Message #162256

[Harconen]

“Are You a Socialist?”

 

Aboard Air Force One a reporter asks Obama, “Are you a socialist, as some people have suggested?” Obama responds, “You know, let’s take a look at the budget—the answer would be no.” After returning to the White House Obama apparently has misgivings about his response to the question, and he takes the unusual step of making a defensive, “It wasn’t me who broke the window with my baseball” telephone call to reporters. He deflects the big-government argument by blaming former President Bush for starting the socialist ball rolling, saying, “I did think it might be useful to point out that it wasn’t under me that we started buying a bunch of shares of banks. It wasn’t on my watch. And it wasn’t on my watch that we passed a massive new entitlement—the prescription drug plan—without a source of funding. And so I think it’s important just to note when you start hearing folks throw these words around that we’ve actually been operating in a way that has been entirely consistent with free-market principles and that some of the same folks who are throwing the word ‘socialist’ around can’t say the same.” (As Senator, Obama voted for the original Wall Street bailout in October 2008. Obama was not yet a Senator when the prescription drug bill was passed. It is difficult for Obama to argue, however, that he would have voted against a federal prescription drug plan for seniors when he has consistently been a supporter of a single-payer national health plan.) [1601]

            When asked by reporters on Air Force One if the United States is winning the war in Afghanistan, Obama answers, “No.” He states that he might be willing to reach out to some of the Islamic fundamentalists in the Taliban, somehow separating the hard-core radicals from the rest. It is unclear how he would distinguish one group from the other, how he would persuade the less radical elements to turn against the other insurgents, or how he would prevent the moderates in the Taliban (if there even are any) from abusing women and continuing Shari’ah law. It is also unclear how Obama could negotiate a deal with any elements of the Taliban. Afghanistan is a sovereign nation, and any agreements must be made with its government. (Similarly, the Afghan government must deal with the United States government; it cannot negotiate with one political or revolutionary group within the United States.) Further, Taliban leader Mullar Omar is not one to make deals—especially when he believes the Taliban is winning. It is unclear why Obama would think he could negotiate with the Taliban at a time when he publicly states the United States is not winning the war, because he would be negotiating from a position of weakness. [1592, 1627]

            Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Brussels, Belgium to meet with the European Union’s Parliament, where she remarks she has “…never understood multiparty democracy. It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy.” It is not known where Clinton got the mistaken idea that American democracy pre-dates European democracy (and the United States of America is technically a republic, not a democracy), but she does make it clear that she feels it would be easier to govern or “rule” without the “annoyance” of other political parties. (Republicans and Independents, in her opinion, are apparently entitled to democracy only if they support Democrat policies.) Clinton further insults her hosts by referring to foreign policy chief Javier Solana as Javier “Solano,” and external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner as “Benito.” [1577]

            Clinton proposes a high-level conference on Afghanistan to which both Pakistan and Iran would be invited. Obama’s approach is described as emphasizing a “non-military means of blunting the power of the Taliban.” It is unclear what “non-military means” might dissuade the Taliban from curtailing its violent methods. [1586]

            Clinton visits Russia to meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and presents him with a gift, a small box with a red “reset” button intended to represent a “resetting” of Russian-American relations under the new Obama administration. The gift is strangely evocative of the 1950s and 1960s fears of the Soviet Union pressing a red “nuclear button” to annihilate the United States in thermonuclear missile strikes. The button (which resembles the “easy button” from the Staples television commercials) is mislabeled with the Russian word for “overcharge” rather than the word for reset. (Apparently, the State Department needs better English-Russian language translators among its 18,000 employees. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks fluent Russian and would not have made the translation mistake; nor would the Bush administration have presented the Russians with a tacky button—something no doubt dreamed up by one of the inexperienced and naïve members of the Obama foreign relations team.) [1577]