Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hope and change in Damascus
They said that if I voted for John McCain we would have tedious and even clownish diplomacy in the Middle East, and they were right!
Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, will visit Syria next week for talks with President Bashar al-Assad, the latest move by the Obama administration to improve relations with this Middle East nation....
"Senator Kerry, like the rest of U.S. delegates arriving in Damascus, is so welcome," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Bushra Kanafani told CBS News on Thursday.
While never formally suspending diplomatic relations, George W. Bush imposed unilateral sanctions on Syria for its support of Hamas and Hezbollah, which sanctions he extended only last year. The Obama administration has already authorized exceptions to those sanctions, allowing the sale of Boeing aircraft parts. I probably would have done the same, but not much more.
Kerry and Christopher Dodd (D - Countrywide) have made something of a project of Syria, having visited there in 2006 over the objections of George W. Bush. At the time, supporters of the administration regarded the visit as a deliberate attempt to undermine United States foreign policy. Now Kerry is heading back, presumably with the fingers-crossed blessing of the Obama administration. Barack Obama should remember, though, that John Kerry has always been willing to undermine United States foreign policy if he believes he is doing the right thing (that generally being the aggrandizement of John Kerry). He did it as a "winter soldier" and he did it in 2006. There are no doubt other examples. President Obama denied Kerry his real ambition, to serve as Secretary of State, so the president should prepare for the possibility that Kerry's overweening self-importance will cause him to say things "on behalf" of the United States that go beyond the guidance of the administration. There is, I speculate, an enormous opportunity for misunderstanding in this visit. Since President Obama really does not need a diplomatic kerfuffle right now, he is undoubtedly awaiting Kerry's "safe" return from the Middle East with bated breath.
CWCID: FP Passport.
10 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Feb 15, 10:24:00 AM:
This is the new "HUGS FOR THUGS" foreign policy strategy set forth by THE Un, and which American voters gleefully demanded.
But don't worry. I heard that terrorists just LOVE hugs. (Especially just before they attack you, and, it makes beheading so much easier)
By , at
Sun Feb 15, 10:36:00 AM:
Check out what Doug Ross has posted.
If true, not good news, methinks.
By 
Viking Kaj, at
Sun Feb 15, 10:59:00 AM:
By , at
Sun Feb 15, 11:33:00 AM:
"Since President Obama really does not need a diplomatic kerfuffle right now, he is undoubtedly awaiting Kerry's "safe" return from the Middle East with bated breath."
Question: Obama was in the Senate long enough to know that Kerry is a preening, droning idiot. Therefore, all His Majesty had to do was place a friendly call to the right place and gently suggest that "Senator Kerry's visit would not be helpful to my agenda at this time." Instead, Obama is "crossing his fingers" and "bating his breath."
As the old saying goes, "The definition of insanity is engaging in the same stupidity over and over again...in the hope you'll get a different result."
Seems to me both Obama and Kerry are insane using the above definition.
By , at
Sun Feb 15, 12:19:00 PM:
In response to MarkJ - maybe the fact that Obama knows about Kerry is the key here. Maybe O is running a canny misdirection/feint.
By , at
Sun Feb 15, 12:31:00 PM:
The ever clueless/unbalanced MSM has never made an issue of David Duke's also having visited Damascus to protest Bush's foreign policy.
Kerry, Pelosi, Dodd, and Duke: all visiting Damascus to protest Bush's foreign policy. Birds of a feather?
By , at
Sun Feb 15, 01:46:00 PM:
With respect to the Syrian interference(s) in Lebanon, I wonder what the Lebanese (that aren't allied to Hezbollah) think of all this?
Interesting factoid about David Duke. That doesn't fit the narrative, so it goes down the memory hole.
Change we can believe in!
-David
By , at
Sun Feb 15, 02:17:00 PM:
@ Jim-PRS: Thanks for the link.
By , at
Sun Feb 15, 03:12:00 PM:
C'mon you cynics. Joltin' Joe Biden said it best: "in response to some foreign crisis or other, it may appear to some that WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT WE ARE DOING......."
I am with Joe on this.
By , at
Mon Feb 16, 10:05:00 AM:
Obama, himself, probably sent Kerry and Dodd to Damascus and gave them fuzzy instructions. Obama has to cause friction between Kerry and Secretary of State Clinton. Clinton, as inexperienced and inept as Obama, will be forced to resign over the next six months. It is part of Emanuel The Devious' plan to get rid of all opposition to Obama. Once out of office and out of the Senate, Hillie is just Willie's wife.
