Obama red lines crossed: World yawns
Michael Rubin writes over at Commentary Magazine:
Foreign Policy's Josh Rogin reported that the State Department has concluded that Bashar al-Assad's forces have indeed used chemical weapons against civilians in the Syrian civil war. The use of chemical weapons, of course, has been the Obama administration's declared red line for U.S. action against Bashar al-Assad's regime. As Rogin noted:
"The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable," Obama said Dec. 3, directing his comments at Assad. "If you make the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable." That same day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added: "we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur."
It now seems clear that the emperor has no clothes: Obama's red lines are meant as fancy declarations for U.S. consumption, but should not be taken seriously by America's adversaries. The problem will not be limited to Syria: Obama has said repeatedly that Iran's development of nuclear weapons would be a red line that the Islamic Republic should not cross. The president's nomination of Chuck Hagel has already raised doubts about White House seriousness, no matter how much Hagel and his allies try to erase or re-spin his previous record. Now, however, the Islamic Republic will figure that if they not only go up to the line in the sand but cross it, the consequence will be ... silence.
Again, our adversaries realize that Obama's most forceful approach is against Republicans and allies overseas. Enemies that have American blood on their hands (Iran) get a pass.
They realize that the Just Say No defense is all that is needed to ignore Obama who prefers castigating and slandering Republicans than dealing with adversaries that threaten America.
Obama warned Iran during the 1912 election season "I don't bluff."
Yes, you do and you are quite bad at doing so. I would like to be a guest at those poker games where Obama prides himself as being a superior player.
In 2008, Obama dismissed Hillary Clinton's criticism that all he was good at was giving speeches. He retorted that words have the power to move nations and that the words of Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King, Junior should not be dismissed as "Just Words".
Barack Obama - you are no Thomas Jefferson, you are no Martin Luther King, and you are no one who is taken seriously on the world stage.
Your words are just verbiage.
Iran - the number one terrorist nation on earth - is well on its way to nuclear weapons.