Liz Cheney On Obama's Dismal Foreign Policy and Our New Perceived Weakness In the World

BEEN OUT-OF-TOWN TODAY. Just now getting back to comment on the terrible events of the past 48 hours in Libya and Egypt. All day, I had the strongest deja vu sense of the Jimmy Carter presidency and the Middle East Iranian embassy hostage crisis during the last year (1981) of his term.

Carter's one-term presidency was marked by making nice with our enemies and sending our allies down the river. The Middle East was in turmoil and America quickly lost face in the midst of the growing crisis. Gas prices were sky-high and the economy was in shambles---to put it nicely. Is it any wonder I thought of former president Carter all day as I'm sure many others did as well? President Obama seems to me to be a recycled Jimmy Carter and for the life of me, I can't understand how he could possibly be re-elected to a second term. What is our electorate thinking to even consider it?

There are two articles I saw tonight that eloquently nail what I've thought for a long time. I'll link to both and use a few salient quotes.  First Liz Cheney writing in the WSJ says it best when she sums up Mr. Obama's first term accomplishments:

APOLOGIZING FOR AMERICA, appeasing our enemies, abandoning our allies and slashing our military are the hallmarks of Mr. Obama's foreign policy. The Obama economy, with its high unemployment, massive debt and out-of-control spending, has rightly demanded our attention. As we head to the polls in November, we cannot ignore what is an even more dismal national-security record. An America already weakened by four years of an Obama presidency will be unrecognizable after eight.

I have to agree with Cheney that four more years of President Obama could be devastating to our country from a national security standpoint alone, even before we bring up the flailing economy and massive unemployment.  She adds that our president's appearance today in the Rose Garden was just more of same old-same old:

In response to the attack in Cairo, diplomats there condemned not the attackers but those who "hurt the religious feelings of Muslims." The president appeared in the Rose Garden less than 24 hours later to condemn the Libya assault and failed even to mention the attack in Egypt. The message sent to radicals throughout the region: If you assault an American embassy but don't kill anyone, the U.S. president won't complain.

Though the administration's performance in the crisis was appalling, it wasn't surprising—it is the logical outcome of three-and-a-half years of Obama foreign policy.

Again here's the link to her whole piece, well written and worth reading.

Here's the second piece I'm going to link to and then comment more on tomorrow. Getting too sleepy to write more now. Entitled Egypt and Libya Say Thank You Barack Obama, Staurt Schneiderman summed it up better than anyone else. Are you ready?:

Thrilled to receive the Obama adminstration’s wholehearted support for their revolution Egyptian Islamists scaled the walls of the American Embassy in Cairo yesterday, shredding the American flag and replacing it with an Islamist banner.

Overwhelmed by the generosity of an American administration that was first in the world to recognize its legitimacy the government of Muhammad Morsi stood by and allowed it to happen.

The Washington Post reported that the attacks were retaliation for a movie circulating on Youtube and Egyptian television:

Protests in Libya and Egypt appear to have been sparked by clips of a film produced by Sam Bacile, a California real estate developer who calls himself an Israeli Jew. The film calls the prophet Muhammad a fraud and depicts him having sex; pieces of the film were put on YouTube and showed on a Cairo television station.

Under siege by Islamists the American Embassy in Cairo quickly apologized for the movie. Its weakness was almost inviting an assault.

Since retracted, the original statement read:

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.

The White House later declared that the statement had not been cleared, but still it has a Hillaryesque quality that sounds like it was put together in the Lady’s Room.

Now that Hillary Clinton has turned the upper echelons of the State Department into a pink ghetto, no one should be surprised to see that the Cairo Embassy is trafficking in girltalk.

Even though everyone has condemned the statement, few people have pointed out that it’s the language of teenaged girls.

Stuart sure can think, then write extremely well. Bottom line, we can't negotiate with terrorists, now or ever. Our show of weakness emboldens our enemies who will push our largess as long and as far as they can. Only a show of strength can get the job done in a deteriorating Middle East, not to mention America, and Europe.

Thank you sir, for writing such a great piece with which I agree wholeheatedly.