Americans Sour on Obama, Incumbents, Poll Finds

At WSJ:

Americans are more pessimistic about the state of the country and less confident in President Barack Obama's leadership than at any point since Mr. Obama entered the White House, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

The survey also shows grave and growing concerns about the Gulf oil spill, with overwhelming majorities of adults favoring stronger regulation of the oil industry and believing that the spill will affect the nation's economy and environment.

Sixty-two percent of adults in the survey feel the country is on the wrong track, the highest level since before the 2008 election. Just one-third think the economy will get better over the next year, a 7-point drop from a month ago and the low point of Mr. Obama's tenure.

Amid anxiety over the nation's course, support for Mr. Obama and other incumbents is eroding. For the first time, more people disapprove of Mr. Obama's job performance than approve. And 57% of voters would prefer to elect a new person to Congress than re-elect their local representatives, the highest share in 18 years.

The results show "a really ugly mood and an unhappy electorate," said Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who conducts the Journal/NBC poll with GOP pollster Bill McInturff. "The voters, I think, are just looking for change, and that means bad news for incumbents and in particular for the Democrats."

RTWT.

Obama, Israel & American Jews: The Challenge

At Commentary:

We asked 31 prominent American Jews to respond to this statement:

The open conflict between the Obama administration and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has created tensions between the United States and Israel of a kind not seen since the days of the administration of the first President Bush. And those tensions are placing unique pressure on American Jews, who voted for Barack Obama by a margin of nearly 4-to-1 in 2008 after being assured by Obama himself and by his supporters in the Jewish community that he was a friend and an ally of the State of Israel despite his long association with, among others, the unabashedly anti-Israel and anti-Semitic Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

We argue that American Jews are facing an unprecedented political challenge, and at a crucial moment, with the need to address the existential threat to Israel—and by extension to the future of the Jewish people as a whole—from a potentially nuclear Iran. How will American Jews handle this challenge? Can Obama’s Jewish supporters act in a way that will change the unmistakable direction of current American policy emanating from the White House? Will American Jews accept Barack Obama’s view that the state of Israel bears some responsibility for the loss of American “blood and treasure” in the Middle East? Will they continue to extend their support to the Obama administration and to Barack Obama’s political party?

And the 31 respondents:

Elliott Abrams, Morris J. Amitay, Peter Berkowitz, Kenneth J. Bialkin, Matthew Brooks, Mona Charen, Alan M. Dershowitz, Nathan J. Diamentis, Ira Forman, Abraham H. Foxman, Jonathan Gurwitz, Jeff Jacoby, Jeremy Kalmanofsky, Jonathan Kellerman, Ed Koch, Martin Kramer, William Kristol, Michael Medved, Aaron David Miller, Tova Mirvis, Daniel Pipes, Norman Podhoretz, Dennis Prager, Gary Rosenblatt, Jonathan D. Sarna, Robert Satloff, Dan Senor, Tevi Troy, Ruth R. Wisse, David Wolpe, and Eric H. Yoffie.

I poured over the essays for a couple of days. It's hard to pull out a favorite. I'll leave Jonathan Kellerman, but the whole thing's worth your time:

The only surprise about the tension between the Obama administration and Israel is that anyone is surprised.

While President Barack Obama was less than frank about his intentions to govern from the center, he never projected himself as a supporter of Israel beyond a few bland campaign clichés. There were certainly clear indicators of what to expect: he palled around with Palestinian scholar and Israel-basher Rashid Khalidi and sipped Chardonnay with “reformed” domestic terrorists who’d been overtly hostile to Israel for decades. He admired Edward Said. He sat in a church pew for years and blithely ingested anti-Israel and frankly anti-Semitic rhetoric without a word of protest.

The greater issue isn’t that Obama is no great friend of Israel and never will be. The fascinatingly perverse tendency of Jews to vote against their self-interest is. Even with my psychological training, I don’t understand it. However, it is nothing new. Our history is rife with fractiousness and the tendency to over-intellectualize and to complicate simple issues of self-preservation. To some extent, our ability to promote an infinite array of opinions has contributed to the richness of our culture. Often, however, it has lead to tragedy. Let’s not forget that it was a certain group of Jews that invited the Romans into Jerusalem.

