Coming Down Off the Chocolate High

        In one of the strangest geo-political twists the United States has ever seen, the president of Syria, yes that Syria, manages to appear on American television this morning, BEFORE the president of the United States, to discuss the recent allegations (by the United States) that the government of Syria inadvertently used chemical weapons against its own people in the civil war the country is experiencing. I can tell you as an American that it was more than a bit surreal to see Syria's president beat our own to the punch in messaging the American people. I'm not sure if Obama is high or stupid, but not since the Iran-Contra Affair has the world seen such a blunder as this plan to attack Syria threat has been. Not only has it confused the hell out of the American public but it's sent the economic markets rocking back and forth on an almost daily basis. No one knows what the hell is going on, especially the president of the United States.

        In an even stranger twist still, just hours later, it was announced by the mainstream media that Russia has been brokering a deal with Syria and the United States for over a week to allow Syria to turn over its chemical weapons to a neutral third party in the international community. President Obama admitted in an interview today on CNN that he has been discussing this option with Russian president Putin since the G20 Summit. Which means that all this recent blustering by Secretary of State John Kerry has been what? A ruse? A bluff? Was the carpet pulled out from him at the last minute? The voting in the Senate and in Congress?

         Many in America and around the world would agree that there was nothing as purely evil AND fool-hearty at the same time in American history as the Bush-Cheney years. This was pure selfish war mongering in the traditional old-fashioned imperial style of pre WW II years. Compounded with Bush himself who never quite seemed to be aware of what he or his administration was actually doing, let alone the world at large. It was one of the first times the whole world got to see firsthand just how little the president of the United States actually does besides just being a charismatic figurehead. But the last few years of the Obama presidency have been starting to make look GW look not half as dumb and foolish, nor as mean spirited and evil as some have been led to believe prior to Obama's ascendancy to the White House. Words like fumble, foible, farce, mockery, sham, gaffe, mess and more have all been used in recent days to describe the lone wolf president's handling of this Syrian conflict; a conflict we must remember that has absolutely nothing to do with us.

        From the moment Obama inserted himself into this tragic affair by boisterously announcing his "red line", the Syrian government's civil war has become an American problem, with myriad prospects for future problems for us now that his proverbial foot has been placed in his mouth.Watching him attempt to pull it out over the last few weeks has been an agonizing affair for all. It isn't easy to see the emperor parade through town without any clothes, even if you aren't a fan.

        Which is where I, like many, find myself. Never being a fan of Obama, it isn't as difficult for me it's been for many; those who are liberal in the media are admittedly stumped, disappointed and confused. For me, besides the very basics -- e.g. the excitement around the US electing its first half-African American president, I was not an Obama fan as much as just a non-Romney fan. from the start there were too many aspects of the man and his mysterious past that I just didn't and don't like. I couldn't vote for him in 2008 because of this, so I gave my vote away. It was obvious he was going to win. I personally did not feel comfortable being a part of electing him. To be perfectly frank I can still remember seeing his face on several occasions and remarking to Princess Little Tree that "I don't know why yet, but every time I look at him I feel this strange eerie intuitive flash inside that HE is actually the man who is going to be responsible for starting World War III or something like it; can't explain it. But it's there... He just doesn't seem to be on the up and up."

        Once it was revealed that this "man of peace" was secretly assassinating more people with drones than any previous president, or that more immigrants have been deported under his watch than any other prior administration -- while he pretends to maintain a "pro-immigrant" stance to the unknowing masses, or that more people have been arrested and imprisoned for drug possession during his administration than any other -- again while he himself benefits from a "mr. cool factor" for admitting to doing drugs in college, or that he was in the pocket of Monsanto and signed a deathly no-labeling of GMOs law behind the backs of his most ardent liberal followers, or that he's been consistently and covertly bombing both Yemen and Pakistan for over a year -- killing hundreds of innocent civilians in the process, OR that he was the first president to single handedly order an assassination of an American citizen for "threatening to commit terrorism", it became very clear to me that, like most US presidential candidates, he was just as corrupt as he was charismatic. And therein lies the key to why it is ridiculous for so many of our friends around the country, men and women alike, to be so blindly gaga over him -- as if he were some kind of "new brand, never before seen hero of mythic proportions, an enlightened leader who's going to do things differently".

        As compassionate liberty-leaning people, yes we must commend him for his stance on gay marriage equality. That has been a highly transformative shift in our culture in a very positive direction. But besides that, the high is wearing off. In light of this new Syria debacle, combined with last year's Libya debacle (which, let's face it, he got away with just through being very crafty and charismatic), I am sadly starting to fear that Barack Obama may turn out to be one of the worst things we as a nation have ever done (besides Vietnam, Iraq, Iran, etc... Obviously that's a big list....) It is starting to appear as though we sacrificed experience boldness intelligence and skill for "fulfilling America's dormant MLK Dream". And to be sure that WAS a great achievement in and of itself. I'm glad we did it, glad we were capable of it finally, glad I saw it transpire in my lifetime. I am sure in and of itself it has and is going to change tens of millions of lives around the world for decades to come: in increasing racial equality and tolerance, in helping lead by example on that front and in helping to bolster the self opinion of so-called minorities worldwide, but especially in America. No one can ever again utter the words "Yeah but we'll never elect a black president..." Those days are now gone once and for all. So good on us for that.

