Obama Unbound; The paradoxes of presidential politics give him complete freedom abroad.

Victor Davis Hanson    "In terms of the Obama presidency, there is now no anti-war movement. It simply vanished in January 2009. Former outrages like Guantanamo, renditions, and Predator-drone assassinations almost magically became A-okay. The left-wing base dared not continue its old Bush slurs, given its support for Obama’s liberal domestic agenda. Quiet conservatives were perplexed over whether to be outraged that Predator-in-Chief Obama proved to be such an abject hypocrite, or relieved that, better late than never, he had morphed into a Bush-Cheney national-security disciple.
"The result is that for the next year or so, Obama can more or less do whatever he wishes abroad. If he chooses to bomb a country that poses no direct threat to the U.S. without congressional authority, like Libya, or to assassinate a U.S. citizen-terrorist, like Anwar al-Awlaki, the Left will keep mum. And the Right, for different reasons, probably will, too.
"What, then, should we expect abroad in the waning months of Obama’s four-year term, with continuing economic bad news at home?"

http://conservativedailynews.com/2011/11/happy-veterans-day-11-11-11/

Obama's Hawaii press conference with his slobbering sycophants

CNN's shame: CNN WH Correspondent Asks Obama if GOP Candidates Are 'Uninformed, Out of Touch, or Irresponsible'
"Remember during 2008's Democratic primaries when Saturday Night Live did a hilarious sketch mocking a CNN debate as being a disgraceful suck-up to then presidential candidate Barack Obama?
"A repeat of this happened in real life Sunday evening when during a press conference from the APEC summit in Hawaii, CNN White House correspondent Dan Lothian actually asked the President if the GOP candidates were "uninformed, out of touch, or irresponsible" "
Go here for this classic video

"After thinking a second – probably wondering how fortunate he is to have such an unapologetic shill in the audience – Obama responded, “That’s a multiple choice question, isn’t it?”

"And this is the type of hard-nosed journalist the supposedly most trusted name in news has as a White House correspondent."

White House Dossier:  Obama Thrown Softballs in Hawaii Presser  "I like and respect most of my colleagues in the White House press corps. But they can do a lot better than this. The press conference was a case study in why so many people think the press is irretrievably in love with Obama.
"Let’s start with CNN’s Dan Lothian. He wanted to know from Obama, essentially, whether Republican were just idiots, or if they were in fact big idiots."....
"Next batter up was Norah O’Donnell of CBS, who offered Obama an opportunity to swat away Mitt Romney’s accusation that Obama is soft on Iran."....
"Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg wanted to know if Republican “rhetoric or posturing” was interfering with Obama’s Asia policy."....
"Laura Meckler of the Wall Street Journal wasted a rare opportunity to question the president with an inquiry about Hawaiian shirts."....
"Most members of the Washington press corps wonder why they are criticized for going easy on Obama or even favoring him.
"This is why."

Why is there no shame coming from true journalists, assuming they are still out there?

How President Obama Killed Thousands of Jobs

Heritage  "If Americans needed any further proof that the Obama Administration is one of the most political on record, or that, for all the recent demagoguing, it really cares only about re-election, not about job creation, then you need look no further than its cynical Keystone XL oil pipeline decision last week.
"Over the last several months, radical environmentalists along with Hollywood celebrity activists descended on the White House in protest, urging President Barack Obama to block the construction of the $7 billion pipeline that would bring in more than 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf coast. Last week, they got their wish."

Pro and con on the Cain issue

Mona Charen: Booing the Character Issue  "The ghost of Bill Clinton haunts the Cain campaign in other respects as well. After Ms. Bialek’s press conference, the Cain campaign released a slashing attack on Bialek, itemizing personal bankruptcies, custody battles, and other problems. It wasn’t quite James Carville on Paula Jones (“If you drag a dollar bill through a trailer park . . . ) but it wasn’t uplifting either.
"Ms. Bartiromo asked a perfectly appropriate question. Character still matters."

Michelle Malkin:  David Gregory: No ‘Grand Wizard’ in the GOP Right Now Who Can Force Herman Cain Out; Update: Gregory Apologizes  (video)  "Update: David Gregory apologized for the “very poor choice of words” this morning via Twitter."

