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Obama the Rodney Dangerfield of World Leaders
Townhall.com ^ | March 20, 2014 | Matt Towery

Posted on 03/20/2014 9:25:00 AM PDT by Kaslin

It's a comparison too obvious to pass up. We all remember the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, best known for exclaiming, "I get no respect," as he tugged at his collar and bulged his eyes to a laughing audience. You know things are, as Rodney would say, "tough" if his comedy has entered a discussion of foreign policy.

Over the past few weeks, columnists and commentators have struggled to comprehend President Obama's reaction to the situation in Ukraine as well as the more recent "defection" of Crimea into the Russian camp. But the truth is that no one can make any sense of this administration's foreign policy, because, basically, it has no foreign policy. And it has caused President Obama to appear as all too much like the famed comedian, left to shrugging his shoulders over world events.

Consider the fact that Syria has been a simmering caldron for several years. And, yes, most Americans did not want to see military intervention in that nation and likely still don't support such a move. But in the middle of a potentially substantial change in policy and political alignment by the world's other great superpower, the Obama administration chooses now as the appropriate time to kick Syria's diplomatic corps out of the country. All of this as a "symbolic" gesture on the third anniversary of revolt in that nation.

So far, about all the president has done in his years in office has been symbolic. Yes, he hunted down Bin Laden, but that was after years of pursuit by the U.S. To be fair, it shocked some observers that the president would have even participated in the effort, but he did, and in so doing, "symbolically" demonstrated that he could be "tough."

But, to steal from Rodney, if you look up the word "tough" in the dictionary, all you see is a picture of Vladimir Putin. Now that's one tough guy. And while he has promised to limit his nation's expansion to Crimea, he and his minions give every indication that they are gearing up for something much more ambitious.

With an American president who is a world famous "community organizer" obsessed with wealth inequality and appealing to an increasingly extreme far left, it probably isn't difficult for Putin, with his KGB background, to have profiled Obama as a weakling from the moment he took office.

And certainly the former KGB psychologists aren't having much difficulty determining that a Secretary of State who, years earlier, turned in his medals and protested a war might not be the toughest of adversaries.

It doesn't take a genius to see where this all ends up. The U.S. president proposes a budget that cuts the military. The Russian leader takes a small piece of territory that once was a part of the former Soviet Union. The U.S. response is to freeze assets that don't really impact Russia.

Then to add "muscle" to its position, the administration supports tossing Russia out of its equivalent of the exclusive "Bushwood Country Club" in Dangerfield's iconic move "Caddyshack," the G-8 (soon to become the G-7). Putin most likely responds, as did Dangerfield's character in the movie, by exclaiming as he is threatened with expulsion from the club that "the only reason I'm here is because I might buy it."

Meanwhile, other small portions of the old Soviet empire start to claim they too want to join Russia. Russia begins to flex its muscle in other ways, such as in a clearly authorized comment by that nation's version of an American network news anchor basically reminding viewers that only Russia could reduce the U.S. to ashes with a launch of nuclear weapons.

Before you know it, Russia and the "West" no longer "trust" each other. Relations get cold. Does that sound familiar?

We will know we are headed back to an early "Cold War" when we start hearing the U.S. and its allies talking in terms of "containing" or "containment."

This White House has played on words, parsed statements, shaken fists, stomped its feet and done everything it could possibly do for almost six years in reaction to potential enemies abroad. All as a ruse for its lack of backbone.

Luckily for Obama, one Dangerfield joke might not apply to him or his administration. It goes like this: "I get no respect. The way my luck is running, if I were a politician, I'd be honest."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: momjeans; russia; thecatcher; ukraine; viktoryanukovich; yuliatymoshenko
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1 posted on 03/20/2014 9:25:00 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
What do ya mean by the Rodney Dangerfield of world leaders?

At least RD wasn't at all like dear leader.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

2 posted on 03/20/2014 9:30:30 AM PDT by melancholy
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To: Kaslin
I disagree. Obama gets all the respect he deserves (and probably more). It's his fault that this amounts to pretty much nothing.
3 posted on 03/20/2014 9:32:36 AM PDT by kevkrom (I'm not an unreasonable man... well, actually, I am. But hear me out anyway.)
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To: Kaslin
Why insult Rodney?
4 posted on 03/20/2014 9:39:32 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: melancholy

Heyt, he looks GOOD in Mom Jeans...


