The wheedle and the damage done

No American president has ever done more damage to American national security or America’s standing in the world than Barack Obama. We’ve never had a president quite like him before. I think the damage is attributable to his rabid belief in the myths of the left-wing critique of the United States. We will be living with the damage he has done for a long time to come (if we are lucky, I guess).

Let us count (a few) of the ways. We have the great kick-me moment of the 2009 Cairo speech and its false history (an Obama trademark).

We have the Russian “reset.”

We have the withdrawal from Iraq and the rise of the yuk-it-up “jayvee” ISIS.

We have the sucking up to his buddy “Vladimir” via Medvedev, advertising his continued misreading of Putin’s game.

We have Obama’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

We have the unbelievable deal to bless and finance the Iranian nuclear bomb.

We have Obama’s fictitious Syrian “red line” and the destabilization of the Middle East, including Libya.

We have the growth of China’s ambitions, China’s hacking and China’s assertion of power in the South China Sea.

We have Obama’s failed outreach to his former BFF, the Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

We have Obama’s patent hostility to Israel (see Michael Oren’s memoir Ally).

One could compile a separate foreign policy edition of my proposed compilation Quotations From Chairman Barry.

After prosecuting the Blind Sheikh for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Andy McCarthy wrote the book on Willful Blindness. The book is a memoir. His recent NRO column “Fifteen years after 9/11, willful blindness is official policy” raises a cri de cœur opposing the superstitions of the Age of Obama. “Official policy” is almost unbelievable. Someone really oughta do something about it.

In the rosy dawn of the Obama presidency Victor Davis Hanson took note of “Our historically challenged president.” This year he has followed up on Obama’s foreign policy in columns such as The dream of Muslim outreach has become a nightmare” and “Is deference really safer than deterrence?” (answer: no).

Last year Fred Fleitz noted that “The Iran nuclear deal just keeps getting worse.” Someone could put together a good book on that subject all by itself. This week Daniel Doron explains “The deal to finance the Iranian A-bomb” and John Schindler observes We’re losing the war against terrorism.” I haven’t even scratched the surface or gotten much beyond the Middle East, but wanted to draw your attention to these columns.

UPDATE: Aargh! As a result of adult onset ADD, I forgot the September 10 Wall Street Journal column by Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney that expressly set forth the theme of this post: “Dangers rise as America retreats” (accessible via Google here). If I am able to focus I will also note it in a separate post tomorrow.

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