My personal opinion—and I’ve written about this before—is that the bifurcation of Israel and Judaism is structurally fallacious. The Land of Israel is an essential ingredient of Judaism practiced fully. Thus, it is impossible to be anti-Israel and not be anti-Jewish. And in fact, the war being waged against Israel by the Muslim world is, at the core, a religious dispute. Radical Islamists no longer talk about Zionists; they come right out and broadcast their goal of eradicating worldwide Jewry. The same squarely theological cast informs Islam’s struggle against “Western values,” which is really a buzzword for Christianity. Failure to recognize any link between Israeli and Jewish survival is the same old pathological denial that has informed the most tragic chapters of Jewish history.

No doubt there are many people who will disagree, ranging from the pseudo-Zionists of J Street to the Satmar Hasidim. Hostility toward Israel engenders fascinating levels of Jewish “pluralism.”

Obama will come and go. Jewish antipathy toward Israel and Judaism itself will endure. And that is the challenge.

CHANGE! Poll Finds Epic Distrust as Public Repudiates Congress, Obama Administration!

A new survey at the Pew Research Center finds "epic dissatifacation" with government and elected officials. See, "Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor: The People and Their Government":

By almost every conceivable measure Americans are less positive and more critical of government these days. A new Pew Research Center survey finds a perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government -- a dismal economy, an unhappy public, bitter partisan-based backlash, and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials.

Rather than an activist government to deal with the nation's top problems, the public now wants government reformed and growing numbers want its power curtailed. With the exception of greater regulation of major financial institutions, there is less of an appetite for government solutions to the nation's problems -- including more government control over the economy -- than there was when Barack Obama first took office ....

Source: Pew Research, "Public Trust in Government: 1958-2010"

Hostility toward government seems likely to be a significant election issue and an important element in both midterm voting intentions and turnout. While there was widespread distrust of the federal government in the late 1990s, just 37% went so far as to say that the federal government needed "very major reform." Today, that figure stands at 53%; increasing numbers of Republicans, independents and Democrats say that government needs very major reform. Still, far more Republicans (65%) and independents (54%) than Democrats (41%) express this view.

Consistent with this pattern of partisanship, anti-government sentiment appears to be a more significant driver of possible turnout among Republicans and independents than among Democrats. Among Republican voters who are highly dissatisfied with government, 83% say they are absolutely certain to vote in the midterm elections; that compares with 67% of Republicans who express low levels of frustration with government. By contrast, there is no difference in intention to vote among Democrats who are highly frustrated with government (63%) and those who are less frustrated (64%).

Perhaps more troubling for Democrats, the link between dissatisfaction with government and voting intentions is at least as strong among independent voters. Independents who are highly dissatisfied with government are far more committed to voting this year than are independents who are less frustrated (78% vs. 58%). Overall, independents voters slightly favor the GOP candidate in their district by a 41%-to-34% margin, but those who are highly dissatisfied with government favor the Republican candidate by an overwhelming 66%-to-13% margin. Independents who are less dissatisfied with government favor the Democratic candidate in their district (by 49% to 24%), but are much less likely to say they are certain to vote.

While the GOP has a decided enthusiasm advantage predicated on discontent with government, it has a potential unity problem given the appeal of the Tea Party to many of its members. Only about half of Republicans (49%) say that the GOP is the party that best reflects their views right now, while as many as 28% cite the Tea Party. Among independents who lean Republican, the problem is potentially greater: As many say the Tea Party best reflects their views right now (30%) as the GOP (29%), with nearly as many saying nobody is representing their views (28%).

IMAGE CREDIT: Serr8d's Cutting Edge.

FLOTUS FAIL: Michelle Obama and Military Spouses

From Rebecca Noah Poynter, at The Best Defense, "Michelle Obama and Military Spouses: Here's Why We're Frustrated and Angry":

I'm a military wife. We don't mind that America doesn't know the 685,000 of us. We learned during that first deployment years ago that there are times in the middle of the night when there is no one to talk to assuage the loneliness, the frustration and the chilling worry that in fact nobody might really care.

But we really thought Michelle Obama did -- because she told us so. She visited our bases during the campaign. Then, in May, she said in an Army press release that, "I promise you that I will use every ounce of my energy to make sure that America always takes care of you." Then she suggested Americans should take us to lunch for Military Spouse Appreciation Day.

But she wasn't there for us when the going got serious. In November, new legislation gave spouses a home state, something service members have had since WWII. The new law offers us civil protections for income, voting, property tax. Some 14,000 spouses celebrated our first political victory on Facebook. Not included was Michelle Obama because the First Lady's office indicated no real interest. The bill was signed into law on Veteran's Day with only the virtual Facebook party for spouses across the country, the day after the shootings at Fort Hood.

