Back in the days, it used to amuse me -- if that's the term -- to hear Condi Rice or George Bush "call upon" some country or other to do some thing or other. How ineffectual it sounded. I suppose others did it before them, but for some reason, when they weren't invading, "call upon" seemed like the way they responded to pretty much everything going on in the world. Call upon. Anyone listening?
I call upon Wall Street to give me back my money.
And, yes, it sounds silly when Hilary or Barack say the same thing.
Which brings me to my point: I look at a million people roiling in Egypt to protest their government, which is impressive and portentous in ways none of us yet know. Whatever else might be true about it, it seems pretty likely that anything anyone says on this side of it would have, rounding off, zero effect that crowd. And yet the punditry is "grading" Obama's response to the situation. Thoughtful Republicans -- not yet a complete oxymoron -- are generally saying he's done well. The RWS™, of course, give him a grade beyond failing; some of them Beckon that he's behind the whole thing, pulling strings from afar, managing the Muslim Brotherhood like Howdy Doody, with the aim of establishing the caliphate in your neighbor's garage.
Simultaneously, the Egypt uprising is a wonderful thing, proof of George Bush's brilliance, and horror unimaginable, proof of Barack Obama's nefariousness. It's democracy sweeping through the Middle East like the floods in Australia, and it's the end of the world. Obama's actions represent careful and effective diplomacy, and it's an impeachable offense.
None of them have a clue what has gone on behind the scenes. Reports suggest that the Obama administration has been talking to Mubarak and working on him to hang it up; working also through the Egyptian military. If we knew what was said, and how, it might be gradable. For now, though, the commentariat is as embarrassing to themselves as is standing in the Rose Garden and calling for stuff.
A million people marching in Egypt. And RWS™ think Obama is behind it, or should have been, or could have been, or should not have been, or isn't.
I call upon them to hang up.
Missus Palin® called the White House to ask the President about his ineffective response to the Egyptian crisis - at 3:00 am - and nobody answered. She got the answering machine! ...guess they changed the unlisted number to the President's bedside phone.
ReplyDeleteIn the name of all that is Holy-Rolley - can you imagine - Obama was not sitting up worriedly waiting for her to call and tell him what to do.
The effrontery!!! Once again it shows how Missus Palin® is constantly mistreated!
Is there to be no end to the insults this "Good Christian Woman" must suffer???
Nah!!!
Can't wait to hear SSWoman's "Conservative Trollentary" regarding whether she thought Missus Palin® was lying when She claimed that "We never intended for those X's (surveyor's marks?) on the map to look like crosshairs."
I fully expect that SSWoman is working feverishly on a thousand words or so, expressing her indignation at Missus Palin's®
crudely attempted deception.
EugeneInSanDiego
I assume you understood Sarah Palin® wasn't suggesting she actually called the WH when she made her stupid remarks... She thought she was being, you know, witty. 3 am call, as in the Democratic primary...
ReplyDeleteWhich doesn't make her speech any less ridiculous, or her understanding of Egypt, beyond the Cliff's Notes her staff gave her, any less superficial.
From TPM:
ReplyDeleteSeeIt@
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/palin-we-need-to-find-out-who-was-behind-egypt-protests-video.php?ref=fpa
But she also criticized Obama: "It's a difficult situation. This is that 3 a.m. White House phone call and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House, it seems that that call went right to the answering machine.
Yeah, but it was way more like her the way I wrote it!
EugeneInSanDiego