Obama’s Moment to Redefine the Modern Middle East

Max Boot  "Unfortunately, instead of someone like Bush, who had served as an ambassador, CIA director, and vice president, we have in the Oval Office a president with no foreign-policy credentials. This president seems to think that the entire region revolves around the moribund Israeli-Palestinian “peace process.” Already Obama missed a crucial opportunity in the summer of 2009 to encourage the Green Revolution in Iran. Let us hope that will be a learning experience."
Refer to the link about the mayor of Las Vegas below.

Reaction Roundup:

The Foundry  "For progressives, politics has always been seen as an ebb and flow between periods of “progress” and “change” and brief interregnums to defend and consolidate the status quo as we wait for the bursting forth of the next great era of reformism. “It is time to leave behind the divisive battles of the past,” he said at one point, referring to the fight over open homosexuality in the military. “It is time to move forward as one nation.” Look at what he said about “the new health care law”: he is eager to improve it, but “what I’m not willing to do is go back.” “So instead of re-fighting the battles of the last two years, let’s fix what needs fixing and move forward.” Lock in progressive achievements and let’s move on."

Our Brave Leaders  "The Washington Post reports: “Obama has decided not to endorse his deficit commission’s recommendation to raise the retirement age, and otherwise reduce Social Security benefits, in Tuesday’s State of the Union address.”
"When I read this, I thought of a song from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:"

http://townhall.com/cartoons/garyvarvel

The President’s Speech: An Irresponsible Performance  "Still, this doesn’t mean the speech was unimportant. It was, in fact, quite significant in terms of highlighting the president’s cast of mind and how he understands, or fails to understand, the moment we’re in.
"The State of the Union address reaffirmed that Barack Obama remains a man of the left. He spent most of the speech championing an array of new programs, explaining why he believes we need to expand the size, reach, scope, and cost of the federal government." Peter Wehner
DOLLAR CRUMBLES After Obama’s Disappointing SOTU Performance  "The dollar crumbled today after Barack Obama failed to convince investors that he was serious about reducing the record deficit in his State of the Union Address last night."  See video of Las Vegas mayor below:

Reason TV and a Tale of Two SOTUs  "Remember when Obama promised to focus like a laser on jobs and the economy in his third year in office? It looks more like a laser focus on public-sector jobs in education and train service, as well as the usual laser focus on more federal spending." Via Hot Air as is this:

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion "I have a speech which I bet could get even better ratings: "Tell me what you want and it's yours. For free.""

Excuses, Excuses  "Speaking with vigor and aplomb, the president demonstrated once again that he can look serious, act like a president, and read the words that have been written for him.  But so far, he has not demonstrated his ability to be a president, create jobs, or do anything else." American Thinker

Devastating… Frank Luntz Focus Group Dumps On Obama’s “Flat” SOTU Address (Video)

Obama 2.0 - the SOTU  "Will he again boast that under his programs energy costs will necessarily soar and that coal mines will go bankrupt? Will we hear the rage towards "fat cats" and greedy doctors? Will he brag that "spreading the wealth" is his idea of how boost the economy?
"Will Americans buy what is again being sold by the master snake-oil salesman? Will history be repeated as tragedy?"

Karl Rove has this:

Enough for now, but more later, I'm sure. Especially when Ann Coulter and Charles Krauthammer check in.

Morning Bell: Losing the Future

Heritage   "On issue after issue (education, energy, infrastructure), the President identified more government “investment” as the key to “winning the future.” But if centrally planned government spending is the key to America’s future success, then we are in big trouble, because China will beat us in raw bureaucratic efficiency every time. The source of American exceptionalism is not an expansive and powerful central government. ...the American creed “is set forth most clearly in the Declaration of Independence … a timeless statement of inherent rights, the proper purposes of government, and the limits on political authority.”"

The mayor of Las Vegas nails Obama's problem here. (video)  Wish I'da said this.


terrellaftermath.com



Roberts to Lead Delegation of Six Supreme Court Justices at Obama Address

Chief Justice Roberts

 Bloomberg   "Kathy Arberg, the Supreme Court’s spokeswoman, said six of the nine justices plan to go tonight. Though she wouldn’t provide the names, Justice Samuel Alito is in Hawaii and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas previously all but ruled out attending."

Justice Alito's "YOU LIE" Moment Youtube video via Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

Justice Alito Skips Town ahead of 2011 SOTU "Concerned Women for America President Wendy Wright said she is not surprised by Alito’s scheduled absence. “I think everyone knew [he would be absent] from the moment Obama unfairly criticized the justices,” she said.
"Wright said that Obama acted in an uncivil manner when he attacked the justices in front of Congress in a way, she said, that incited hostility towards them. She also asserted that Obama verbally attacked the justices with “falsehoods.”"....

"Wright said Obama’s actions were grossly inappropriate. His actions were made worse by the fact that the justices are bound by protocols from responding to the address."....

