Obama is brilliant!

[zwyziec]

President Obama is the only one in the world who has staunchly stood his ground for a military strike against Assad, and who has the power to do that even without the consent of Congress.

Keeping that card on the table made Russia blink and offer Assad a way out of avoiding a bloodbath and look like a Romanian dictator by accepting Putin's offer to put his chemicals and gas weapons under International control.

We still have to wait and see, but it's looking like the stick and carrot is working!

"MOSCOW — In a surprise move, Russia promised Monday to push its ally Syria to place its chemical weapons under international control and then dismantle them quickly to avert U.S. strikes."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/09/russia-syria-chemical-weapons-international-control_n_3893951.html

Good on Obama!

[Peacetrain]

1. Really... wowo

My guess is that the Russians know that the UN tests are going to come back with their signature on the Sarin gas..

Keep us posted..

[Buddaman]

10. You may have nailed it big time....nt

[polichick]

14. Very well could be.

[NYC_SKP]

2. No threat, no action.

I hope you're right.

It would be consistent with his clever and effective strategies in the past.

[rocktivity]

3. Yes, the Rope-A-Dope Kid may have struck again.

If he can end this crisis diplomatically, he'll make everyone look like fools. He can't be serious about creating a carbon copy of what Bush did, and what can lethal bombs do for Syria's civilians that lethal gas can't?

Fingers, toes, and eyes crossed...


rocktivity

[Jackpine Radical]

4. May it be so.

[polichick]

5. Yes, he doesn't really want a strike at all...

That's what he's going to say in tomorrow's address - right?

[Schema Thing]

6. Well, yeah. But we've all known that all along,

However, imo, this is not an example of his brilliance so much as his consistency (which does reflect deep intelligence).


Consistency - people on DU should consider adding some of that, and having appreciation for that, to their own emotional and intellectual toolkits.

[Baitball Blogger]

7. I hope this is the way it plays out.

I've always said that Obama is not a president I would want to play Poker with.

[Proud Public Servant]

8. Except the US is walking back the offer

Kerry speaking rhetorically over Syria turning in weapons: State Department

REUTERS/Susan Walsh/Pool
LONDON | Mon Sep 9, 2013 7:22am EDT
(Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry was making a rhetorical comment when he said on Monday that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad would not hand over his country's chemical weapons.

Kerry told a news briefing on Monday that Assad could avoid a military strike by turning over all his chemical weapons within a week but added that Assad was not about to do that.

"Secretary Kerry was making a rhetorical argument about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he has denied he used," a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/09/us-syria-crisis-weapons-idUSBRE9880GE20130909

[jberryhill]

38. "about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons"

In response to which the only viable move on Assad's part is to turn them over, and not drag his feet.

They aren't "walking back an offer". They are pretty much putting neon lights around the way out.

[frazzled]

9. I hope this is what is meant by the idea of ...

"always having force on the table" as a means to pressing negotiation.

It seems to me that Obama and Putin must have had some interesting words on this subject at the G-20.

[VanillaRhapsody]

26. walk softly...carry a big stick...

[Maraya1969]

11. I certainly hope so. And Obama has done this in the past and had everyone in an uproar

only to find out later that he was bluffing to get his way.

It sounds so unlike him to be like bush.

[VanillaRhapsody]

28. still beating THAT dead horse are ya?

[Maraya1969]

53. Are you saying Obama is like bush?????

Pleeeeze. Or are you saying he never pulled a fast one in the past. Because if it is the second you have not been paying attention.

[VanillaRhapsody]

54. Question is...what are you saying?

cause you seem to be trying very hard to put words into my mouth.

[cui bono]

12. Okay, so let's say he is a brilliant negotiator based on this.

That would mean that he brilliantly negotiated Obamacare and got us truly fantastic health care plan that solves this countries health coverage problems and... brilliantly negotiated extending the Bush tax cuts... brilliantly "held strong" by putting SS on the table and in jeopardy for all time to come until Dems get a spine again and start standing up for the American people and we all can see that isn't going to happen anytime soon...

So if he is a brilliant negotiator as you claim that means he wanted to screw us in favor of banksters and rich people. Good to know.

Seriously, the brilliant eleventy brazillionth dimensional chess master meme is so fucking old.

