Dumb Diplomacy

Who is the President of France? If you said Nicolas Sarkozy, you may know more than our President appears to. According to Gateway Pundit (via Glenn Reynolds), Obama wrote a lovely letter telling Jacques Chirac how much he was looking forward to the two working together over the next four years. The problem, of course, is that Chirac hasn't been the French President for almost two years.

Frankly, I was skeptical when I saw this story. It sounds a bit too much like something from The Onion. So I did some digging, and the story is true — Obama did write such a letter to Chiraz — but thankfully he does know that Chirac is no longer in charge. According to the Christian Science Monitor, Obama's letter was in response to one in which Chirac was speaking for his foundation and not the French government.

No big deal, right?

Not so fast. The French daily Le Figaro published this bit which last week reported, as translated by Google:

The U.S. President has just sent a letter "very sympathetic" to Jacques Chirac, in the words of the latter. "I am confident that we can over the next four years working together in a spirit of peace and friendship to build a safer world," writes the successor to George W. Bush's predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy [sic]. In mentioning the word "peace," Obama makes implicit tribute to the action of the former French president who opposed the war in Iraq. A U.S. intervention against which the future U.S. president had opposed as a senator, in a vote in Congress.

For those inclined to say this is much ado about nothing, consider the indignant reactions from Obama's disciples if Sarkozy were to tell Bush how much he looked forward to working with Bush to address their common global concerns. One might think that was bad diplomacy.

It would have been far more appropriate for Obama to reply to Chirac by wishing him well in his foundation's endeavors, stating the United States' continued friendship with France, and leaving it at that. But that kind of sensible and diplomatic response shouldn't be expected from the amateurs who currently inhabit the White House.

Stupid Is as Stupid Does

This is what happens when you let President Obama speak without a teleprompter.

Leno asked the president whether the White House bowling alley had been "burned and closed down" in light of Obama's gutter ball embarrassment on the campaign trail last year.

Obama replied, "No, no. I have been practicing . . . I bowled a 129."

The audience roared with laughter, and the late-night talk show host assured Obama "that's very good, Mr. President." To which Obama interjected, "It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something."

The audience laughed. But the White House didn't let the comment linger without clarification.

"The president made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters flying aboard Air Force One after the taping of the show, according to a transcript released by the White House. "He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world."

Gee, I can't imagine why anyone would think Obama was disparaging Special Olympics.

Maybe the Prez has been getting off-the-cuff speaking tips from Vice President Joe "Gaffe Attack" Biden.

Fabricating Make-Believe Moderate Extremists

I'm a couple days behind on this one, but really, does this kind of idiocy ever get old?

President Barack Obama says he hopes U.S. troops can identify moderate elements of the Taliban and move them toward reconciliation.

[ . . . ]

There may be opportunities to reach out to moderates in the Taliban, but the situation in Afghanistan is more complicated than the challenges the American military faced in Iraq, Obama said.

U.S. troops were able to persuade Sunni Muslim insurgents in Iraq to cooperate in some instances because they had been alienated by the tactics of al-Qaida terrorists.

What is needed here is a remedial lesson. Let's call it, "Taliban for Dummies."

The Taliban are, by definition, extremists, unlike Sunni Muslims, some (not all) of whom joined an insurgency not of their own making and then realized they had aligned themselves with something they didn't want to be a part of. So the analogy between Taliban and Sunni insurgents is flawed. A better analogy would be between the Taliban and the Nazis. Can you imagine Franklin Roosevelt talking about teaming up with "moderate Nazis?" Of course not, because there was no such thing.

It's almost as if Obama has fabricated a fantasy situation that he can handle, because he hasn't the faintest idea how to handle the situation that actually exists.

This guy needs help, and fast.