Obama's Peepal Tree: A Fitting Image of this Presidency

Tree Obama Planted Isn’t Dead, Just Looks Dead

Excerpt:

Officials in India want to make one thing clear: The tree that President Barack Obama planted in New Delhi three weeks ago is not dead. It just looks dead. The peepal tree was awash in leaves when Obama planted it at the New Delhi memorial to Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi. By Thursday, though, it was just a single lonely stem. Its lack of leaves has been giving Indian officials sleepless nights, with the media here blasting them for allowing the tree to die less than a month after the presidential visit.

Comment: The Peepal tree.

Doofus at the Helm

Obama refuses to acknowledge ‘Muslim terrorists’ at summit

Excerpt:

They’re burning and beheading victims in the name of Islam, but President Obama delivered a major speech Wednesday on combating violent extremism — while refusing to use the words “Muslim terrorists.” “No religion is responsible for terrorism — people are responsible for violence and terrorism,” Obama told a crowd that included Muslim community leaders at the White House. Following months of unrelenting atrocities by ISIS killers who released videos of themselves beheading US journalists and, most recently, 21 Coptic Christians, and burning a man alive, the president kowtowed to the audience by proclaiming that “Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding.” “Generations of Muslim immigrants came here and went to work as farmers and merchants and factory workers, helped to lay railroads and build up America,” he said. “The first Islamic center in New York City was founded in the 1890s. America’s first mosque — this was an interesting fact — was in North Dakota.” And just days after Pope Francis condemned ISIS’s barbaric murders of 21 Egyptians “simply for the fact that they were Christians,” Obama insisted al Qaeda and their ilk “are not religious leaders. They’re terrorists.” “And we are not at war with ­Islam,” the president said. “We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”

The Ideological Islamist Threat - The radicals are waging a war of ideas the West refuses to fight.

Excerpt:

President Obama opened this week’s White House Conference on Violent Extremism with a speech about community-based counter-radicalization efforts, and his Administration is being roundly mocked for its refusal to use terms like “Muslim terrorism” or “Islamism.” The mockery is deserved. Foreign policy is not a Harry Potter tale of good versus He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. And war cannot be won against an enemy we refuse to describe except in meaningless generalities. But there is a deeper problem with the Administration’s semantic dodges. Al Qaeda, Islamic State, Boko Haram and other jihadist groups are waging more than a military conflict. They are also waging an increasingly successful ideological war for the soul of Islam and its 1.6 billion followers.

U.S. Rep., Terror Expert Shocked At State Dept. Claim That Jobs Program Can Stop ISIS

Excerpt:

After recent displays of almost unspeakable violence by Islamic State militants, a suggestion from the U.S. State Department about how to stop terrorists is raising eyebrows. As CBS2’s Marcia Kramer reported Tuesday, the statement was jaw-dropping to some. The State Department said the long-term solution to stopping ISIS in its tracks is to create jobs for members of the bloodthirsty terror group. The State Department said jobs can help stop jihad. But at least one congressman called the idea absurd. “This is absolute insanity. We are at war with ISIS. You don’t win a war by a jobs program or by giving out more welfare,” said Rep. Peter King (R-Long Island) “This shows to me the basic misunderstanding, and really, ignorance, of the Obama administration.” King was reacting to an assertion by State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf — speaking with Chris Matthews on MSNBC. “We cannot win this war by killing them. We cannot kill our way out of this war,” Harf said. “We need, in the longer term — medium and longer term — to go after the root causes that lead people to join these groups — whether it’s lack of opportunity for jobs.” As Kramer reported, Harf made the remarks in spite of the videos of gruesome beheadings on a regular basis, and daily reports of other atrocities. “We can work with other countries around the world to help improve their governance,” Harf said. “We can help them build their economies so they can have job opportunities for these people.” King characterized Harf’s attitude as naïve. “The only way we’re going to defeat ISIS to kill them — kill them over before they get here to kill us — and stop this nonsense about somehow this is because they’re deprived or they had a sad childhood,” King said. “You don’t cut people’s heads off on the shores of Tripoli because you didn’t have a job. These people are animals, they’re savages, and they’re murderers — and the sooner the Obama administration realizes it, the better.”

Comment: He really has lost it! God help us!

Obama and Me

Barack Obama has already checked out of his job: The degree to which Barack Obama is now phoning it in – sleepwalking perfunctorily through his second term, amid golf rounds and dinner parties – is astonishing

Excerpt:

The fact that the press would find relevance in speculating on Obama’s post-White House residence – and identify California as the kind of scene the future ex-president would want to hang out in when he leaves office – is perhaps telling. And, indeed, this comes on the heels of multiple reports from outlets such as The New York Times and Politico, detailing how Obama has increasingly been spending his time at trendy restaurants and fancy, late-night dinner parties with celebrities and various intellectuals. Rubbing elbows with the rich and elite is fine enough. Unfortunately, the work suffers. The degree to which he is now phoning it in – sleepwalking perfunctorily through his second term – is astonishing. And based on his recent handling of situations much more serious than a possible post-presidential move to sunny California, it seems as if “No Drama Obama” is no longer even worried about keeping up appearances; he doesn’t care enough to fake it. Consider this: In recent days, a) Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down, apparently by Russian separatists in Ukraine, b) In the Gaza strip, the numbers killed continued to mount as Israelis and Palestinians exchange rocket fire, c) a huge influx of children fleeing Central American poverty and gang warfare swamped America’s southern border, creating a humanitarian crisis. And, oh yeah, d) Christians living in Mosul were given the choice to either convert to Islam or flee the area they have inhabited for nearly two thousand years. You know what else has happened during this time? a) Obama played many rounds of golf, b) he attended numerous fund-raisers, c) he dined on barbecue in Texas and burgers in Delaware, and d) he almost appeared on the comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night television show in Hollywood.

Comment: He's checked out ("phoning it in") looking ahead to inauguration day 2017. I'm looking ahead to April 2016

Obama: We've heard it all before!

President Obama’s fill-in-the-blank sales pitch
Excerpt:

President Barack Obama’s speeches have a familiar ring these days — no matter if it’s guns, immigration or the budget.

Tout what he’s already done. Say the public’s in his corner. Demand Congress do something. Lament Washington dysfunction. Lay out his own plan. Avoid details. Urge voters to keep up the pressure. Warn it won’t be easy. Bask in the applause.

 It’s the fill-in-the-blank approach to selling a presidential agenda: same template, just adjusted for the topic.

Comment: Why I can't listen to him!