Perception is reality. So if we just control perception, reality disappears — or rather, adheres to the perception we impose on it. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for, and through our iconography and manufacturing of consent we shall lead ye.
Leftists have always believed this. Without somehow recognizing the enormous folly and gargantuan arrogance and narcissism involved in even countenancing such a dangerous bit of hubris.
A U.S. official briefed on the military options being considered by President Obama told the Los Angeles Times that the White House is seeking a strike on Syria “just muscular enough not to get mocked.”
“They are looking at what is just enough to mean something, just enough to be more than symbolic,” the official told the paper, giving credence to similar reports describing a limited military strike in the aftermath of last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack.
NBC News reported earlier this week that the administration would launch three days of missile strikes, while CNN cited a senior administration official saying that the White House wanted to conclude any action before the president departs for the G-20 summit next week.
In other words, the Administration would like a mini-series that perhaps can serve as a pilot for a later series run should the public reception prove favorable, and should the right cast and producers show an interest in pursuing the thing. In the meantime, though, it’s just a pleasant distraction, a bit of escapism. But that doesn’t mean it won’t find its long-run audience down the road a bit with the right marketing campaign.
To which I’d like to add a single suggestion: when casting for the Obama part in the series proper, try using Zombie Ronald Reagan. I think you’ll find the ratings would improve dramatically.
(h/t JohnInColorado)
“[J]ust muscular enough not to get mocked[,]” is just another way of saying “too little to make any difference one way or another.”
How fast can Assad throw up a couple dozen aspirin factories?
Speaking of fictional worlds, this David Thompson thread developed into an interesting Star Trek discussion.
We are using the island of Cypress for an airbase. Assad could strategically take out that airbase and we’re fucked. All the ships we have “menacing” Syria are destroyers and not one carrier.
This is over before it began since the UK is going to Parliament before they commit and Israel is getting nervous about losing Tel Aviv.
…just enough to be more than symbolic…
A symbolic gesture that’s more than symbolic? Little wonder the Russians are openly mocking these monkeys!
Squid,
I wasn’t thinking about this clip from Animal House when I sent the article to Jeff, but your comment immediately brought it to mind.
Remember that dentist kid, “Is this real life?”
Let’s make that our new National Anthem.
Speaking of “Is this real life?”:
More PoMo presidency, BHO won’t address the people of the US before commencing hostilities (CHICKENHAWK!) in Syria. Reason? It’s “passé”.
Greetings:
Nobody seems very interested in my theory that President Obama’s forthcoming attack is mostly about President Assad making Obama look like a jerk. The Chicago-style narcissist in Obama now must do something to restore his piece of mind before the world realizes even more so what he really is as a human being. Of course, having hoisted so many petards on his predecessor, that’s turning out to be a little bit trickier than his cabal imagines.
I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that his biological parents did the right thing in separating themselves from young Barack. I don’t even think that a Jesuit education could have saved him. Or, that Austrian-speaking doctor back in old Vienna of a century or so ago, Freud something or other.
I think you’re right 11B40. Assad, by making a chemical attack on the first anniversary of Obama drawing his “red line” has “dissed” the O-man something terrible. Now he must respond and do so in a way that won’t invite more dissing from his critics in that most feared style known as “mocking” him.
At the same time he must not go too far and get into a scuffle with the thug gangs of Russia and China. These calibrations will take time to make but you can be sure that the response will be one that the Press will fall to their knees and call worthy of FDR.
Of course telling everyone that you are doing this calibration makes the whole exercise one that mocks itself.
Sounds about right to me, 11B40.
Don’t forget that his drone games and Libya fun has dulled whatever morals he once had.
Have we confirmed for certain Obama hasn’t misheard the whole thing, a la Emily Litella, and thinks he’s defending the honor of BlackBerry by waging war on Siri?
Some ideas so bad that only a faculty lounge lizard president could suggest them.
“Are”, arrgghh.
Heheh. Funny, McGehee.
OT?
I find conversations a lot more interesting with idiots these days, because I never know what level of knowledge they have about the deterioration of the country. Given both facts that it is slow and steady and the media still spends most of their time hiding it.
“arrgghh”
talk like pirate day is in couple of weeks
Lefties are sneaky about their war on Math. One of the reasons primary schools are so hot on reading readiness is that most teachers suck at math.
I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that his biological parents did the right thing in separating themselves from young Barack.
It’s more likely that their abandoning him is what turned him into an narcissist in the first place. Having been ditched by three parents (and very deliberately so by his mom), he’d protect himself against feeling like the most worthless person on the planet by convincing himself that he was the most important.
If Frank Marshall Davis (possibly his bio-dad) molested him, that would also explain a lot. That kind of extreme devaluation is fertile ground for a personality disorder, and Obama’s current behavior provides a textbook example of how narcissists behave.
If Presbo’s reason for going to not-war is to save face, now is the time for cooler heads to prevail and say “No!”
Those comments, “just muscular enough not to get mocked” and “just enough to mean something, just enough to be more than symbolic”, are just…embarrassing, really.
