The seeming about-face on the administration’s willingness to block further action on the Goldstone report has left many scratching their heads. Did the National Security Council’s Dan Shapiro really “misspeak,” or did someone change the administration’s policy? The original news report suggested that the Obama administration would take affirmative action to block consideration of the report at the International Criminal Court, of which the U.S. is not a member. The ICC is independent of the UN, but there is a provision in the ICC’s governing document that allows the Security Council by resolution to delay the ICC from considering a matter for 12 months. So it was conceivable (although no easy undertaking) that the U.S. would use that mechanism or other influence to stop the Goldstone report in its tracks.
But one person with knowledge of the Wednesday call says that wasn’t exactly how it went down: “I don’t think Dan was ‘misspeaking.’ I think he was telling us their real thinking — let it burn out in Geneva and not allow it to go further.” This person speculates that Shapiro hadn’t expected the “off-the-record” call to be leaked, causing the administration embarrassment and publicly elevating its “let’s bury” plan. This person expressed dismay that someone on the call leaked, thereby causing the administration to scurry away from its plan, such as it was, to let it all wither away in Geneva.
But wait. How naive could Shapiro and others in the administration possibly be to believe that, excuse me, a call of multiple Jewish leaders with thousands upon thousands of connections to the media and an acute interest both in the topic and in being seen as “in the know” could be kept quiet? Pretty naive. And if, in fact, Shapiro didn’t have the complete support of everyone in the administration, including Un Ambassador Susan Rice, what was he doing talking to these people anyway? It’s mind-boggling really.
Each day brings the same query—is the administration indifferent (or actually hostile) to Israel’s concerns, or is it simply inept beyond words? Today the pendulum is swinging toward the latter explanation. But, of course, both may be true.
“unabashedly statist and globally submissive.”
cheneys unitary executive wasn’t statist? going to war over old UN resolutions wasn’t globally submissive?
So we come to pay the price for two generations of substandard high school and college education.
It will get worse before it gets better, it seems.
“A Rassmussen poll from earlier in the month found that only 53% of Americans believe capitalism is better than socialism. More alarming, Americans under 30 are evenly divided on the question.”
There’s nothing problematic in the above. People make decisions based on their perception of self interest. As soon as the Capitalistic model begins to offer more (In Actuality,not just in Potential) than the Socialist model,those #s will change. Most people that I know need jobs,they will vote for the system that gets them a paycheck this Friday.
Hey Abe,
maybe you need to look at the internals before writing your piece. only 17% independants and 10% Republicans say the country is on the right track. Unless the country is 50% democrat do these numbers make sense. I think the indy numbers are the bigger story
Another solid entry by RCAR. I would also include the fact that our education system is saturated with
fairness – def. – capitalism is self-promoting and evil
globalism – def. – thinking of American interests is evil
non-judgmental – logic and reason, the foundation of Western civ. are essentially mean and cold
diversity – be a part of the global community, through the unity of big governments.
so, none of this is really surprising to me.
What Michael said. But even if Abe is right for now, lets check back with these happy Obamunists after a couple of years of enduring stagflation and global flubs and weakness, shall we?
Actually the poll showed only 20% thought that socialism was better than capitalism. One out of five people will believe anything.
The number is higher (33%) in the under 30 crowd, but that’s not saying much either.
The more interesting numbers in Rasmussen’s polling show how much distrust of government there is in this country. For example, 60% think the Feds have to much power and $$$. 24% think it’s about right, and fully 9% thinks the Feds have too little power and $$$. Funny how the 9% seem to think they are the majority.
The Dems/Left know this, and that’s why their electoral strategy always has to be 1. Cooptation and 2. Lie through your teeth during campaigns.
And of course it helps to have a press that will provide whatever cover you need.
The educational system is not substandard when it comes to the theories it wishes to advance. It has done a grand job of promoting the idea that America unfairly discriminates against black people, gay people, and poor people. Activists equate traditional values with criminality (Miss USA contest) and have done a very good job of indoctrinating students with these biases. If you agree with the activists, the educational system works very well.
This data is in line with the number of people we are told pay no federal income taxes (around 40 percent and climbing). Why wouldn’t these people vote for a statist system that amounts to a free ride for them and theirs? The wonder is that capitalism has lasted as long as it has in America. And I would submit that once Pandora’s box is open (i.e. the statist system is firmly in place, as it is in Europe), the chances of putting the beast back in the box (i.e. returning to a managed capitalist model) are remote. What majority will vote their entitlements away in order to “stimulate” the economy? What inventor or entrepreneur will stick around long enough to find out? John Galt was a fictional character. Real captains of industry aren’t so noble. They’ll go where the winds of fortune blow them and stay there.
Abe that report shows 46% of the respondents are Democrats. The spread between Dems and Repubs is something like +18 (46-28). Rasmussen shows it closer to +6, and if I remember right the split is like 39-33. So, basically, unless you think Rasmussen has come completely unhinged in the last few months, the raw numbers in the AP report are crap.