In December the Defense Department said the new law, the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, was "confusing," even though it simply supports the same rights offered to the military by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act.

Where was Michelle? On the same day of that announcement about the MSRRA, a Defense Department press release told us that the "First Lady Delivers Toys For Tots."
Which do you think matters more to us? "The markers and board games" collected from her staff (the largest of any First Lady's, yet without anyone dedicated full-time to her declared issue of military families), or acknowledging the MSRRA, which Army Times called "landmark legislation" for equal and civil rights for military spouses. The Pentagon and the First Lady had both missed their first opportunity of the new administration to genuinely support us.

FLOTUS FAIL.

And more FLOTUS FAIL at the link.

Megyn Kelly Hammers Code Pink's Jodie Evans!

Meant to post this earlier, and still worth a look. I was very respectful of Jodie Evans when I met her. But she obviously doesn't share my values:

Rally at Independence Hall: Michele Bachmann in the O.C.!

As promised, here's my report on Michele Bachmann at Independence Hall, Knott's Berry Farm, in Buena Park. The location's just a few miles south from my campus. The event was from 3:00 to 4:00pm, and it was just incredible. As you can see, the park's Independence Hall is an exact replica of the original historic landmark in Philadelphia, PA. Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed there. Here you can see contemporary patriots getting ready for the rally:

Here's the West Coast's Liberty Bell inside the hall:

A shot of the bell's famous crack:

Patriots inside the gift shop (the original Independence Flag took up the whole wall):

George Washington and Betsy Ross:

The sweeties at the gift counter, in 18th century dress:

Heading back outside, I introduced myself to David Horowitz. He would speak in just a few minutes to kick off the event:

Still waiting, I went back inside the hall for a couple of more pictures:

Amazing historical authenticity:

The Declaration of Independence (at the time, a piece of work in progress, to borrow from POWIP):

Back outside, Mr. Rooster and Mama Hens:

Here's Mr. Horowitz:

Representative Michele Bachmann waits before being introduced:

She thanked Congressman Ed Royce quite graciously and enthusiastically:

Representative Bachmann gave a rousing speech. She came to California straight from Washington and the last night's SOTU. She reminded the crowd that this time last year the big talk was Joe Wilson's "you lie," while this week it's Samuel Alito's "not true," and she turned that into a little chant to fire up the patriots in attendence. She was especially emphatic in stressing the president's defiance of the American people. Passing healthcare was not about improving lives, it was about Obama's personal agenda:

Down in front of the podium, Congressman Royce came back up for a Q&A:

Michele Bachmann's a political goddess. Lots of folks crowded around as she finished speaking. She posed for just a couple of pictures, and then was whisked away by her escorts/handlers:

My picture with Representative Bachmann will have to wait. But to my everlasting joy, I met Opus #6 of MAINFO:

She took some pictures as well, from right down in front (I'm in the picture at left). It turns out Opus headed straight over to the Lincoln Club fundraising dinner. She's mobile blogging the event. See, "Michele Bachmann Speaks in Newport Beach," and "I Am Sitting a Few Seats Down From Chuck Devore in Newport Beach."

You've gotta love the O.C.!!

UPDATE: In a correction, I've posted the right picture of the Declaration of Independence above.

The Obamas Non-Christmas

ABC News reports on the president's family trip to Hawaii, "Obamas Begin Hawaiian Holiday, an Annual Tradition." The Obamas will not exchange gifts, although perhaps due to the earlier outcry, Malia and Sasha will receive presents after all. (See, "Obama's "Non-Religious" White House Christmas and No Christmas Gifts for his Kids.") Plus, presidential Christmas mass is out. Lynn Sweet has the story, "The Obamas Hawaii Christmas: Will it Include Church?" With Christian church services under the bus, the Astute Blogger notes that "Barack Hussein Obama is as Christian as is convenient to be." The president wouldn't miss a trip to the gym, however, the narcissist that he is. (See, "For the Obamas, Christmas Starts at the Gym.") And don't forget the communist Christmas tree ornament controversy. (See, "Obama's Tree Festooned with Evil.") Given that disaster, the theme of president's weekly address is no coincidence. See, HotAir Pundit, "Obama Weekly Address Makes a Point To Talk About the Ornaments on the White House Christmas Tree."