"Since the last address, many justices had been critical of the atmosphere in Congress during the address. Despite his absence last year, Justice Antonin Scalia told the Federalist Society that the address had become a “juvenile spectacle.”  (Emphasis added with great relish.)
"Clarence Thomas told The Associated Press that there are a lot of things that happened behind the scenes. He described catcalls, whooping and hollering, and under-the-breath comments.
"The justices said this was especially true during last year's remarks, when there were plenty of clapping and laughter. Roberts called that night a “political pep rally.”"
Democrats turn funerals into pep rallies, why not the State of the Union?

Obama's Crushing Failure in the Middle East: the Fall of Lebanon to Islam

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Nasrallah

Atlas Shrugs  "The influence of the United States in the Middle East is declining while that of Iran is rising. That’s the meaning of events in Lebanon, where Hizballah has in essence thrown Prime Minister Saad Hariri from office and is about to choose his successor. Under Lebanon’s constitution, the prime minister must be a Sunni. But Najib Mikati, the Hizballah designee, is a Sunni who will owe his office not to support in the Sunni community but to Hizballah’s decision to make him PM. Hizballah now has the votes in parliament to put him in, and of course to throw him out should he cross them."

Civility demonstrated by Congress

Pat Oliphant, Washington Post

The Terrorist Target

http://townhall.com/cartoons/bobgorrell

Budget ax-man Rep. Paul Ryan is Senate Democrats' new villain

The Hill  "Senate Democrats are pouncing on Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) role in delivering the Republican response to the State of the Union address to make the case that Republicans are intent on destroying Social Security and Medicare.

"Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the master political strategist for Senate Democrats, wants to turn Ryan into a bogeyman that voters think about whenever they hear about a Republican proposal to cut federal spending."

Lebanon now a terrorist state

Blackfive  "There was little enough control, well OK basically none over Hezbollah previously, but now the Iranian proxy will almost certainly ramp up all their bad projects.
"They have completely rebuilt and over-re-armed all of their armed enclaves near the Israeli border. The only way the UN observers could have been more helpful to this process was if they had actually unloaded the trucks full of rockets and other weaponry rolling in from Syria instead of just standing by and watching them roll in." 

From DEBKAfile: Iran rounds off grab for Lebanon with figurehead prime minister  "Although the Obama administration pledged its support for Saad Hariri in his struggle against Hizballah, Tehran and Damascus, and Friday, Jan. 21, the USS Strike Force with 6,000 marines and sailors aboard moved into place opposite Lebanese shores, not a single marine has landed in Beirut to save the day.
"Tehran was not impressed by the American show of strength. Two days later, the Islamic Republic dared the US, Israel and Egypt to do their worst by provocatively announcing the dispatch of an Iranian war fleet to the Red Sea, Suez Canal and Mediterranean."

Lebanon on the Brink  "The Hezbollah leader, in his first public comments since toppling the government, mocked America’s empty promises of support. He publicly warned Hariri that the West had promptly turned on its former ally, the recently toppled leader of Tunisia, by denying him sanctuary."  This is a foreign policy based on liberal policies. Pacifists will get innocent people killed.

Targeting the whole of the Lebanese state – where will the U.S. stand in next war against Hezbollah?  "The recent French decision to supply helicopter-borne anti-tank missiles to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) took on a level of importance far greater than it would have even just a year ago as an increasing number of Israeli military thinkers no longer see a meaningful distinction between it and Hezbollah."...."In the 2006 war, Israeli tanks were subjected to dozens of Hezbollah attacks with the latest Russian-made anti-armor missiles. How much more potent will the threat be when the French missiles and launchers are mounted on the LAF's helicopter fleet?"  The Hill  via JINSA

http://www.mideasttruth.com/cartoons.html

Obama's State of the Conflict address

Bosch Fawstin

Haaretz, Israel  "This time around, a State of the Union address that skips over the state of "our" conflict would be seen as an evasion, a way of avoiding dealing with an American and international interest. Says who? Barack Obama. "

Haaretz supports a two-state solution, which seems to me to be a disaster in the making for Israel. (If I were inclined to believe in disasters-in-the-making with regard to Israel's continued existence.)

Hat tip to Watching America

(Updated) The Obama Code/ What to listen for in the president's State of the Union address.

Fred Barnes First, “competitiveness” then:  "The president also wants to “win the future,” as he put it in a 4-minute video he sent last week to followers from his 2008 campaign. Who takes the lead in achieving this? Not the private economy unleashed by tax cuts and deregulation. Free markets and free individuals can’t be trusted with this task. The government must be in charge."

What Obama Will Not Say at the SOTU  "It is, indeed quite a list. Hat tip to Top Conservative Blogs. Here is a small sample:

--That his party's polities overseeing Fannie and Freddie were, in fact, the core problem in the housing crisis. That government-ordered housing for all is a massive failure.

-- That government takeovers of private companies are problematic, to the tune of socialistic.

-- That his policies punish private companies and American workers by using phony scare tactics to stop and prevent us from becoming more energy independent.

What to Look for Tonight Via Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

In case Mr. Obama mentions alternative energy tonight...

Rich Terrell at http://terrellaftermath.com/