5 posted on 03/20/2014 9:39:33 AM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: kiryandil

....and briefless.

That would be disgustingly embarrassing for “the most powerful MAN on earth” meme!


6 posted on 03/20/2014 9:43:10 AM PDT by melancholy
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To: Kaslin

No RSPECT...................


7 posted on 03/20/2014 9:43:38 AM PDT by Red Badger (LIberal is an oxymoron......................)
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To: kiryandil


8 posted on 03/20/2014 9:52:18 AM PDT by Iron Munro (The future ain't what it use to be -- Yogi Berra)
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To: Kaslin

That is extremely insulting to Uncle Rodney!


9 posted on 03/20/2014 9:53:31 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

Exxaaaactly!!!!!

Rodney was the master of hilarious self-deprecating humor.

Obama is the master of self-destructive actions, that make him look like a twisted joke.


10 posted on 03/20/2014 9:58:09 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Immigration Reform is job NONE. It isn't even the leading issue with Hipanics. Enforce our laws.)
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To: Kaslin
Rodney made people laugh and had integrity. Obama makes people sick and has none. Rodney was good at what he did and had respect, Obama isn't good at anything but dishonesty and has no respect except from those that are as reprehensible as he.
11 posted on 03/20/2014 10:03:05 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: melancholy

Don’t diss Rodney Dangerfield he was funny MAN even Rodney can’t get no respect in death LOL!


12 posted on 03/20/2014 10:03:50 AM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: Kaslin

I seem to recall the Olympic Comittee was laughing theirs arses off after Obama tried to get the Olympics in America, was it not supposed to be in Chicago of all places?

I would have flown to that meeting myself and stood outside with the infamous Ha-Ha! sign myself.


13 posted on 03/20/2014 10:05:47 AM PDT by Spartan302
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To: Kaslin

“With an American president who is a world famous “community organizer” obsessed with wealth inequality and appealing to an increasingly extreme far left, it probably isn’t difficult for Putin, with his KGB background, to have profiled Obama as a weakling from the moment he took office.”

Ha! “O” couldn’t ‘organize’ the drawer where he keeps his socks!!


14 posted on 03/20/2014 10:09:20 AM PDT by SMARTY ("When you blame others, you give up your power to change." Robert Anthony)
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To: Kaslin
Before you know it, Russia and the "West" no longer "trust" each other. Relations get cold. Does that sound familiar?

The end result of this go-round will be for the US to lose the cold war and be bankrupted by incompetents such as the current Prick-in-Chief.

15 posted on 03/20/2014 10:10:49 AM PDT by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: SevenofNine

I wouldn’t put Rodney Dangerfield and 0b0z0 in the same sentence.

OOPS! I just did.


16 posted on 03/20/2014 10:12:23 AM PDT by melancholy
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To: Kaslin

I just saw Obama’s Brackets & he didn’t pick all 64 teams to tie! Where’s the fairness in that, I ask you?


17 posted on 03/20/2014 10:14:59 AM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: Kaslin
 photo VladampBarackcopy_zpsd6cc41c3.jpg

Be careful Vlad. Barack might blow some of that smoke in your face. He's been blowing it up our asses for years now and is very, VERY good at it!


18 posted on 03/20/2014 10:20:48 AM PDT by Dick Bachert (Ignorance is NOT BLISS. It is the ROAD TO SERFDOM! We're on a ROAD TRIP!!)
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To: Kaslin

How insulting to Rodney Dangerfield. He was a funny guy...not a communist fraud.


19 posted on 03/20/2014 10:30:34 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway
"Wow,..this obama guy really doesnt DESERVE any respeckt does he ".....Rodney Dangerfield 2014


20 posted on 03/20/2014 10:33:05 AM PDT by MeshugeMikey (Spreading Peace and Luv Since...1960 something)
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