Thursday, June 23, 2011

John Huntsman, meet Karl Rove (updated)

American Thinker  "In today's Wall Street Journal, Bush 43 advisor Karl Rove lists four reasons why President Obama is unlikely to be reelected. Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman seems focused on Rove's third reason, while foolishly ignoring Rove's equally important fourth reason."

comicallyincorrect.com
Karl Rove: Why Obama Is Likely to Lose in 2012 "Finally, Mr. Obama has made a strategic blunder. While he needs to raise money and organize, he decided to be a candidate this year rather than president. He has thus unnecessarily abandoned one of incumbency's great strengths, which is the opportunity to govern and distance himself from partisan politics until next spring. Instead, Team Obama has attacked potential GOP opponents and slandered Republican proposals with abandon. This is not what the public is looking for from the former apostle of hope and change."

Reelecting Obama

Victor Davis Hanson  "We are beginning to see the contours of the upcoming 2012 reelection campaign of Barack Obama. Whether always officially sanctioned or not, Obama’s campaign will focus on three general themes: a) the 2008 meltdown of the economy on Bush’s watch; b) conservative heartlessness in gutting cherished entitlement programs; and c) racial bias behind any criticism of Barack Obama."





Terror in the Beltway update: Would-be Pentagon bomber reportedly linked to military target shootings; Update: New arrests in Seattle…Shhhh, don’t say “Muslim;” Update: Pentagon bomb suspect’s “Allahu Akbar!” tapes

Michelle Malkin 
Forensic evidence found during the investigation links Melaku to five shootings at military targets last year, sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told www.insidenova.com.


"Update 6/23 New arrests…breaking in Seattle…AP and Fox reporting this afternoon that two have been taken into custody in plot on Seattle military installations…
"More as details come in."

Whither Afghanistan? Defense and foreign affairs in the hands of Democrats

Obama’s Afghanistan Withdrawal  "Nation-building at home might be the President’s ideal job, but he has a responsibility abroad. As Curtis notes, the President’s decision to rapidly withdraw from Afghanistan will “further discourage Pakistan from cracking down on the Taliban leadership that finds sanctuary on its soil” and “reinforce Islamabad’s calculation that the U.S. is losing resolve in the fight in Afghanistan and thus encourage Pakistani military leaders to continue to hedge on support to the Taliban to protect their own national security interests.”"

Abandon all this?
From STRATFOR: Obama's Afghanistan Plan and the Realities of Withdrawal  "One of these will be the impact on not just situational awareness on the ground but intelligence collection and particularly exploitable relationships with local political factions. As the withdrawal becomes more and more undeniable and ISAF pulls back from key areas, the human relationships that underlie intelligence sharing will be affected and reduced. This is particularly the case in places where the Taliban are strongest, as villagers there return to a strategy of hedging their bets out of necessity and focus on the more enduring power structure, which in many areas will clearly be the Taliban."
This article reprinted with permission from STRATFOR
Afghanistan, Obama, and Revolution  "President Obama found a way to slip in, during the second half of his speech, comments pertaining “clean energy,” Libya, and support of Revolutionaries. The latter half of his speech contributed to many full e-mail inboxes."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/bobgorrell
Obama Flinches   "A front-page New York Times article reported how the Taliban had been reduced to tiny bands and how it had failed so far to regain its footing despite desperately trying to fight back. The boys in the Quetta Shura must be delighted at the opening President Obama is handing them." National Review


MICHAEL RAMIREZ,NRO
Alinsky Does Afghanistan   "Obama's radical inspiration would have loved his speech on the war."

Alinksi Does Afghanistan, Part II  "What I said 18 months ago remains true today: Obama’s plan “would be preposterous if it were actually a national-security strategy. But it’s not. It’s a political strategy.” It doesn’t need to be coherent or effective. It needs to get Obama through 2012."

Michael Yon: Afghanistan is making undeniable progress, but it could all unravel "The bottom line is that there are unmistakable signs of progress in Afghanistan, and Gen. David Petraeus is about to make a very important recommendation.
"His judgment should be trusted".