March 10, 2009,

Thoughts of Obama from Bama

Week Seven – Don Corleone Obama, The Godfather

“Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”
Michael Corleone, The Godfather ll

Barack H. Obama, our new fearless leader and Commander in Chief, seems to have adopted Don Corleone’s advice as the cornerstone of his new foreign policy strategy. This would certainly explain why we are reaching out and even providing thinly veiled support to nations sympathetic to Islamic Jihadist terrorist, in other words the enemy, (Palestine, Syria, the Taliban and Iran for starters) and at the same time treating our friends, the Brits for example, like a red headed stepchild.

Evidence of this new strategy is abundantly clear when examining British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s first (and very possibly last) state visit to the U.S. this week. Starry eyed and awe struck, like all his fellow countrymen and the rest of Europe, he arrived on our shores and made the pilgrimage to D.C. to worship at the shrine of Obama. To his total dismay, and all is Limey brethren back home, he was inexplicably shunned and publicly humiliated by the mighty Obama hiself.

The insults inflicted on Mr. Brown included the absence of the obligatory and absolutely appropriate state dinner, shindig or hoedown typically thrown for a visiting head of state from one of our closest friends abroad, the unexplained cancelling of a joint Obama and Brown press conference and a truly shameful gift exchange.

Prime Minister Brown, in the spirit of friendship and solidarity, presented President Obama with several priceless gifts including an ornamental desk pen-holder made from the oak timbers of the Victorian anti-slaver HMS Gannet, once named HMS President and an original manuscript of a Churchill book. Sarah Brown, the PM’s wife, gave the Obama girls dresses and necklaces from the trendy Top Shop store, plus books by British authors.

In response to these most appropriate gestures of generosity and graciousness President Obama gave Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the head of state of our closest and most reliable ally, a set of 25 DVDs of American movies. That’s right, I’m ashamed to say it but it’s worth repeating, 25 DVD’s. Rumor has it he also gave the PM a ShamWow and the Misses a Thigh Master but we weren’t able to confirm this before posting this article. To add insult to injury, the First Lady sent an aid down to the White House gift shop at the last minute to buy the Brown’s boys two toy replicas of the presidents’ Marine 1 helicopter. Retail price on Amazon.com, about $15 bucks.

The President topped this foreign affairs train wreck off by returning a bust of Winston Churchill given by Brown's predecessar, Tony Blair, to W after 9/11 in a show of solidarity in our war with radical Islamic terrorist. Mr. Obama must have viewed this most generous of gifts as just another problem inherited from W. and a reminder of our war on terrorism that needed to be discarded as we certainly wouldn’t want to risk offending any of his new Jihadist pals.

As much as I appreciate this rare demonstration of restraint with our tax dollars, the naivety of this administration about how to conduct foreign relations is alarming. If we can afford $1 trillion for a socialist stimulus/spending bill, 4 trillion on the hostile government takeover of healthcare, energy, education and the financial industries you’d think we could afford to buy the British PM and his family a nice present or two. Maybe it all boils down to the fact that the Obamas are both Yankees, and the sad truth is, Yankees just tend to be tacky. Picture knee high black dress socks with sandals and bermuda shorts and I’m sure you can appreciate what I’m saying here.

One final thought on visiting heads of state from allies and friendly nations. The only country that deserves this kinda of treatment is our dear friends the French. We can only hope the Obamas greet the French on their first state visit with a full demonstration of their tacky Yankee best as I can’t think of another more deserving ally for such treatment.

“I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse”
Vito Corleone, The Godfather

Meanwhile, the “Change We Can Believe in” crowd is initiating a dangerous and arrogant foreign policy strategy based on appeasement towards radical Islamic nations who have declared Jihad on we the people and the freedoms and liberties we cherish. Proceeding under the illusion that by the sheer power of the All Mighty Obama’s super human negotiation, persuasion skills, bright smile, firm handshake and winning personality they think we will win the hearts and minds of our enemies and have them all following our lead down the yellow brick road to a utopian socialist society. This way of thinking from my way of thinking is pure fantasy and is an offer Omar and his merry band of rug makers will turn down in a New York minute.

Our government’s new terrorist appeasement policy to “keep our enemies closer” truly boggles the mind. As mentioned in previous post actions already taken by “The Yes We Can” win over the murderous, cowardly, Islamic, Jihadist terrorist crowd include overtures to Iran and Mr. Happy Ahmadinejadjadjadjad to conduct high level talks and our pledge last week of almost $1 billion dollars to the Palestinians and our new best bud’s the terrorist gang Hamas and the remanents of Yasser Arafat’s PLO which is now run by his little brother Nosir, at least so I’ve been told.

This week, in-between time spent ducking enemy sniper fire in Turkey, Madame Secretary of State Hillary “Sarg” Clinton announced our initiation of high level discussions with Syrian officials. Syria, a country that welcomes with open arms the likes of Hezbollah, one of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organizations, with aims to destroy Israel, a dominant force in Lebanon, and among Iran’s terrorist surrogates fighting in Iraq and responsible for 100’s of U.S. military casualties.

Last but sure enough not least are the President and Vice President’s latest brilliant idea to deal with the “moderate” wing of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The moderate wing of the Taliban? Must be the members of this “Top Gun” of the terrorist world who use a machete to cut ones head off as opposed to a full size Arabian battle sword and only murder innocent woman and children six days a week instead of seven as they refrain from raping, pillaging and killing on Fridays, the Islamic Holy day, when they typically pine their time away smoking narcotics in their longneck pipes and molesting their goat herds.

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli”
Clemenza, The Godfather

The President should seriously consider following the example of Clemenza found in the clarity of mission and sense of priority so profoundly relayed in his order quoted above to the assassin who had just pumped two bullets in the back of Pauly’s head for his betrayal that led to Sonny’s brutal killing at the Long Island Toll Gate Station. Even after witnessing this cold blooded murder Clemenza had the presence of mind to assure the gun wouldn’t be traceable and the cannoli would make it home safely to a most grateful wife.

President Obama would greatly benefit from employing a similar clarity of mission when formulating and executing foreign affair strategies for friends and enemies and when setting domestic priorities. These strategies and initiatives should definitely include” going to the mattresses” to bolster our war on terror and to focus like a lazer beam on our real financial crisis, the banks, flow and availability of credit, and leading with confidence and tempered optimism.

Efforts to impose radical social engineering and a massive government expansion based on Marxist Socialist economic theory will have us all “sleeping with the fishes” long before President Obama realizes his keeping your friends close and enemies closer approach to foreign affairs doesn’t hold water in a post 9/11 world.

I am, “American by Birth and Southern by the Grace of God”
Ron W. Garikes