Monday, March 10, 2014

Washington Post: Washington not focused on "the bankruptcy of Obama administration policy"

"Washington's seemingly inability to focus on more than one international crisis at a time has been a boon to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. It also has diverted attention from the bankruptcy of Obama administration policy," the Washington Post asserted in an editorial on Monday.

The problem is, the Post expects everyone else to focus on Obama's multiple foreign policy failures, when Obama can't even handle one crisis at a time, as the Post concedes implicitly later on in its editorial.

And while the current and former White House Press Secretaries - Jay Carney and Robert Gibbs - have insisted on a number of occasions that President Obama is a multitasker who is able walk and chew gum at the same, it is quite evident that, even when Obama's not chewing gum, he is still unable to walk, and that he can't even handle one task at a time.

In truth, Washington might be able to focus on Obama's failed policies if there weren't so many of them, but the endless stream of Obama failures keep popping up in rapid succession one after another, making it virtually impossible to focus on each and every failure, and his multitude of bankrupt policies.

Oh, well...

From the Washington Post:
Washington's seemingly inability to focus on more than one international crisis at a time has been a boon to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. It also has diverted attention from the bankruptcy of Obama administration policy.

As Russia invaded Ukraine, the Assad regime proceeded unmolested and almost unnoticed with a merciless offensive of “barrel-bombing,” in which helicopters drop explosive containers filled with nails and other deadly shrapnel on apartment buildings, schools and hospitals. The latest target is the town of Yabroud, near the Lebanese border. In other areas, the regime continued to wage a war of starvation, besieging civilians in violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution approved more than two weeks ago.

Mr. Assad is missing deadlines on the promised destruction of his chemical weapons arsenal. Two deadlines for handing over chemical stocks have passed, and international inspectors say the regime will likely violate a March 15 requirement for destroying 12 production facilities. A bogus election is being prepared to extend Mr. Assad’s presidential term for another seven years. That follows the regime’s refusal to discuss a plan for a transitional government at a peace conference in Geneva last month, which caused the talks to collapse.

The breakdown in Geneva stripped the Obama administration of the fig leaf it had used to cover its failure to develop a workable policy for Syria. For nine months, Secretary of State John F. Kerry had claimed that, in concert with Russia, the United States would use the Geneva process to end Mr. Assad’s rule. As that fantasy unraveled, President Obama hinted at new strategies: “We are continuing to explore every possible avenue to solve this problem,” the president said Feb. 11.

If there has been a change in U.S. policy since then, it hasn’t been detectable.
As you can see for yourselves, the Post is clearly suggesting that Obama's handling of the Syrian crisis was inept long before he was confronted with a new crisis in Europe.

Yep, Obama is clearly incapable of walking, even when he's not chewing gum.
[Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)], the Democratic chairman and ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, both expressed bewilderment at a hearing last week over the administration’s seeming inactivity.

Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns stated bluntly that Syria now presents “enormous challenges” to U.S. interests that “require a steady, comprehensive American strategy.”

Yet when senators asked about the U.S. response, Mr. Burns could offer only vague phrases about “ways to support the moderate opposition” and coordination with other rebel supporters. As Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) noted, “We have been hearing this for years now, and since we first began hearing it, I would guess a hundred thousand people have died.”

The Obama administration unquestionably must answer the Russian offensive in Crimea. But that does not lessen the critical threat to U.S. interests in Syria or excuse the president’s continuing passivity. It’s time for decisive steps to achieve the U.S. objectives of checking al-Qaeda and reversing the regime’s military momentum.
Let's face it, Obama can't even handle one task at a time, and yet, the Washington Post, which seems to concede this point earlier in its editorial [implicitly], expects the President to walk and chew gum at the same time and handle two tasks simultaneously?! Are you kidding me?!