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PrintAugust 26, 2009
Scottish government: Obama-lite?
The Scottish government behind the noxious Lockerbie bomber release was only granted limited self-rule or "devolution" in 1997. Perhaps the Scots serving in their "wee pretendy parliament" are as thick as the UK Telegraph's Gerald Warner suggests in his evisceration of those responsible for the horrendous decision. Mr.Warner assesses the parliament rather caustically:
"The chief consequence of setting up the Holyrood parliament has been that 129 Scottish villages are missing their idiots."
We are just not certain yet whether it is Kenny MacAskill or Gordon Brown leading their liberal/progressive march. While MacAskill has manned up and taken responsibility for the highly suspect decision to release Al-Megrahi, Gordon Brown is nowhere to be found. Perhaps the Prime Minister is curled up in front of the telly, enjoying his cherished gift of DVDs from President Obama on a television which can play US-standard television, very different from what is used in the UK . In any case:
"Gordon Brown ... is notable as the only person on earth, apart from a few Trappist monks, who has voiced no opinion on Megrahi's release."
If Mr. Browne were to reveal his convictions perhaps we could quantify his lack of courage.
While the government's decision to release the bomber remains consistent with the high degree of Anti-Americanism found among the Scots ministers, the commonalities between the new American administration and the lefty Scottish parliament creates a wealth of difficulties for politicians on the American side of the equation. Normally,
"you could not put a cigarette paper between the politics of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy -- America's progressive consensus -- and Alex Salmond and Kenny MacAskill. The supreme irony is that Salmond and MacAskill have damaged Obama when his popularity is plunging."
While Obama is staggering around the American arena like a punch drunk fighter trying to find his legs, the release of Al-Megrahi has Americans, and what's left of what used to be called the free world, extremely agitated and in no mood to provide any additional detained terrorists with a get-out-of-jail-for a fee card and lovely parting gifts.
Now we find that Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi intends to show up at the United Nations to attend the General Assembly for the first time , no doubt to gloat and to lead his anti-Semites-in-arms in a standing ovation for securing the release of his bomber buddy. The self-proclaimed Bedouin would prefer to set up a tent compound, requesting permission to set up in Central Park, or at an estate in New Jersey owned by his oil-rich nation. The loathsome task of securing a site for the now radioactively hot Libyan has fallen upon the broad, pant-suited shoulders of Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration's newly designated travel agent.
Meanwhile, back at Martha's Vineyard, Barack Obama works on his handicap. When he returns to the Oval Office, he will face the combination of public furor over the Lockerbie release, the heat from the reaction to Gaddafi's road show and considerable additional scrutiny of his plan to re-locate the detainees now held at Guantanamo.
When former U.K. Prime Minister Harold McMillan was asked what he feared most as a politician, he replied "Events, dear boy, events." President Obama, through the combination of his failure to take a strong stand against terrorism, his desire to appease the lunatic-pacifist left that comprises his base, sheer inattention and a woeful lack of experience has allowed events to gang up on him.
Good luck with that Guantanamo detainee relocation, Mr. President. Any further efforts to close Guantanamo or relocate the dregs held there, will only be a further expenditure of BO's rapidly diminishing political capital.
Ralph Alter blogs at Right on Target
