Obama Puts the Dis in Dissident

WSJ ^

[nuconvert]

Here's a timely New Year's resolution the president might do well to deliver to his National Security Council: "When it comes to nasty regimes that brutalize their people, we will never again forget that the most powerful weapon in a president's arsenal is a White House photo-op."

The December headlines remind us that we have no shortage of these nasty regimes. In China, the government sentences Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for writing a letter calling for legal and political reforms. In Iran, security forces fire on citizens marching in the streets. In Cuba, pro-government goons intimidate a group of wives, mothers and sisters of jailed dissidents—with President Raul Castro characterizing these bullies as "people willing to protect, at any price, the conquests of the revolution."

In all these cases, the cry goes up: Where is the president of the United States?

For a man whose whole appeal has been wrapped in powerful imagery, President Obama appears strikingly obtuse about the symbolism of his own actions: e.g., squeezing in a condemnation of Iran before a round of golf. With every statement not backed up by action, with every refusal to meet a leader such as the Dalai Lama, with every handshake for a Chavez, Mr. Obama is defining himself to foreign leaders who are sizing him up and have only one question in mind: How much can we get away with?

[Spok]

“In China, the government sentences Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for writing a letter calling for legal and political reforms. In Iran, security forces fire on citizens marching in the streets. In Cuba, pro-government goons intimidate a group of wives, mothers and sisters of jailed dissidents—with President Raul Castro characterizing these bullies as “people willing to protect, at any price, the conquests of the revolution.”

This is the change Obama wants to bring to America.

[cripplecreek]

Obama put the moron in misadministration.

[Tamatoa]

Obama is no George Bush. He will never be able to wear Bush’s shoes.

[sportutegrl]

I think we can add Honduras citizens to the list of citizens protesting their government.

Watching the events unfold in Iran makes me wonder, WWBD, (What Would Bush Do?).

[jwparkerjr]

re: WWBD, (What Would Bush Do?)

Or WWWD, What Would W Do?

[jwparkerjr]

re: WWBD, (What Would Bush Do?)

Or WWWD, What Would W Do?

[HighlyOpinionated]

Do we add to the validity [in their minds] of Bush Bashing by asking the question: WWBD?

What are YOU going to do, Mr 0bama? You're sitting in the Oval Office now, by yourself, with no ghosts of former Presidents hovering around.

So, do you A-play golf, B-stage a photo op, or C-study the issues and do some real work? A and B, from your history.

Which is why 0bama=Epic Fail.

0bama's Fail is ruining OUR lives! Which is why Voters will hand his Epic Fail anatomy to him in a hand basket and tell him where to take himself.