7 Stories Barack Obama Does Not Want Told

Here's a story from Politico today. What are the 7 stories Barack Obama does not want told? Here's the summary:
1. He thinks he's playing with Monopoly money.
2. Too much Leonard Nimoy (i.e., he doesn't feel anyone's pain)
3. That's the Chicago way (i.e., his staff is a bunch of Chicago thugs)
4. He's a pushover.
5. He sees America as another pleasant country on the U.N. roll call, somewhere between Albania and Zimbabwe (i.e., he denies American Exceptionalism)
6. President Pelosi (she's the real power in Washington)
7. He's in love with the man in the mirror.

Obama and Diplomatic Weakness

Well, it's been a while since I last posted. So much going on...writing, parenting, grading, teaching. I'll recommend the following article, since it summarizes so well what our president is finding out: the world is not a nice place, and wanting people to like you gets you nowhere in an evil world full of dictators and bullies. Read it here. Here's how the article begins:

When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it's not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming.

"Faith and Inauguration"

Os Guinness published a column in USA Today about civility in our culture. Os Guinness has a long track record of trying sincerely to improve the role of the Christian community in the public square. He was disciples by Francis A. Schaeffer. Here's a sample from the column:

Obama himself demonstrates civility in action: the ability to respect and listen to people of profound differences, and to work with them on issues of importance for the common good. Uniquely, perhaps, he would be capable of delivering the Gettysburg Address of the American culture wars. Tuesday's inaugural address is not the occasion, but what our nation requires is a statesman's address by the "President of all Americans" to Americans of all faiths and no faith. In short, what is needed is a challenge to the entire nation — activists, pundits and bloggers included — to live up to the promise of the American experiment in light of the culture wars at home and the sectarian strife around the world. What we need is a rebirth of a tough-minded civility that is a genuine habit of the heart, and valued as a necessity in a democracy as well as a virtue in a republic.

"Judge Obama on Performance Alone"

Yesterday, liberal AfAm journalist Juan Williams in the Wall Street Journal published a great column on how to judge BH Obama. Here are a few key graphs:

If his presidency is to represent the full power of the idea that black Americans are just like everyone else -- fully human and fully capable of intellect, courage and patriotism -- then Barack Obama has to be subject to the same rough and tumble of political criticism experienced by his predecessors. To treat the first black president as if he is a fragile flower is certain to hobble him. It is also to waste a tremendous opportunity for improving race relations by doing away with stereotypes and seeing the potential in all Americans.

Yet there is fear, especially among black people, that criticism of him or any of his failures might be twisted into evidence that people of color cannot effectively lead. That amounts to wasting time and energy reacting to hateful stereotypes. It also leads to treating all criticism of Mr. Obama, whether legitimate, wrong-headed or even mean-spirited, as racist.

This is patronizing. Worse, it carries an implicit presumption of inferiority. Every American president must be held to the highest standard. No president of any color should be given a free pass for screw-ups, lies or failure to keep a promise.

In my opinion, this is a wonderful corrective to the fawning, slobbering (to use Bernie Goldberg's term) love-fest for BH Obama from the media so far. Thank you, Mr. Williams. I resent the implication among some that ANY disagreement with or criticism of BHO is racist. Maybe if enough AfAms speak up, we can move race relations ahead in this country.