It roughly translates to: Obama wants to look tough without having to, you know, be tough. Because it’s all about how Obama looks.
Not about the Syrians.
Not about how this will provoke Iran and Russia to get involved.
Not about Israel.
Not about the American lives this may jeopardize (military, embassy personnel, citizens abroad, etc.).
About Obama looking muscular with his just-slightly-more-than-symbolic gesture.
Wow.
leigh, someone should tell Presbo he’s long past being able to save face.
Anyone else find the Russian tweet: “The West is like a monkey with a hand grenade” as funny as I did? May not be very diplomatic, but the truth rarely is.
Blake – It’s funny because it’s true. And what a dead-on analogy, huh?
Libby, I saw him prattling away with two broads from PBS (one looked like Gwen Ifill) about a “shot across the bow” and how this was only going to take three days. Tops. What a dumbass. Note to Presbo: do not use analogies that you don’t understand. A shot across the bow means knock it off or we destroy you. It’s not doing the dozens.
That Russian tweet is priceless. I can’t wait to see Putin cut Presbo dead at the G20 next week.
leigh, are you fucking kidding me? Did Presbo really use the term “shot across the bow” in reference to lobbing a few missiles into Syria?
That’s a diplomatic nightmare…these people are beyond stupid.
Good God.
Jeff wrote:
Hey…is that Nemesis I see approaching???
How Obama can sit there and casually talk about a shot across the bow is unbelievable. Does he not understand that our media is available from around the world, and serious people – the kind that have been killing and gassing their own citizens, or who repeatedly announce their intention to ‘wipe Israel off the map’ – laugh at his pathetic threat to send a warning shot?
He did, Blake. My husband who spent 3 tours in Viet Nam blanched when he said that.
Greetings: especially “dicentra says” @ August 28, 2013 at 6:13 pm
Very much agreed. I think that that Austrian-speaking (Did I mention Austrian-speaking) might have called it “compensation”.
Having spent a fair amount of time in the Psychology Department (because, unlike a lot of the other guys, that’s where the girls were), I’m still amazed that our vaunted media completely and probably intentionally disregarded what must be the most fractured upbringing of any President of which I’m aware (even though that may not be that many.). The last bit, when he delayed going to the beside of his dying grandmother, who helped “raise” him lest he interrupt his election campaign, revealed way too much of his character to me.
Oh now he doesn’t want to hold a press conference. No, that’s reserved for important matters like a Harvard professor being mistaken for a burglar and the Zimmerman verdict (h/t Ace):
[Glen]Thrush reported on Wednesday that, based on his conversations with aides to the president, Obama will not address the American people about the mission in Syria before hostilities commence. Thrush reports that Obama’s advisors believe addressing Americans from the gravity of the Oval Office or the East Room is “passé.” Furthermore, most Americans who care about the mission in Syria will learn the logic behind it from cable news.
Libs are now saying that yeah, it’s cool for the prez to unilaterally declare a military action, but it would be nice if he talked to congress first. Even though he doesn’t really have to and stuff.
God almighty. We’re doomed.
Heh. Someone on Twitchy called this Operation Mom Jeans.
Blake, here is the quote:
So he just telegraphed his intentions to not do anything more than a ‘limited, tailored approach’.
That’s some serious Jedi mind-fu. Or idiocy.
He’s so used to his base not watching the news…
Has any of his crack staff clued him in that he is putting himself (and us) on the side of Al-Queda?
“Has any of his crack staff clued him in that he is putting himself (and us) on the side of Al-Queda?”
Dennis Kucinich: Syria Strike Would Make U.S. ‘Al Qaeda’s Air Force,
The fact that the left fails to protest any war or military action when a Demoncrat is in the WH tells me all I need to know about their convictions, or lack thereof.
No lie cranky. Where’s Code Pink?
” Where’s Code Pink?”
soros turns off the spigot
Antiwar Left Stays Quiet On Syria
With less money and fewer members, antiwar groups struggle to effectively protest the imminent war in Syria.
That would be the same Code Pink that works with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood?
One of the (900) memes at AOS was “Operation Fredo” (Corleone).
Has any of his crack-addled staff…
FTFY.
McGehee, that made me laugh.
Leigh, I’m almost speechless. That statement is beyond special needs stupid. Wow, did Jarrett was actually dumb enough to allow Obama to talk without a teleprompter.
The Russians, Chinese and Iranians are going to make hay with that idiocy.
Obama: Hey, Assad, we’re going to wipe Syria off the map if you don’t stop. And to prove we’re serious, we’re going to lob a few missiles to show you we really mean business.
Putin: Hey, Obonehead, you just threated to destroy Syria. We might just have something to say about that.
Chinese: Count us in!
There is no walking back that idiocy. It cannot be done. Wow. Just wow. Love me that smart diplomacy, yes I do.
Heh.
Blake, it’s even worse when you listen to it. At least the transcript removes all the uuhhhs and and and ands.
That would be the same Code Pink that works with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood?