[NYC_SKP]

15. Have you had a look at the make up of the congress with which he had to work.

He ain't perfect, but he ain't the bad person some portray him to be.

[cui bono]

16. Yes, but that doesn't explain the lack of fight or negotiating tactics.

I understand the obstructionists. I wish the ardent Obama supporters understood that he is not a multi-dimensional chess master.

[NYC_SKP]

17. Eh, he's just a man, smarter than me but still fallible.

I think the system long ago grew too corrupt and complex for anyone, even an FDR with an FDR congress, to really make the kinds of changes that need to be make.

[cui bono]

18. Yes, which is why all OPs and posts that begin with "Obama is brilliant"

are ridiculous.

[VanillaRhapsody]

29. Not when he has shown so many times to be thus...

[cui bono]

39. Eleventy brazillionth dimension chess doesn't count. lol

[VanillaRhapsody]

41. but having a Poke Poke Poke Poker Face...

does! HA

[cui bono]

45. You can dream....

[VanillaRhapsody]

46. Haven't been sleeping...

been here on DU....taking on all comers. I feel the need to gloat...since I took so much bullshit off of people on this site these last few days. Like Obama....I stay the course!

[JimDandy]

37. Sadly, probably true about inability of anyone to make needed changes

in this system.

[grahamhgreen]

25. +1

[VanillaRhapsody]

47. Uh Oh...pass the Kleenex...

[Maraya1969]

52. The President is not a king!

Geeze, First I think that is exactly what he did with SS and I think he KNEW that there was no way in Hell that it would ever pass. And if for some pigs fly reason if it did I believe he had a contingency plan.

And do you remember when they were trying to pass Obamacare? If was fighting tooth and nail. They had to pull out all sorts of stops and tricks to get that thing passed. It wouldn't have a chance with a single payer at that time.

And I remember Bill Clinton telling everyone that extending the bush tax cuts were the right thing to do FOR THAT TIME. He only extended them 2 years.

Sometimes I think people here think he is a king or that we don't have a congress or that republicans don't exist.

Try negotiating for something once and see if you get everything that you want. It just doesn't happen.

[cui bono]

55. He never fought for the public option.

He let it go. And did you forget he had secret (which he was forced to admit happened after he tried to deny them) meetings with health insurance during his "negotiations"? I'm not sure he didn't get everything he wanted. He didn't fight for much more than what he got.

As to SS, he put that on the table. A DEM put that on the table! That should NEVER happen. Now it is fair game for anyone to put on the table. Dumb move. Very dumb. Unless you don't care about SS.

I don't much care that Bill Clinton said anything was the right thing to do. He represents big business and he's not the president. And when he was president he signed NAFTA. So no, not worried that Clinton supported it.

No one thinks he is king. I would like to see him actually fight for policies that help the people of this country instead of the banksters and the corporations.

[Maraya1969]

56. You have Obama derangement syndrome. I would seriously take a look at that.

[cui bono]

57. Care to refute what I said instead of just resorting to childish retorts?

[HangOnKids]

58. Are you a DR Maraya?

And DU frowns on medical advice/assessments given by posters, just a heads up.

[flamingdem]

13. Obama looking GOOD with this latest turn of events

Let's hope something comes of this

[SunSeeker]

19. Shush! If people think it was Obama's idea, no one will want to do it. nt

[Hoyt]

31. +1.

[JaneyVee]

20. K and R

[Avalux]

21. K&R and agree completely! n/t

[rug]

22. How brilliant will you think he is if this fails and he orders military strikes?

[blkmusclmachine]

23. Will 11-Dimensional Chess finally pan out for BHO? Or is this more smoke-blowing by the Admin?

[grahamhgreen]

24. HAHAHAHAHA. FAIL.

Speaking at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Kerry said that al-Assad “could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week.”

The U.S. secretary of state described that as an impossible scenario.

“He isn’t about to do it,” Kerry said. “And it can’t be done, obviously.”

The State Department later sought to clarify Kerry’s comment as a “rhetorical argument,” and one U.S. official called it a “major goof,” adding that America’s top diplomat “clearly went off script.”

“There is no one in the administration who is taking this Syria proposal seriously,” the official said.

