, education, and infrastructure repair so they can start to live again.

Our world politics have to stop degenerating into pissing contests, for profit, for legitimacy, and for political power. Just the other day, a code pink nonviolent demonstration in a Senate hearing listening to Henry Kissinger temporarily raised the issue of Kissinger's war crimes. McCain, the chairmen ordered the security to "Remove this scum." With men like McCain running our government, we are endangered. Admittedly, Obama is a lukewarm warrior, but he still has faith in violence to solve the ME conflicts. It is like these men, and I suspect Max too can only accept violence as the solution. We have to realize that these violent solutions have NEVER WORKED HISTORICALLY.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I seem to remember 100,000+ Iraqis killed and 10,000 American soliders killed or maimed... and that was when we had our troops in Iraq. I don't recall such a visceral attitude towards those in the White House from the likes of you then.

Well, that certainly makes those graphics of ISIS victory disappear.

No, just any integrity your commentary may have.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

With Syria one needs to ask, "What does Russia think?"

 

[Medicine Man]

Just when you thought Obama apologist narratives had already plumbed the bottom of pin-headed nonsense, MM's sinker falls into the marinara trench of foolish plather.

The giddy celebration of saving one town in 112 days of fighting....​

....As-opposed-to setting an entire Country on fire....then....

 

[arkirk]

Just when you thought Obama apologist narratives had already plumbed the bottom of pin-headed nonsense, MM's sinker falls into the marinara trench of foolish plather.

The giddy celebration of saving one town in 112 days of fighting....​

....As-opposed-to setting an entire Country on fire....then....

That's going to be hard to beat. I feel Obama is a mediocre thinker and a mediocre president, but he probably is a slight improvement over the presidents of the last forty years. In all fairness he should not be the target of Max's animosity or contempt when far better targets exist. That's what you found, MM.