And previously, Obama left out any mention of God Our Lord in his Christmas cards this year. See, "Obama Christmas Card: No Mention of Christmas, Obama vs. Bush Christmas Card Side By Side."

None of this should be surprising. Mark Schmitt, commenting yesterday on the Senate passage of the ObamaCare monstrosity, remarked:

I've always argued that Obama viewed his central domestic mission as changing the culture and practice of American politics. The passage of health reform is a revelation of just how desperately that change is needed and how difficult it will be to achieve.

Well, maybe not so difficult, if the wholesale rejection of American Christmas traditions are any indication.

RELATED: "Obama Will 'Recharge' on Hawaii Vacation" (via Memeorandum).

Chinese 'Hot Girls' Blog Takes Down Crude Image of Michelle Obama: Google Apologizes, But Racist Picture Remains Available Online

It's really awful, and I'm not publishing it. You can see it the Michelle "Monkey" Obama image at Politics Daily, which links to a "jpg" image link hosted at FlyStyleLife.

And there's quite a bit of reporting on this at the moment:

At ABC News, "Blog Removes Offensive First Lady Image That Topped Google." And, from CNN, "Google Apologizes for Results of 'Michelle Obama' Image Search." (But earlier, at the Los Angeles Times, "Google Won't Exclude Distorted Michelle Obama Image From its Site.")

And see also, "Chinese 'Hot Girl's' Blog Issues Apology for Offensive Michelle Obama Image." There's a link to the Hot Blog there, which includes this apology in sketchy English:

I am very sorry for this article, and that this is the program automatically issued a document from the article. Do not the subject of race and politics make the discussion too radical and sincere hope that the world is very peaceful.

More at Memeorandum.

Photo Credit: Google Image Search.

These Guys Aren't F**king Around! Taliban Attack That Killed 9 U.S. Soldiers in July

From ABC News, "'Relax, Brother': Exclusive Video Shows Taliban Attack That Killed 9 U.S. Soldiers at Afghan Post":

Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers.

Chicago Rejected in First Round of Olympic Voting

What a waste of time and effort (not to mention taxpayers' money): "Chicago Ousted in First Round of Olympic Voting":

Chicago is out. The Windy City has been removed from consideration after just one round of voting. Tokyo went out in the second round, leaving Rio de Janeiro and Madrid.

Also, from Michelle Malkin, "The noble “Sacrifice” of Michelle Obama; Update: Chicago & Tokyo Eliminated."

Was President Obama Kissing Another Woman?

Now that's some suave diplomacy! But hey, Michelle Obama might not be too forgiving of the takeaway shots! Good thing "The One" can point to exculpatory video:

And here's this from Freedom's Lighthouse:

Ever vigilant to help out President Obama, here is CNN video that explains a "U.N. Kiss" photo of Obama and woman there. It does show that still photos can be deceiving.

So true.

Special Prosecutor for ACORN

Well, to follow up my previous piece (on the accession of Chicago machine-politics to the White House), Charles Lipson's new essay is a perfect accompaniment. See, "Independent Prosecutor for ACORN":

ACORN is in very deep, very public trouble, and the U.S. attorney general should appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate. What we know so far is due entirely to two amateur reporters, James E. O'Keefe III, 25, and Hannah Giles, 20, who managed to videotape a web of corrupt practices in ACORN offices. Dressed as a pimp and prostitute, O'Keefe and Giles walked into ACORN offices from New York to California and simply asked for business advice. ACORN officials were happy to provide it and were secretly recorded explaining exactly how to evade the law and scam the government. The tapes were riveting. Fox News rolled out a new one each night for a week, creating a firestorm of outrage and a burgeoning political scandal.

ACORN employees, without raising an eyebrow, much less calling the police, explained how the young sex workers could label themselves "performance artists," underreport their income, evade taxes, fraudulently buy a house to ply their trade, and, worst of all, import underage girls from Central America to use as child prostitutes. One ACORN employee helpfully explained that the teenagers would even be tax-deductible since they would be "dependents," living in the pimp's house. Some states, led by California, are saying they will investigate. But this is a national scandal and there ought to be a full-scale national inquiry. To ensure impartiality -- and the appearance of impartiality -- political appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice should recuse themselves. This case demands an independent federal prosecutor ...

ACORN's close ties to the progressive movement and Democratic Party mean that there will be little public confidence if Holder decides not to pursue an ambitious investigation and ultimately prosecute.