Really? I didn’t know that Libby.
CODE PINK PRO-HAMAS ACTIVIST Interrupts Netanyahu in Congress …Update: She Did It Before
Thanks, nr.
Who’s going to stop him? Congress?
hah!
The Cabinet?
ha hah!
That’s because an Iranian agent of influence and a red diaper baby are the most trusted and influential advisors to the President of the United States.
#Manchurian Candidate
Ernst, I’m to the point I cannot tell if Obama went “off the reservation” or the answer was scripted.
Either way, it’s an appalling and irresponsible statement.
Let’s see, the last I saw, almost all of our carriers are neatly lined up in Norfolk. One nuke, and the ability of the US to project power is over.
Yeah, I’m thinking Pearl Harbor does Norfolk.
Of course, something like that will never happen again, because this times, things are different.
“Off the rez” by an America (as it is) hating President or scripted by a couple of American hating agent provacateurs, what’s the difference?
And how do you even tell?
“The Queen called and said she’d appreciate it if I could find an appropriate way to express her gratitude for all the fine speeches and Winston’s bust and I thought this is just the thing…“
That right there might just be the saddest part of this whole sorry spectacle. What the American Right considers a necessary act of public leadership, the American Left considers a “tactic” for agitating the rubes.
Expecting the People to go along with whatever it is you happen to decide, because you’re the one who decided it, and thus no explaination need be forthcoming; that’s imperial hubris.
Somebody be sure to tell Michael Scheuer and Chalmers Johnson.
Preferably up the side of the head.
I love that “NO to American war on Syrian People” poster the painted protest girl is holding in the second photo on the Telegraph piece Geoff linked.
Because Syrian Regime warring on the Syrian People is plenty, right?
Jesus. Every time I start to worry I drink too much, I discover I’m not drinking enough.
Pass the Victory Gin, will ya?
If she dressed like that back home with the rebels she’d learn war up close and personal.
Who says she’s Syrian and not just a dumb-ass privileged Brit who’s never been exposed to life in whatever the hell it is that they call their “projects” in England?
True, sorta like another “dumb-ass privileged” git.
That was about embarrassing the cowboy warmonger, so it doesn’t count.
And you’re a sexist, misogynistic a-hole to even remember that!
You are too kind.
I don’t know if the anti-war movement was ever actually “anti-war” rather than “pro far-left agenda,” but it sure isn’t now.
All I can do is look out for me & my own now.
Ø-Merica has made its bed. Now it has to lie in it….
Oh, that’s it! Blame the victim, why don’t you? Hater.
Global warming has apparently wiped out the Puff-Chested North American War Protester.
omeone on Twitchy called this Operation Mom Jeans
So it’s no longer War for Oooooiiilll!!! It’s war as a vanity project?
Everything this president does is a vanity project.
cranky, that was worth another laugh. I needed that.
How things work out when an entire country is run as a vanity project by 3 generations of the vain, insane & lefty favs.
Syria is just foreigners, he doesn’t really care one way or the other as long as they don’t diss him publicly. On the domestic side, that is where he finds real enemies and is serious. BTW, this part:
Is bullshit. This is just to hassle those who have Class III registered weapons more than they already are. Hollywood will need an exemption from this so I’d bet that is in it somewhere.
Anyone see any Arch-Dukes wandering around?
Benghazi and Syria, together still.
1. If officials are going to the LA Times with such damaging quotes, I think we can assume that the Obamistration’s internal controls are falling apart almost as quickly as its foreign policy.
2. The Tea Party need to start fucking around with Obama enough to get him to declare a Bright Red Line against us. Just for the opportunity to give him the finger. Why should the foreigners get all the fun?
OT: Detroit, don’t die there, you can’t eat there, but you can get yourself a educated gold-digger easily.
The back down begins. Searching for a way to save face, vanity being the most important thing.
Well, I didn’t want us to be Al Qeida’s (or however you spell it) air force, so I’d just as soon we didn’t attack Syria.
He should be less concerned about mocking than how this will *embolden* our enemies. What’s sillier & weaker than a monkey with a grenade?
What’s sillier & weaker than a monkey with a grenade?
A monkey without a grape?
Oh, wait.
You just know Putin is pointing and laughing at our President and, by extension, Americans.
Way to go, Presbo! You crawled out onto a limb and promptly sawed it off behind you.
Putin just called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. Situation: FUBAR.
Putin already has China and Iran lined up and is going to tell the US Ambassador and the President what’s what.
Yup. Iran is vowing retaliation on Israel if we strike Syria.
The idiots in the White House have a foreign policy that resembles a checker player with ADD.
leigh,
Bibi sounds ready:
Oh, I have no doubt they are, John. They aren’t about to let Tel Aviv go up in flames. Those Arabs need a reminder of the humiliation they got handed in the Six Days War.
Maybe we should strike Tehran in retaliation for the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
Hmm, isn’t there a Bible prophecy concerning Russia and Iran (the northern kingdom and Persia, If memory serves) aligning to wipe out Israel and getting absolutely routed?