Ask Bin Laden if I'm an appeaser

[Gonad the Barbarian]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/08/143356742/obama-ask-osama-bin-laden-if-im-an-appeaser

Republican presidential candidates have said President Obama practices "appeasement" when it comes to foreign policy.

At the White House a short time ago, the president had this response:

"Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al-Qaida leaders who've been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement. Or whoever's left out there. Ask them about that."

This was just too awesome to wait for a full article.

Now with video:
http://www.businessinsider.com/boom-obama-just-played-the-bin-laden-card-2011-12
Boom indeed.

 

[EagleKeeper]

AQ is not foreign policy. It is a search/destroy mission.
Afghanistan, Pakistan are foreign policy.
then what about the rest of the world that he does nothing to resolve.
Libya, "no boots on the ground" and false interaction. no fly zone directive was greatly exceed
Syria - continue to allow the massacres - words of scolding from Clinton on his behalf.


Smple examples

 

[Arkaign]

AQ is not foreign policy. It is a search/destroy mission.
Afghanistan, Pakistan are foreign policy.
then what about the rest of the world that he does nothing to resolve.
Libya, "no boots on the ground" and false interaction. no fly zone directive was greatly exceed
Syria - continue to allow the massacres - words of scolding from Clinton on his behalf.


Smple examples

I'm no fan of Obama, but I don't think Bush or anyone else would be handling things differently regarding Libya and Syria.

What were we really supposed to do in Libya? March in? With what? We're broke as a nation as it is. I don't think the US public would have allowed it.

Similar is Syria, but that's actually more difficult, because the coalition against Syria would be much harder to form, and unlike Libya, they're not all that isolated (think Iran!).

I think too many people forgot the example Reagan made when the marine barracks were bombed in Lebanon in the 80s. Hundreds of our nations finest blown to pieces by fundamentalist assholes, and we didn't go to war over it. We did the smart thing, we GTFO and said good riddance to them, with no additional loss of life.

Sometimes not getting into further overseas complications IS smart foreign policy. Policy is not necessarily defined by action, inaction can be a good concept as well depending on circumstances.

Obama has failed many times on many things, but foreign policy is not ripe territory to complain about.

 

[Nintendesert]

Ultimately nobody really gives a shit about foreign policy when there are no jobs in America. I feel bad for the man that all he has is killing OBL. He turned around and failed to get us out of Afghanistan and Pakistan after doing it when we could have left with honor and on our terms. Now we get to do a continued slow bleed in those two shithole countries. Not sure how much a win that OBL killing really was.

 

[Ausm]

I'm no fan of Obama, but I don't think Bush or anyone else would be handling things differently regarding Libya and Syria.

What were we really supposed to do in Libya? March in? With what? We're broke as a nation as it is. I don't think the US public would have allowed it.

Similar is Syria, but that's actually more difficult, because the coalition against Syria would be much harder to form, and unlike Libya, they're not all that isolated (think Iran!).

I think too many people forgot the example Reagan made when the marine barracks were bombed in Lebanon in the 80s. Hundreds of our nations finest blown to pieces by fundamentalist assholes, and we didn't go to war over it. We did the smart thing, we GTFO and said good riddance to them, with no additional loss of life.

Sometimes not getting into further overseas complications IS smart foreign policy. Policy is not necessarily defined by action, inaction can be a good concept as well depending on circumstances.

Obama has failed many times on many things, but foreign policy is not ripe territory to complain about.

That's because he can do everything by Executive order bypassing the Republican's incessant obstructionism in Congress.

 

[Arkaign]

Ultimately nobody really gives a shit about foreign policy when there are no jobs in America. I feel bad for the man that all he has is killing OBL. He turned around and failed to get us out of Afghanistan and Pakistan after doing it when we could have left with honor and on our terms. Now we get to do a continued slow bleed in those two shithole countries. Not sure how much a win that OBL killing really was.

Afaik, both Iraq and Afghanistan policy was largely dictated by treaties and agreements signed previous to O taking office.

The Osama killing was most important in taking the pretense off of Pakistan as an ally. They're not, and have never been. Only Musharraf was something of a pragmatic friend, but the country, it's government and people, hate us absolutely.

Agreed about the economy. It's the most important thing, and the fact that Obama has proven just fine at foreign policy means jack shit in the big picture. In the post-Soviet era, it's a lot less important imho, outside of economics. Besides, wars are VERY expensive and counter-productive to domestic economic growth unless you're literally looking at a situation where the rest of the world's manufacturing base can be largely destroyed (WW2).

 

[CanOWorms]

Obama will be known as one of the great American presidents on foreign policy. In addition to his statement, he is also cultivating the future of US relations with a fundamental shift from a trans-Atlantic relationship with Europe to strong relationships with the emerging powers. He is a Pacific President re-emphasizing the Pacific aspect of America rather than the old, archaic, and failed Atlantic.

