Still in Rome, after discussing with the Pope “the rights to religious freedom, life and conscientious objection” in America, and after yessing to death the man he claims to admire, Obama moved on to the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley. 

The president stressed to Mr. Pelley that Russia, meaning Vladimir Putin, who recently took steps toward reintegrating Crimea back into the Russian Federation, must take steps to reduce tensions with the Ukraine. 

“Must” as in ‘he’d better take steps?’

Obama also informed Pelley that military exercises are not what “Russia would normally be doing,” and who would know better than Barack Obama what Russia would “normally be doing?”  Providing some detail, Obama said that Vladimir’s actions “may simply be an effort to intimidate Ukraine or it may be that they've got additional plans.”

Then, via the CBS Evening News, the president offered a stern warning to Mr. Putin who, God knows, hangs on Obama’s every word. This was the president’s advice: “Move back those troops and begin negotiations directly with the Ukrainian government, as well as the international community.”

Obama should be more understanding of Mr. Putin, because other than their pectoral muscles, testosterone levels, and post-election “flexibility,” these two men are really quite similar.

For example, Obama told Scott Pelley that Putin considered the breakup of the Soviet Union “tragic,” which is how Obama would feel about the repeal of Obamacare – “tragic.”

Think about it: former KGB officer Vladimir is as dedicated to reestablishing the Soviet Union as Barack is to establishing a socialist-style healthcare system almost nobody wants. Moreover, deeply-held grievances are what drive Barack Obama to ‘fundamentally transform’ America into the Soviet Union while, according to Obama, Vladimir’s aggression suggests “a deeply held grievance about what he considers to be the loss of the Soviet Union.”

Belying his foreign policy expertise, a glimmer of naiveté did emerge when tough-guy Obama verbalized his profound confidence in the goodness of humanity:

You would have thought that after a couple of decades that there'd be an awareness on the part of any Russian leader that the path forward is not to revert back to the kinds of practices that, you know, were so prevalent during the Cold War but, in fact, to move forward with further integration with the world economy and to be a responsible international citizen.

Apparently, the president’s liberal fantasy is that a diehard USSR KGB officer would mellow with time, gain New Age “awareness,” and progress merrily along “the path forward” toward “further integration with the world economy” and become a responsible world citizen like Barack claims to be. 

For a second there, after hearing his thoughts on how Putin should have evolved, one couldn’t help but look around to see where Obama parked his unicorn.

Then, putting on his psychoanalyst hat, Sigmund Obama offered the following carefully-worded, vaguely anti-American rationale as to why Putin, who probably understands Barack Obama better than Barack Obama understands himself, may be planning to invade the Ukraine: “There's a strong sense of Russian nationalism and a sense that somehow the West has taken advantage of Russia in the past and that he wants to, in some fashion, reverse that or make up for that.” 

The in-depth analysis continued: “What I have repeatedly said is that [Mr. Putin] may be entirely misreading the West. He's certainly misreading American foreign policy.”

Oh no he’s not! Pootie-Poot Putin isn’t misreading anything.  He knows full well he’s dealing with the wimpiest of America’s ‘Wimpy Kids.’

In fairness, Barry’s Irish did flare a bit when he said:

And it is true that we reject the notion that there is a sphere of influence along the Russian border that then justifies Russia invading other countries…But there's a difference between that and sending in troops, and because you're bigger and stronger taking a piece of the country - that is not how international law and international norms are observed in the 21st century.

But wait!  Isn’t that how the IRS, DHS and the NSA work in 21st century America? So why not in Russia? 

Finishing up with the Putin topic, the president stressed that, in much the same way he’s encouraged the American people to make their own decisions about how they live their lives (ahem), America has no interest in “in Ukraine beyond letting the Ukrainian people make their own decisions about their own lives.”

Nevertheless, according to Scott Pelley, wide-ranging international denunciation of Russia's invasion of Crimea has “lifted the president’s confidence,” and everyone knows that lifting Obama’s confidence, much like speaking to the universe and barking at the moon, brings communist invaders to their knees.

But if diplomacy, lifted confidence, and sanctions fail to work, as a last resort Obama could always put together another gift basket full of White House garden vegetable seeds and use it to persuade vegetable lover Vladimir Putin to pull his troops off the Ukrainian border.

Seeds or no seeds, judging from the interview, Barack Obama seems convinced that he possesses the moral authority to censure Vladimir Putin for exercising control in a Russian “sphere of influence.” Meanwhile, within what he perceives to be his own “sphere of influence,” Obama continues crossing the border into American lives.

Jeannie hosts a blog at www.jeannie-ology.com