Ironically, ACORN's chief executive officer, Bertha Lewis, strengthens the case for an independent prosecutor with her robust defense of the organization. FOX News, she says, is pursuing her group solely for political reasons. They oppose ACORN, she says, because it is associated with progressive politics, labor organizing and the Obama administration's health-care initiative. Unfortunately for ACORN, Lewis' charges also mean that if the Obama administration decides not to prosecute or to indict only low-level employees, the public will wonder if they are seeing a political defense by ACORN's friends, a coverup rather than a fair-minded, independent decision by the Justice Department.

More at the link.

See also, the Washington Post, "For ACORN, Video Is Only Latest Crisis."

Bonus: The Sundries Shack, "The ACORN Pimp-Slap of the Week."

Image Credit: Patriot Room.

(Behind The) Scenes at the Obama White House

The image is from Swampland, and if you click the link, go to the image and click to enlarge. Then scroll left to find Valerie Jarrett with the First Family. You can see Jarrett at left below as well, where she's partially visible:

If you didn't read it, don't miss Ben Johnson's essay at FrontPage Mag, "Valerie Jarrett: The Next Van Jones."

Note as well that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is standing with Jarrett, and he's almost fully obscured in the picture above. And recall from the campaign last year, Stanley Kurtz was doing phenomenal research into Barack Obama's Chicago background and radical roots. An especially good piece was Kurtz's essay at the Weekly Standard, "Barack Obama's Lost Years: The Senator's Tenure as a State Legislator Reveals Him To Be An Old-Fashioned, Big Government, Race-Conscious Liberal." The piece is worth skimming over again, but the summary's worth citing:

The real Obama? ... Fundamentally, he is a big-government redistributionist who wants above all to aid the poor, particularly the African-American poor. Obama is eager to do so both through race-specific programs and through broad-based social-welfare legislation. "Living wage" legislation may be economically counterproductive, and Obama-backed housing experiments may have ended disastrously, yet Obama is committed to large-scale government solutions to the problem of poverty. Obama's early campaigns are filled with declarations of his sense of mission-a mission rooted in his community organizing days and manifest in his early legislative battles. Recent political back flips notwithstanding, Barack Obama does have an ideological core ...

Those "community organizing days" are from Obama's radical ACORN activism. We're seeing just now how that stuff's working out. See Charles Lipson, "Independent prosecutor for ACORN."

Oh, for your added pleasure, don't miss Jim Treacher's uproarious parody of the Swampland images, "I Find Your Lack of Grace Disturbing."

Michelle Malkin on ACORN's Prostitution Scandal (VIDEO)

Via Hot Air, "Video: Michelle on the Media’s ACORN “Protection Racket" (from tonight's Sean Hannity show):

Michelle Obama's Slave Roots

My guess is that CNN's getting some extraordinary news value from its reporting on First Lady Michelle Obama's slave history, "Tracking Michelle Obama's Slave Roots" (via Memeorandum):

In many places across the South you can walk in the footsteps of slaves, and if you understand the history, it is not a happy journey. The same is true at Friendfield Plantation outside Georgetown, South Carolina.

It's not exactly "Gone With the Wind," but what makes this overgrown 3,300 acres of marsh and pine trees stand out is this: The family of first lady Michelle Obama believes her great-great grandfather was held as a slave here and labored in the mosquito-infested rice fields.

It makes Friendfield Plantation a symbol of something more than servitude. It's the symbol of something that's never happened before: One important segment of an American family's journey from the humiliation of slavery to the very top of the nation's ruling class.

CNN recently was the first television network allowed to visit the plantation and shoot video. It's not a museum. It's just private land, still with shadows of its past.

Friendfield's most distinctive historical feature, perhaps, is the dirt road known as Slave Street.

Six white-washed little shacks are all that remain of the slave quarters, even though rows of these houses once stood on the property. About 350 slaves lived here during the 19th century.

The houses are nothing special -- no plumbing, of course. The wooden walls are paper thin in places. It would have been hot and humid in summer, and most certainly cold in winter, although the shacks had fireplaces.

They would have been crowded: probably one or two families living in a space smaller than a modern-day garage.

As a professor whose own ancestry includes grandparents who were slaves, the story of Michelle Obama's family is fascinating and vital to the national discussion of where we are today.

