Barack Obama -- April 11, 2009

April 11, 2009

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Obama once dressed as
a Somali elder. Now he has
to kill Somali pirates.

event	description
Obama Releases Reagan Records	Obama is ordering the release of nearly a quarter of a million pages of records from the Reagan White House that were kept from the public during a lengthy review by President George W. Bush. The Reagan documents – which include presidential briefing papers, speechwriting research materials and declassified foreign policy records — are expected to be released Monday. This is just one more example of the double-standard of the left. Obama releases Reagan's records, but continues to employ an army of high-paid lawyers whose sole purpose is to keep his own records from the American People. What is Obama hiding?
Kentucky Asked To Investigate Obama's Eligibility	An official in the office of Kentucky's elections chief has referred to state Attorney General Jack Conway for investigation the issue of Barack Obama's eligibility to be president. In a letter to Conway, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Leslie A. Fugate noted the issue of "President Barack Obama's eligibility to be on the ballot in Kentucky." "Because our office does not have investigative powers … we are referring the matter to your office," she wrote. The letter followed a visit to elections officials by California attorney Orly Taitz, who is working through her Defend Our Freedoms Foundation on several court cases challenging Obama's eligibility. A committee of concerned citizens accompanied Taitz to Fugate's office to ask that the eligibility issue be investigated. There was no immediate word on the status of any investigative work that might be launched by investigators for Conway, the 49th attorney general for Kentucky, who was elected in 2007 and has made targeting cybercrimes a priority. If a formal investigation actually is begun it apparently would be the first time the many lawsuit plaintiffs across the country would see a door opening to some answers about the murky circumstances surrounding Obama's eligibility to be president. More here . . .
The Humbling of a Superpower	It is hard to imagine a bigger slight to the memory of the more than 100,000 American soldiers who died liberating Europe than the image of a U.S. president attacking the "arrogance" of his own country on French soil. Obama’s speech last week ahead of the NATO summit in Strasbourg, barely 500 miles from the beaches of Normandy, marked a low point in presidential speechmaking on foreign policy. The largely French and German town hall audience cheered like ancient Romans in a packed Coliseum. This time, however, it was not Christians being fed to the lions but the symbolism of U.S. power, as the president lashed out at America’s "failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world." Obama bemoaned that "instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." The Franco-German crowd also clapped mightily in approval and bayed for more when Obama boasted of closing down the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, declaring that "without equivocation or exception that the United States of America does not and will not torture," as though his own country had been some sort of brutal tyranny that had suddenly seen the light with his election. It was a thoroughly distasteful attack on the previous administration’s interrogation of extremely dangerous terror suspects, feeding into the very anti-Americanism that Obama had half-heartedly challenged earlier in his address. This was a humiliating spectacle to behold as the leader of the most powerful nation on earth prostrated his country before a European audience that lapped up his message as though it was manna from heaven. Continue reading here . . .
Captives, What Captives?	Abe Greenwald observes that four Americans are now being held captive by foreign governments or non-state actors: two journalists in North Korea, one journalist in Iran, and one ship captain off the coast of Somalia. Has anyone heard from Obama about these incidents? In regard to North Korea and Iran, Obama is too dug-in to his capitulationist stance to make a peep. While free and safe journalists praise Obama for "listening" to autocrats and fanatics, their less fortunate colleagues have been listening in vain for a word from the Obama. Tragic as that is, it does at least free him up to speak forcefully about the Somali pirates now holding the brave and selfless Capt. Richard Phillips. After all, we can’t possibly have an interest in engaging these stateless thugs. So what message has Obama sent? "So far President Barack Obama’s role in the U.S. response to an American sea captain’s kidnapping by Somali pirates has been careful -- and quiet," writes the Associated Press’ Liz Sidoti. "The new commander in chief has been kept abreast of negotiations over the captain’s release, but advisers say Obama has delegated the heavy lifting to high-level administration officials and his military commanders. Obama himself has yet to speak publicly about the incident near the Horn of Africa. He brushed off a reporter’s question Thursday. Instead he has let his top surrogates do the talking, although their comments have been brief, perhaps mindful that their words could influence the sensitive negotiations with the hostage-taking pirates." It is far too easy to criticize Obama for failing to do or say the right thing in regard to these fragile situations. Missteps could prove fatal. But to do and say nothing about Americans being held captive in foreign lands is a scandal in itself and another global advertisement for America’s new and pervasive sense of trepidation.