        BUT... and this is a BIG but... what will be the cost of this smaller picture achievement in the big picture? How much worse is it going to get? How many more foibles or blatant acts of deception will we be forced to endure for this accomplishment? As in what's next? Has the man (and his entire administration to be fair) no clue what he's messing around with here? Has his head just become so big that he forgot that we need to actually do our homework in order to make those straight As? Or is it simply the blind power that corrupts absolutely when one notices how big their stockpile of missiles is? This is after all Syria we are talking about here. The heart of the Middle East and the dread of every sane person's worst nightmares when it comes to radical extremist terrorism. This is THE Damascus, the oldest continuous city on planet earth and coincidentally the legendary Damascus of numerous World War III prophecies. Besides Iran? Russia? China? Not to mention the Egypt/Palestine/Israel/Jordan consequences inherently attached at the hip of it all.

        The relative ease and casual stance he seems to be taking when talking about our country entering into military conflict with the second two largest countries on earth is alarming. He now speaks and acts exactly like many presidents who came before him, with the same kind of blind hubris and arrogance as if he truly believed that the United States divinely inherited the title of "world's greatest ruling empire" and has the right to bark commands and ultimatums at anyone it damn well pleases just because it has the biggest ego and pile of weapons. We can all more than vaguely remember the Obama of just a few short years ago stating unequivocally that he did NOT adhere to this ideology and that he would do his best to attempt to fix our country's fouled reputation because of such misguided ideas. Where is THAT Barack Obama?

        Allegedly, at least according to his words and actions until today, he plans on going all in against ALL of them, regardless of their protests and none to subtle suggestions that we dare not tread in those waters. And at the same time no less? It's one thing to invade a little country like Grenada, or Iraq when you have a coalition of larger nations on your side. It's another thing entirely to butt heads directly with the bloody four horsemen of the apocalypse. Especially when HE won't actually be doing any fighting. Like Bush before him, Obama hasn't and won't see any action on the field if we were to enter yet another bloody military conflict. While he's playing basketball, living breathing American men and women will be doing the fighting. And that's precisely the reason why the man was elected in the first place, i.e. to get us out of those kinds of scenarios once and for all. Lest we forget that while Senator John McCain has now become Obama's main and nearly only supporter in this new fantasy, it was HE who Obama ran against in his first presidential election, his win based in large part on the promise that "I'm not going to give you four more years of Bush".
       
        We also need to remember that this week just happens to mark the one year anniversary of the attack on our embassies in Benghazi, Libya. This is still a painful thorn in the side of every American citizen who care about each other. In this case, four actual American's were actually killed. We were attacked. As in "perhaps we should take some kind of defensive military action" attacked, in our own home-base and territory. That issue was just covered up and brushed aside as if it never happened. Never before have we seen an administration make so little out of something so big before. But here we are being led to believe that "Syria poses a major threat to our national security" according to the president. Whereas Libya was.... what? Ironically, this afternoon during his interview on CNN, Obama told Wolf Blitzer that "it is inconceivable and just not credible that Assaad's government can pose any real threat to the United States militarily." So then WHY exactly are we going to attack them?

        Another disturbing element of this farce has been Kerry's and Obama's consistent assertions that "this isn't just we here in the United States who are upset about Syria's use of chemical weapons and who feel the need to take action against the Assaad government". The problem with these statements is that so far it IS just the United States who is claiming that they need to attack Syria. It's not like we're standing a long line to get our punch in. For whatever reason, the U.S. government feels a sudden and desperate need to attack the Syrian government. As is always the case in geo-political events of this magnitude, we won't find out the real reasons for this new so-called Syrian crisis for months or even years when it comes out in the back pages of newspapers or in future New York Times Bestsellers. By then Obama will be a former president and lo and behold we will discover that the details of the situation are far different than what we are currently being told. The Obama White House is counting on that fact. One hopes that for once we discover the true reasons for this before years have passed. We deserve it. The people who voted for him deserve it.

         Of course, we aren't even talking about the economy yet... I have found it very disturbing that Mort Zuckerman, the billionaire tycoon publisher and economy expert, has stated on many occasions that he's a "life long voting democrat" who has visited the White House numerous times on the president's invitation to try to talk sense to the Obama administration about the economy and how to handle it and according to him "they just won't listen; I fear for the country if they continue down this path and make the same mistakes they've been making" he has stated. And the man is Jewish. Jews don't vote Republican traditionally. But he just doesn't see how the economy is going to turn around if the Obama administration doesn't start making more fiscally intelligent decisions. This is a frightening idea, a Jewish democrat saying he can't in good conscience vote for a president he was in love with four years prior because his fiscal policies don't make common sense.

        There's more of course. Much of which we've already discussed here in the past and much that we've never mentioned. (Sandy Hook is one such "unmentionable"...) But what still puzzles me the most about all this is now that the curtain has been pulled back regarding so many aspects of the great and powerful O, and now that he has flip-flopped on the major issue that distinguished him from his opponents -- unilaterally and militarily attacking other sovereign nations who have not attacked nor even threatened us, HOW on earth can people still feel so ra-ra about the man or continue to defend and commend him? What exactly are people waiting for? What do they need to see before they come back down to earth and start seeing him as he really is? Yes, he's our first black president and that's amazing. Sure he's a cool and good looking guy who can give one hell of a speech and that feels good after eight years of bumbling Bush and the dark heart of Dick Cheney clogged our airwaves. But it is past time for us to stop the hero worship and start rolling up our sleeves and taking to the streets the same way we would if it WERE Bush/Cheney planning an attack like this. Many already are. And that's what makes America such an incredibly admirable country. And with 59% of the people overtly against any kind of military action towards Syria, that speaks volumes about the heart and mind of our country. Let us hope that we continue to grow as we apparently have and that we can somehow help our president do so with us.