Read more: http://pix11.com/2013/09/09/hillary-clinton-important-step-if-syria-surrenders-chemical-weapons/#ixzz2eQyXInhH

[VanillaRhapsody]

42. Uh no...

President Barack Obama said on Monday that a military strike against Syria would “absolutely” be avoided if it follows a Russian proposal to surrender its chemical weapons stockpile.

Obama confirmed to ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer that the U.S. would withdraw plans for an attack “if, in fact, it happened. I consider this a modestly positive development,” adding that Secretary of State John Kerry would “run this plan to ground.”

[dkf]

27. I'd rather not be in the crazy car please. If scaring us is his game then he plays it well.

[VanillaRhapsody]

30. Actually He counted on it!

he could never have pulled it off without a large percentage of what those on the right would perceive as his base screaming bloody murder. Obama thanks you for your support in his effort.

[Summer Hathaway]

33. It's not his fault

that the hair-on-fire-brigade starts screaming about the sky falling every ten minutes.

Not to worry. You will be advised to be about something else any minute now. And I'm sure you'll waste no time jumping on THAT bandwagon, the minute it rolls into town.

[dkf]

35. Well he is just escalating his alarming actions.

And if you aren't alarmed, maybe you should be.

[Summer Hathaway]

36. I have never found his actions

to be 'alarming' in any way.

His actions have always been thoughtful and measured. He didn't earn the name "No Drama Obama" without reason.

The hair-on-fire-brigade will always find something to encourage people to be "alarmed" over - that's what they do.

If you want to ride that bandwagon, that's your prerogative. I prefer to live in the real world, where comments like "Obama WANTS his own WAR!!!" and the like are dismissed as what they are - utter and complete bullshit spewed by people who lack not only political insight, but plain old common sense.

[VanillaRhapsody]

48. Or perhaps learn to be like Obama....get some backbone

and stay the course!

[VanillaRhapsody]

43. Have to agree with you here...Fair weather politics is what they want

but politics is a messy sport.

[bowens43]

32. ROFLMAO!!! Brilliant? 3D chess again? the true believers will never see the light

[reusrename]

40. I guess Bush was also brilliant!

He made the exact same deal with Hussein.

[flying-skeleton]

34. Brilliant indeed

Without a single bomb and without a single boot on the ground, Obama will have taken Syria's chemical stockpiles out of the equation. If that isn't brilliant, then I don;t know what is. But of course, the GOP will never admit that and if anything, will attempt to take credit for this.

[VanillaRhapsody]

44. GOP...Hell the DU "American Lefties" don't seem to want to admit it either!

they are trying oh so hard to spin this in their favor as we speak.

I used the quotation marks...cause I think there are a number here pretending to be Americans...

[Summer Hathaway]

49. There are quite a number here pretending to be "lefties". n/t

[Bobbie Jo]

50. K&R

[Californeeway]

51. Obama has an IQ of 139 btw

so yeah, he is brilliant, by relatively objective standards.

much more brilliant than the vast majority of his detractors who embarrass themselves again and again trying to find the most insulting way to interpret his actions that they can.

It's ideological rigidness to the point of stupidity. He's not a militant Liberal so he must be an evil piece of shit. He doesn't do what I want him to do so he must be an idiot or a sellout.

I see a man of decent moral fiber and tremendous intellectual capacity wrestling with the most difficult and unsolvable problems of our time. He's going to win some, he's going to lose some. He's going to make some different decisions than I would of hoped for. I don't expect him to have the most stereotypical Liberal reaction to every situation. I expect him to be logical and do the logical/moral thing, to sometimes be flawed or make mistakes but to do his best to help people. This realistic set of expectations has allowed me handle the disappointments with a kind of understanding and appreciation of the man and the difficulty of the job that the detractors seem to be desperate to resist. ...Because everyone knows a real Liberal chafes at all authority figures, even the ones fighting their battles for them.

That Obama may make mistakes or handle things differently than how some DU posters would like seems to me inevitable. But I admit taking satisfaction from the knowledge that pretty much every last self-righteous Obama hater on this message board would psychological crumble if they were asked to do his job for a day. All of their half-baked feel-goody ideas about just rigidly shoving Liberal policy down the rest of the countries throat in undemocratic fashion would fail dramatically, and they would realize how ridiculous and counterproductive their arrogant assumptions are.