Victor Davis Hanson: From Herman Cain to Blue Wall Street—the News Behind the News
"Is Cain a serial womanizer like the Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy or Newt Gingrich of yesterday? But if so, do we have any proof that he, Berlusconi-style, consummated a number of relationships? Have any women yet come forward claiming to be girlfriends or mistresses? And if some do, does that disqualify Cain in the manner that it did not disqualify FDR, JFK, LBJ, or Bill Clinton? Or have things changed in this age?"

Newsbusters: CNN's Blitzer Lets Debbie Wasserman Schultz Insist on Cain Disclosure, Forgets She Wanted Weiner Left Alone    "Then Wolf Blitzer allowed her to unload a wagon of talking points against the entire GOP field for 66 seconds. When he then asked if she believed Cain or his accusers, she insisted “I think Herman Cain needs to come clean and address them and say far more than he’s said already.”
"Mediaite and CNN have short memories, since Wasserman Schultz embarrassed herself back in June by insisting Anthony Weiner didn't have to share anything with the public...other than the bulge pictures he'd already posted on Twitter. Blitzer should have remembered -- since she refused to offer a Weiner opinion on CNN, as Blitzer repeatedly asked for one:" More...

Obama versus reality

Neal Boortz  "And on top of this record spending and increased regulation he wants to add … tax increases?
"Go ahead folks. Support this incompetent leftist in his bid for reelection. Incompetent? Have you ever taken a look at his record as a community organizer in Chicago? Maybe you’re sharper than I am, but you’re certainly not any sharper than Cristina – an we haven’t found a record of one single community organizing initiative championed or led by Barack Obama in Chicago that showed any lasting positive results. He was as much of a failure there as he is as our president.
"Support Obama – then vote for him – and tell your children how you played such a huge role in destroying any chance they may have had for a lifestyle any better than the one they’re experiencing now."

Team Obama’s Foreign Policy ; Tactical successes, strategic failures, and raw politics
"But Republican presidential candidates would be making a devastating mistake if they did not also challenge the Obama administration for its many strategic errors in the War on Terror, even if they should give him credit for some tactical successes as well. The president’s desire to boost his chances of reelection is affecting his national-security decisions — and this trend will only worsen as his political prospects dim."

Bully Pulpit

Court Backs High School in Flap Over American Flag T-Shirts

 sfgate  "When three students showed up on May 5, 2010, with U.S. flag images on their shirts, the judge said, an assistant principal asked them to remove the shirts or turn them inside out, and ordered them to his office when they refused. After a 90-minute session with the students, two others wearing similar shirts and one parent, the principal sent two of the youths home for the day.
"Their lawsuit accused school officials of violating the standard that the Supreme Court set in 1969 when it upheld students' right to wear black armbands to class, in a silent protest against the Vietnam War, and said schools can suppress student expression only when it threatens to disrupt the educational process."
Via CrusaderRabbit

The Volokh Conspiracy:  opposing view  "Yet while the judge might have been right in his decision, the situation in the school seems very bad. When we’re at the point that students can’t safely display the American flag in an American school, because of a fear that other students will attack them for it — on May 5 or on any other day — and the school feels unable to prevent such attacks (by punishing the threateners and the attackers, and by teaching students tolerance for other students’ speech), something is badly wrong. Here’s an excerpt from the court opinion describing the facts that led the court to uphold the restriction:"...

Sadhillnews.com

Rubin Reports By Barry Rubin

PJ Media  "So [Sarkozy] went to Netanyahu with a proposal: Israel would accept unilateral independence for Palestine and Sarkozy would get Israel something from the Palestinians (perhaps recognition of a Jewish state?).
"Netanyahu played along a bit but, of course, knew that Sarkozy wouldn’t get anything from the Palestinian Authority. Sarkozy’s idea — like that of virtually all the well-intentioned or bad-intentioned, naive or cynical, friendly or hostile to Israel busybodies who think they are going to make peace — just didn’t make real sense. At any rate, Sarkozy thought he had something from Israel that he didn’t. His UN speech implying he wanted to support unilateral independence was certainly bad from Israel’s standpoint."

Charles Krauthammer: The 2011 elections: A split decision

Charles Krauthammer  "The 2011 off-year elections are a warning to Republicans. The 2010 party is over. 2012 will be a struggle.
"To be sure, Tuesday was not exactly the Democrats’ night. They did enjoy one big victory, repeal of government-worker reform in Ohio. But elsewhere, they barely held their own. The bigger news was the absence of any major Republican trend. The great Republican resurgence of 2009-10 has slowed to a crawl."

