President Obama surrenders to Syria

President Obama surrenders to Syria

communities.washingtontimes.com

Eric Golub

LOS ANGELES, May 21, 2012 — For those who have been spending quiet days enjoying life away from the world of politics, it is occasionally necessary to throw cold water on the tranquility party. Iran is still trying to obtain a nuclear bomb to blow up the world and Syria is still murdering its citizens in the street.
Obama Press Secretary Jay Carney issued remarks a couple of weeks ago that were so astounding that the media felt it necessary to not cover them.
President Obama was not asked to clarify Carney's remarks about Syria, but they must be analyzed. If ever there was an accurate reflection of the Obama mindset, this was it.
For those not up to speed, Obama is a fan of "leading from behind." He believes in "sanctions" against rogue nations. Sanctions is a fancy way of looking busy while doing nothing. It involves building a "coalition" of nations who will undermine the sanctions at the first sign of a competitive commercial advantage.
Syria has been hit with sanctions. This has been the official policy of the United States. Forcible regime change of Bashar Assad has not been a consideration.
Assad knows that the West has weak leaders unwilling to confront evil. This has emboldened him. One could accuse him of overplaying his hand, but this may not even be possible. He knows that even left-wing human rights activists will go silent if it means protecting President Obama from criticism. Their best hope is to see a Republican leader get elected, and then portray that person as not "doing something" immediately.
(The notion that the problem would be "inherited" would be dismissed.)
Assad decided recently to take his troops into a university and celebrate diversity and multiculturalism by firing bullets randomly in a non-discriminatory manner.
The response to this bloodthirsty action should be amplified for all to hear. Carney waved the White flag in a most creative way.
"If the regime's intransigence continues, the international community is going to have to admit defeat and work to address the serious threat to peace and stability being perpetrated by the Assad regime."
The words "admit defeat" should send a chill up the spine of anybody who sees America as the worldwide beacon of freedom. Yet the real words that should be focused on are "international community."
Jay Carney is repeating the tired blame game canard. President Barack Obama is the leader of the free world. It is he who has failed. It is his Syria policy that has failed. Blaming the international community is pathetic. The solution to Syria is not to "express frustration" with the international community. The answer is to stop worshiping at the altar of the international community.
Forget politeness. The international community only accomplishes anything positive when the United States stands up and leads. The United Nations has never nor will ever stand up for anything that is moral or decent in this world. Libya and Syria have been on various counsels from human rights to security.
It is hypocritical for Obama's spokesman to blame a flawed and failed policy on an unaccountable "world" entity that is nameless and faceless. Obama fully supported the policy.
The way to deal with terrorists is to kill them. Bashar Assad exports terror. According to the George W. Bush Doctrine, anybody who finances, harbors, or supports terrorists in any way is a terrorist. That doctrine must be revived immediately.
Obama desperately wanted America (meaning himself) to be "liked." America cannot be liked. We need to be respected, and when necessary, feared. That means unilateral — yes, that ugly word, unilateral — action.
Waiting for France to do something is unacceptable as legitimate American foreign policy.
While the United States Constitution prevents a third George W. Bush term, there is nothing illegal about bringing back his foreign policy.
It is time to stop blaming American failures on the rest of the world. Of course the rest of the world fails. That is why they are what they are, and why the world would disintegrate without American hard power.
The world tried the Obama way in Syria.
Even Obama's spokesman knows it failed.
What they won't admit is what would succeed.
It starts with American exceptionalism and ends with Bashar Assad meeting the same fate as Saddam Hussein.