But as a political analyst, I find it extremely interesting that CNN would now devote so much coverage to President Obama's ties to the peculiar institution. The second video above includes snippets of Anderson Cooper's interview with the President in Ghana. As I wrote previously, Obama's visit to Africa was the latest stop on his global apology tour. And there's no greater sin in American history than the evil of slavery. CNN's shameless exploitation of racial sympathy is to be expected. But it's simply despicable that the President himself would pander this issue, given that his rise to national power was predicated on a pledge to advance the cause of post-racial America. Obama launched his career on the national stage with one of the most important political speeches of a generation. At the 2004 Democratic Convention, Obama proclaimed:

Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us - the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of "anything goes." Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America - there’s the United States of America.

But instead of those majesterial words, we have the lost promise of Obama's rhetoric five years on. Race relations have deteriorated under this administration. The politics of race is more bitter than ever, as we have seen this week amid the confirmation hearings for the president's racist "wise Latina" nominee.

See also, Shelby Steele, "Obama's Post-Racial Promise: Barack Obama Seduced Whites With a Vision of Their Racial Innocence Precisely to Coerce Them Into Acting Out of a Racial Motivation."

Also, Glenn Beck, "Is This How the Post-Racial Obama Administration Begins?"

The Obamafication of Great Power Arms Control

Conservatives knew Barack Obama lacked gravitas over two years ago. And now we're starting to see the rest of the country catch on. Folks are getting hip to the Democrats' epic electoral fail of 2008.

Recall, during the first Democratic debate, in April 2007, "Obama failed to cast himself as a forceful commander in chief." As one headline reported at the time, "Lightweight Senator Overwhelmed By Grown-ups at Adults-Only Function." And who can forget Obama's Berlin speech last summer? Der Spiegel asked, "Is Obama Speech Site Contaminated by Nazi Past?" And we saw this from Michelle Malkin, "Next Stop, Germany: Ich bin ein beginner!":

So, let's just consider President Obama's U.S.-Russia summit this week. It's one more indication of the woeful unseriousness of this man and his administration. The highlights are at Memeorandum. CNN has a story on Sasha and Malia Obama, "Obama Girls Take Russia by Storm." Plus, the New York Times follows up with, "Family Night for Obamas Miffs Some in Moscow."

It turns out that the Russian people haven't lost their faculties over this American president. As Fausta indicates, "The Russians ...having lived with centuries’ worth of narcissistic egotists passing as heads of state, were underwhelmed by Obama..."

The president himself remains inside a narcissisitic bubble and the rest of the world can only watch dumfounded as this administration sleepwalks through history.

Compare that meme to this article on earlier eras of superpower arms control, "U.S.-Russia Talks Yield No Breakthroughs":

There was a time when an American president would travel to Moscow for a summit and the world watched intently to see if history would be made.

These days, most people seem prepared to settle for more modest outcomes.

That was the ambiguous result of Barack Obama's first trip as president to meet with his Russian counterparts. Obama came away from two days of talks with important, if not momentous, agreements to renew nuclear arms talks and allow U.S. warplanes to fly through Russian airspace on their way to Afghanistan.

But long-standing differences -- on U.S. missile defense plans, human rights and the response to Iran's nuclear ambitions -- remained unbridged.

Nor was it certain that Obama succeeded in his attempt to overcome years of deteriorating relations and alleviate wider Russian mistrust of U.S. aims by speaking over the heads of the country's elite to those outside the realm of power.

In a bit of characteristic stagecraft, the president took his message to a large assembly of the young and educated, speaking at the commencement ceremonies of the New Economic School. He reminded Russians of their nation's shared sacrifice with the United States in defeating fascism in the mid-20th century, and said that 21st century America was not trying to hold the country back.

"Let me be clear: America wants a strong, peaceful and prosperous Russia," Obama said. "This belief is rooted in our respect for the Russian people, and a shared history between our nations that goes beyond competition."

But none of Russia's domestic television channels carried the speech live. And the event was more heavily attended by Western-leaning intelligentsia and business community representatives than by members of Russia's ruling elite. News programs later played clips of the speech -- with newscasters adding pointedly that Obama's arrival onstage interrupted the distribution of diplomas to the school's students.

Behold the Obamafication of great power arms control.

The Russians don't care about this man, despite the president's displeasure at not being feted like a Victorian-era European head of state.

Meanwhile, the enduring logic of international politics continues its unavoidabe grind: "Russia Itches for Another Georgian War."

Election 2012 can't come fast enough, especially for those who called this a massive presidential fail before the Democrats sealed the deal.