More interesting are the trends in the AP pools, since the political weighting is worthless. Most of the trends in the AP poll are moving away from Obama (not all, but most of them). What this indicates is continued deteriorating support.
So, basically, people who are using the raw numbers, without looking at the trends within the report, in order to say “see Obama is doing a great job” are misreading the report. Obama’s performance over the last three months has resulted in deteriorating poll numbers.
Well, look. People have detected and have been shown a manifest failure in crony capitalism. So far, because we haven’t had the equivalent of any Pecora hearings, the political class (in both parties, are you listenging Messrs. Dodd, Frank and Waters?) have been able to get away with murder.
Let us be clear. The Republican Party will only come out of the woods when it recognizes that crony capitalists are not their friends, that a restoration of a regulatory regime on the order of Glass-Stegall is what is needed, and that rigorous regulation and low capital gains taxes can go hand-in-hand, indeed, one cannot exist without the other.
The reason why Obama and his people want no Pecora style hearings is that it would expose the connections of Paulsen, Robert Rubin, and Geithner to the banking scam. Yes, plenty of Republicans would go down. They deserve to. But much of the people fronting this guy from Chicago would go down as well.
By the way, you will find very few Democratic Obama fanboys on this board or any other being honest enough with themselves to recognize the monumental corruption within their own party. They enjoy the power too much. It’s what will be their undoing, just as it was for Bush and his crowd. It’s why a Rachel Maddow can excuse Geithner’s tax evasion as “forgetting”: he’s a Democrat, so he’s on her “team”. Criminality is okay as long as a Democrat does it.
When you understand that that’s how the Obama fanboys think; that anything is allowable as long as a Democrat does it, then you will come to understand that eventually, this intellectual house of cards will come tumbling down. The internal contradictions inherent in this kind of intellectual opportunism are simply too profound to avoid.
I hate to sound like Mr. Marxian, but there you have it.
Sloppy story there Abe- it might actually make sense to ANALYZE THE POLL before drawing conclusions about a country of 303 million people.
Such as the fact that the sample was made up of 46% Democrats and Lean Democrats
and only 28% Republicans and lean Republican. for a PLUS SEVENTEEN POINT democratic lean.
and even then, the right track number doesn’t make it to 50!!
The insight here is simply brilliant. Obama is popular, therefore people are stupid. Put that on a bumper stick and the Republicans will surge to victory in 2010 and beyond.
Greenwald the Torture Mavin says, “I can’t help but think this is more about the inclinations of the American public than it is about the quality of American leadership.”
Neocons believe they are smarter than the American people, that they know best, that “they knew they were right.” These are Trotskyite ideals, so that Greenwald and the rest of the neocons never left the 1940s, where their values played out perfectly in Germany and USSR.
14, I read your post, and gave it a great deal of thought it richly deserved. My conclusion after a lot of analysis: you spelled maven wrong.
#14,
Can you be specific as to how the Bloggers on this site are followers of Trotsky. What do free markets, support of Israel,the spread of Democracy via foreign policy,and military intervention have to do with Trotsky? I read Deutscher’s 3 volume Biography,and it seemed that Trotsky was without a very defined ideology unlike Lenin. ?????
I love how frustrated all of the conservatives on this blog are over the fact that Obama is more popular than they are. It’s hilarious.
17, yes, Jeremy, because being President is a popularity contest, similar to such countries as Iran, Venezuela, and Russia.
Polls are largely meaningless with the press we have in the United States.
One quick key item can illustrate this: Under Bush, there was a running count of each and every death in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was constant news. Now, we still have troops in action in both nations, and the press is mute.
The people can’t be polled with much meaning when those who control the means of information that a sizable portion of the people have to rely on is run by people who selectively report the news based on which party is in the White House — polls aren’t worth much at all.
For another reference beyond Bush – since he is supposedly the only detestable person the left has gone after like this —- As Bernard Goldberg so aptly reminded us in Bias — under Reagan, the press couldn’t spend enough ink or air time covering the Homeless Crisis threatening American society but suddenly didn’t find the story interesting once Clinton was in office.
How many percentage points off Reagan era polls did they manage to shave off or add under Clinton by how they handled that issue for both?
Shorter Abe:
“Well of course a President will be popular when he does things the country agrees with!! Only the truly great Presidents will do things that only 27% of the population agrees with.”
Also, the reason the poll only shows Republicans and Lean Republicans at 26% is because those are the only ones left!! It’s not difficult. You have pushed all moderate Republicans to become independent. But that’s okay. Continue to support torture, and I’m sure they’ll come crawling back.
18- well elections are popularity contests. so he’s basically right. in fact, he’s totally right
Don’t fall into the Obama media propaganda trap. This was the sample breakdown of this poll:
36% of those polled were Democrats
18% Republican
26% Independent
18% None claimed
And:
73% of the Democrats polled thought we were on the right track
17% of Independents
10% of Republicans
Don’t believe the hype.
RCAR- he probbaly means that trotskys perpetual revolution is exactly the same as the neocons wars for democracy and so forth. he ‘s absolutely right