Even the most forgiving judge of Barack Obama, one willing to overlook his preference for chipping onto the sunlit greens of Martha\’s Vineyard rather than brooding in the fluorescent glare of the Situation Room, must admit that the President has sometimes been a thick-tongued steward of his own foreign policy. How did the author of “A More Perfect Union” become the author of “The world has always been messy”? Obama, who prides himself on late-night preparation, unshakable rationality, and a writerly ear, is compiling an anthology of botched pronouncements that have, at best, muddied his intentions. August, 2012: “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized.” September, 2013: “I didn\’t set a red line. The world set a red line.” August, 2014: “I don\’t want to put the cart before the horse. We don\’t have a strategy yet.”
I\’m sure you don\’t need me to tell you that the above paragraph is a decidedly unfriendly description of President Obama.
I hope you don\’t need me to tell you that it is a highly accurate one.
The author of those words? they are from the latest column written by David Remnick, Editor of The New Yorker: a man who, until recently, would have been happy to pick out furniture with Barack Obama.
If he has had enough, why would it be any surprise that many, many others feel the same?
And if many, many others do feel the same, there is a bright side for Mr. Obama. Instead of candidates begging him to campaign with them this fall, he\’ll have tons of extra time to improve his golf game.