Tickle Me Obama? I'll Pass, Thank You...

Time Magazine debuts a novel form up sycophancy this morning, "Tickle Me Obama: Lessons from Sesame Street."

Warner Todd Huston puts things in perspective:

You want a blatant example of the Old Media's over-the-top, gobsmacked love affair with Obama? Well, one would be hard pressed not to see Time Magazine's latest piece by Nancy Gibbs as a perfect example of the media ignoring all ills and of projecting only what is wonderful onto the dearly beloved as this piece represents. The lionization of Obama is bad enough, but the selective memory of the writer is even more appalling.

I love that saying, "gobsmacked."

Read the whole thing, here.

See also, Tim Graham, "Time: Barack Obama, Sesame Street Both Show Mastery, Empathy, and End to 'Childish Games'" (via Memeorandum).

Speech Reveals Obama's Middle East Sympathies

From the Los Angeles Times, "Do Obama's words reveal his Middle East sympathies? A close examination of the speech underscores how Obama, four months into his presidency, is still introducing himself - and what he stands for - to Americans and the world":

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama left some fuzzy edges to his biography. He affirmed strong support for Israel but implied a strong empathy for Palestinians. His personal story played up his introduction to the black church, leaving his father's Islamic roots in the shadows.

It was a narrative designed to ease any voter concern about Obama's background and counter false Internet rumors that he was a Muslim.

But now, with Thursday's speech in Cairo, Obama is laying bare more of his sympathies and inclinations in the volatile area of Middle East politics.

Obama spoke, for example, of Palestinian "resistance" -- a word that can cast Israel as an illegitimate occupier. He drew parallels between Palestinians and the struggles of black Americans in slavery and of black South Africans during apartheid. Both references made some allies of Israel uneasy.

Moreover, in his defense of Israel's legitimacy, Obama cited the Holocaust and centuries of anti-Semitism, but not the belief of some Jews that their claim to the land is rooted in the Bible and reaches back thousands of years.

A close examination of the speech underscored how Obama, four months into his presidency and five years after stepping onto the national stage, is still introducing himself - and what he stands for - to Americans and the world.

Actually, the Times is being way too objective here.

Check out Caroline Glick at National Review, "The End of America’s Strategic Alliance with Israel?":

From an Israeli perspective, Pres. Barack Obama’s speech today in Cairo was deeply disturbing. Both rhetorically and programmatically, Obama’s speech was a renunciation of America’s strategic alliance with Israel ....

The only silver lining for Israelis from the president’s speech in Cairo and his general positions on the Middle East is that Obama has overplayed his hand. Far from bending to his will, a large majority of Israelis perceives Obama as a hostile force and has rallied in support of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against the administration. This public support gives Netanyahu the maneuver room he needs to take the actions that Israel needs to take to defend against the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran and to assert its national rights and to defend itself against Palestinian terrorists and other Arab and non-Arab anti-Semites who wish it ill.

Read Glick's entire piece, here. More analysis at Memeorandum.

Let Them Wear Lanvin Sneakers!

First Lady Michelle Obama volunteered at a D.C. food bank on Wednesday sporting $540 Lanvin sneakers:

Red State has the story, "Michelle Antoinette and the Don’t-Go-To-The-Mall Administration:"

It goes without saying that a Republican First Lady who showed up at a food bank during a recession wearing $540 sneakers would never hear the end of it, let alone one who had lectured voters on learning to make do with less. But you know, it goes deeper than that. Remember how Barack Obama relentlessly mocked George W. Bush, in the tone of a petulant teenager who can’t believe what Dad told him to do, for advising Americans to “go shopping” after September 11? Well, President Bush was absolutely in the right: the nation needed reassuring, and it needed to both sustain the consumer confidence and consumer demand that are the engines of our economy, and demonstrate to the world that we don’t change our routines to satisfy terrorists.

It's worth a click just for the ghoulish picture of the First Lady!

Bracing Symbols of American Strength...

Maureen Dowd's praising First Lady Michelle Obama's fashion sense, suggesting that, "The only bracing symbol of American strength right now is the image of Michelle Obama’s sculpted biceps."

Actually, I'd rather not get into a debate on the left's "deplorable evocation of the deplorable imagery of the slave as fit only for toting bales and birthing babies."

More interesting, frankly, would be a discussion of Alicia Keys' modelling of the first lady for Glamour magazine.

Hat Tip: Jammie Wearing Fool.