Roman Around

it's okay, bubula

This metrosexualized edition of the Chief Executive is tiresome.

The President has already admitted that he’s been a bit overwhelmed since taking office – precisely the thing every American wants to hear from the Chief Executive of the world’s most powerful and influential nation. What with the recession, all of that budget stuff and the war crap to contend with, it’s little wonder the poor guy is feeling a bit inundated. It’s one thing to insult the Prime Minister of your closest ally (and thus, the nation) by throwing a bunch of DVDs his way while being presented with three memorable and breathtaking gifts, but to admit openly to an angry British press corp – and the world at large – that the job has just been too much in the early going is akin to saying, “Dear World, I am incompetent, I’m in over my head, but I do speak well. Love us again, please.”

How presidential.

Just imagine George W. Bush handing Prime Minister Tony Blair a stack of movies as his country’s offering for the traditional exchange of gifts between the two nations. The likes of Letterman and Leno would be lambasting Bush for forgetting the beer and chips.

But as long as we’re pulling things from the “In Over His Head” file …

The President is considering the idea of extending a warm, friendly hand to some of the more moderate members of the Taliban, presumably because they are teetering between the ideologies of blowing up innocents and extending liberty to all. The notion of coming up with a decent gift for the Prime Minister of Great Britain may have been a troubling one, but making nice with some of the less-murderous element of the Taliban is probably a lot less “overwhelming” than just wiping them from the map.

That kind of stuff annoys people.

From Reuters:

In an interview with the newspaper published on its website, Obama said that some of the U.S. success in Iraq involved reaching out to Islamic fundamentalists who had been alienated by the tactics of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Mr. President, are you admitting that there has been success in Iraq?

“There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and the Pakistani region,” he said. “But the situation in Afghanistan is, if anything, more complex.”

…

The Times said that in the interview, Obama also left open the option for American operatives to capture terrorism suspects abroad even without the cooperation of a country where they were found.

“There could be situations — and I emphasize ‘could be’ because we haven’t made a determination yet — where, let’s say that we have a well-known al Qaeda operative that doesn’t surface very often, appears in a third country with whom we don’t have an extradition relationship or would not be willing to prosecute, but we think is a very dangerous person,” he said.

“I think we will have to think about how do we deal with that scenario in a way that comports with international law and abides by my very clear edict that we don’t torture.”

Surely, these user-friendly Taliban would be entitled to, at least, 10 DVDs apiece – but Obama shouldn’t tell them that at the beginning.

Leverage, baby.

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