 

[EagleKeeper]

We should have either stayed out of Libya or been honest in what we were going to do. No fly zone is not close air support.

The same goes for Syria. Setup a no fly zone and attack anything that is related to the Syrian military. give the opposition a chance to remove the government.

Screw Iran the rest of the Arab league is onboard

 

[werepossum]

AQ is not foreign policy. It is a search/destroy mission.
Afghanistan, Pakistan are foreign policy.
then what about the rest of the world that he does nothing to resolve.
Libya, "no boots on the ground" and false interaction. no fly zone directive was greatly exceed
Syria - continue to allow the massacres - words of scolding from Clinton on his behalf.


Smple examples

I don't particularly want my President thinking he has to resolve the rest of the world, only to kill those actively engaged in harming us and to support those who support us. In that respect, I think Obama's done a pretty fair job in foreign policy, all in all. I really didn't like the way he refused to get Congressional approval for the Libyan war, but I'll support him in taking action. I try to always assume that the President, whether or not I generally support him, has well considered and valid reasons for taking the country to war, and if Libya was only about supporting our NATO allies, well, it works both ways. We can't ask them to support our ventures unless we support them in theirs.

WRT Syria, I don't think we can afford a third ground war, and Syria is a lot better equipped with Russian air defenses than was Libya so we can't do an air war on the cheap there. And while I consider Syria to be one of the world's most evil and destructive countries, I have little to no faith that a democracy there would be more Western-friendly.

All in all I give Obama pretty good marks on foreign policy, and that's where the President has the most control.

 

[Jaskalas]

Ask Bin Laden if I'm an appeaser

No, you're a nation builder. Instead of coin you pay for their appeasement in our own blood AND coin. Same as Bush. You're worse than an appeaser.

 

[xBiffx]

No, you're a nation builder. Instead of coin you pay for their appeasement in our own blood AND coin. Same as Bush. You're worse than an appeaser.

Yeah but Bush with a Nobel Peace Prize. :whiste:

 

[GoPackGo]

That comment was very Reaganesque...I loved it.

 

[momeNt]

Hopefully this was taken out of context. "Foreign Policy" is not specifically about how you deal with people who commit acts of war against your country.

Foreign Policy if terrorists fly planes into buildings on home soil - Ask OBL
Foreign Policy if Stephen Harper has a disagreement with Obama - Do NOT ask OBL, doubtful if he knows.

 

[airdata]

Take that you soft ass right wingers!

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

That comment was very Reaganesque...I loved it.

A lot of things about Obama are Reaganesque.

 

[cybrsage]

No appeasement here:

In Japanese culture, the underling bows the lowest...the further below the other person, the lower the bow. Obama, being an equal to the Emporer of Japan, should have met the Emporer's bow. Instead, he bows as low as the janitor.

Here he is, grovelling before the Saudi King:

He is the King's EQUAL...not an underling.

 

[CanOWorms]

He is the King's EQUAL...not an underling.

No. He's superior to a King. Even a cockroach is superior to a king.

However, those were merely early mistakes in his career.

 

[theeedude]

I guess Ike was an underling too

 

[Arkaign]

No appeasement here:

In Japanese culture, the underling bows the lowest...the further below the other person, the lower the bow. Obama, being an equal to the Emporer of Japan, should have met the Emporer's bow. Instead, he bows as low as the janitor.

Here he is, grovelling before the Saudi King:

He is the King's EQUAL...not an underling.

hah, that was another of the dumbest criticisms of Obama as well. Who honestly gives a F about some obscure social gestures that are utterly meaningless in the big picture. For fucks sake Bush Sr. BARFED on the Jap prime minister back in the day, lol. Did I think that was anything but hilarious? Not really.

Domestic policy, budget, economy, jobs, and the state of our "free" democratic republic are 10,000,000,000,000x more important than this little petty bullshit.

BOTH sides are guilty of these retarded distractions of course.

 

[chucky2]

Ike has a weird 90 angle about him, unlike BHO, weird huh?

 

[airdata]

Spidey : I'm disappointed you didn't also post the video of the russian people punking obama and refusing to shake his hand... That was pretty good.

Not having a shoe thrown at you during a press conference good... but it's pretty good.

 

[Infohawk]

A good litmus test for whether you're an unreasonable right-wing hack is whether you find a way to bash BHO for killing OBL. That was a true mission accomplished for all Americans.

 

[theeedude]

Here is a Republican president bowing to a Communist dictator who murdered millions of people.

 

[airdata]

A good litmus test for whether you're an unreasonable right-wing hack is whether you find a way to bash BHO for killing OBL. That was a true mission accomplished for all Americans.

Yeah. Imagine if he was born in the USA or if his real name was Teddy Osmond and he had US papers.

 

[Fear No Evil]

There is no doubt that Obama can slaughter brown people without loss of American lives better than anyone else. Its just when Obama slaughters brown people the lefties giggle and cheer instead of feigning outrage like when Bush did it.