#Occupy the whole country

Rick Moran:  Another day, another death at an Occupy encampment  "The experiment in a "new way of living" by OWS protestors is gigantic failure. Ignorant of basic hygiene, unable to govern even a couple of hundred people, the OWS movement is revealing itself to be a toddler's idea of how to organize a society. (No baths! No washing! No brushing of teeth! And we get to sleep outside in tents! What could go wrong?)

"As in Oakland - and everywhere else - the OWS protestors have worn out their welcome."

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/Occupy-Oakland-Jail.htm

Smithsonian 'Sent Representatives' to Collect ‘Occupy' Memorabilia to 'Document Spirit of American Democracy'   From the comments to this post:

What do you suppose they collected? Lets see, drug needles, used condoms, feces and urine bags, hate America litreture, dirty diapers, just to mention a few. Thats one exhibit I will not visit. Cut Our tax dollars to the Smithsonian, let them get donations. (Reprinted as written)

Occupy Denver Protester Tries to Explain.. Something   "Andrew Staroska from TruthAboutBills.com had an interesting conversation with an Occupy Denver protester on Saturday. Flag burning, police brutality and freedom of speech were .. um .. - just watch.."

Seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and you’ll end up in the middle of the Occupy Denver Crowd as well   ..."Update 3: adding video to the stream and I should make this point: I did not see any violence by the Denver Police, Chuck claimed it and a local blogger said there were incidents in the past that were iffy. I can not confirm any reports of violence, I’m only reporting what I saw, and informing you of what people have said. My own experience with the officers at blogcon have been entirely positive."

Iran and the US

From Big Peace: Failing to Deal, Dealing to Fail: US Response to Iran Aggression Fumbling, Tepid  "The inflation of the Administration’s rhetoric at the expense of action has not deterred Iran in the slightest in the past. The U.S. lack of leadership seems to have been welcomed by our ostensible allies, who appear quite happy to be only secondary targets of the Islamic Republic. The failure to respond appropriately to the Quds Force assassination plot bears serious consequences. When a DEA agent foils a plot on American soil and the link to the Quds Force is clear, policymakers can no longer backtrack and wax dubious about the extent of Iranian terrorism on at least three continents. They can no longer ignore it."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2011/11/09/93479

No more guessing about administration stance on military strike against Iran    "What is it about these guys that they feel it necessary to tell the enemy what we will or won't do? They informed the Afghanistan Taliban we were going to leave and even gave them a date certain. Now here's the Secretary of Defense telling Iran they can relax, no worries, all we're going to do is try and slap more sanctions on your country.
"I'm sure the Iranians are quaking in their slippers over our threats to take them to the UN again."

UK Telegraph: Israel refuses to tell US its Iran intentions  "Israel has refused to reassure President Barack Obama that it would warn him in advance of any pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear capabilities, raising fears that it may be planning a go-it-alone attack as early as next summer."
...."The US leader was rebuffed last month when he demanded private guarantees that no strike would go ahead without White House notification, suggesting Israel no longer plans to "seek Washington's permission", sources said." Via Infidel Blogger's Alliance
The amateur in the White House has ruined another relationship with an old ally.
 
Bushehr nuclear power plant "...Russian specialists believed that it would be more practical to build two reactors from scratch rather than continue working on the reactor that had been abandoned by Siemens under pressure from the United States. The studies had been achieved by the time of Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev's visit to Tehran in December 2002."

Click here for photo source and info

Hundreds of Russians guarding Bushehr reactor  "Iranian officials confirmed the deployment of Russian military personnel and equipment and said Russia has also trained Iranian personnel to operate anti-aircraft batteries and identify and intercept unmanned aerial vehicles sent by the United States to monitor Iranian nuclear sites. The Russian personnel conduct both point and perimeter defense. Officials said the Russian guards man posts as far as 20 kilometers from Bushehr and conduct patrols as well operate anti-aircraft batteries."

Occupy Wall Street Gets More Violent

Heritage  "The true colors of the Occupy Wall Street movement are starting to shine through, both in actions and affiliations. The picture that is developing is one of increasing violence married with extremist affiliations that is anything but representative of the 99 percent of Americans the movement claims to stand for."

On the road again...

Tunnel Dweller indisposed for a couple of weeks and blogging will be a bit desultory. We will do our best, however and will be fully as committed to the cause as always. TD
Here is one parting shot, courtesy of  Rich Terrell: