Obama Gives PM Gordon Brown a Crummy Box of DVDs

Maybe They Could've Sweetened the Deal with a Used Copy of Mac and Me

It pretty much goes without say that the Brits have been one of our best allies ever since that whole unpleasant War of 1812 business. World War I, World War II, standing united against communist expansion, fighting side by side against terrorism, and other "minor" mutual understandings to name a few. But Obama's staff neglected to pull out the stops when PM Gordon Brown was in town and gave him what looks like a box of used DVDs from a Virginia flea market. Not exactly the V.I.P. treatment for a Prime Minister. Perhaps Obama should've screened his staff for protocol experience instead of whether or not they ever owned a firearm. From Daily Mail (h/t Flopping Aces):

Perhaps pertinently, given Britain is floundering in an economic slump, the DVD collection was thought to feature the movie of John Steinbeck's Great Depression novel, 'The Grapes Of Wrath'.

The gift also included the Oscar-winning boxing biopic 'Raging Bull' starring Robert Di Nero and Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Psycho - maybe a comment on the PM's notorious short fuse?

And he will hope that at a General Election the British public do not shun his imploration for another term in office by thinking at the ballot box of the famous line from another of the movies, Casblanca: 'Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.'

Obviously, the Brits, big on the whole pomp and circumstance thing, were bloody-well pissed. Obama is set to meet the Queen of England in the near future. Let's hope that some boneheaded staffer doesn't diarrhea all over the toilet seat in Buckingham Palace further embarrassing America.

Peacenik Obama Turns Into Dr. Strangelove

Obama Promises Full-Scale Nuclear Annihilation!

And you hippies thought you were voting for peace, justice, and free mortgages! A source from team Obama has stated that the U.S. would nuke Iran if Israel gets hit. From Haaretz:

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's administration will offer Israel a "nuclear umbrella" against the threat of a nuclear attack by Iran, a well-placed American source said earlier this week. The source, who is close to the new administration, said the U.S. will declare that an attack on Israel by Tehran would result in a devastating U.S. nuclear response against Iran.

This is not 1964 and you can't just go around saying this or that city is getting nuked to get votes and throw dirt in the eye of the commies. Obama is borrowing this foreign policy from Camp Hillary and it's just not a black-and-white issue. What if some Hezbollah thugs sneak a nuke into Jerusulem (god forbid), does that mean millions of Persians need to die for no reason? Besides, the close Russia-Iran ties means they might just get in on the action bringing about the Obacalypse sooner than expected, as ICBMs light up the sky like fireworks on Chinese New Year.

As Allahpundit notes, mutually assured destruction might not be that effective on Iran in the first place.

Obama Anoints Self-Obsessed Hippie, Samantha Power, to State Department Transition

Despite praise for The Obama that he is intent on governing from the center, much to the dismay of the ultra-crunchy ultra-left base, Jules Crittenden links to a scoop on Obama throwing the perpetually tie-dyed outraged a bone. From Washington Post:

Samantha Power, the Harvard professor who was forced to resign from Barack Obama's presidential campaign last spring after calling Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "a monster," is now advising the president-elect on transition matters relating to the State Department -- which Clinton is slated to head.

Power is listed on Obama's transition Web site as part of the team reviewing national security agencies. Her duties, according to the site, will be to "ensure that senior appointees have the information necessary to complete the confirmation process, lead their departments, and begin implementing signature policy initiatives immediately after they are sworn in."

Indeed, Samantha Power once called Hillary a "monster", but that is hardly controversial and occasionally appropriate. However, an examination of issues she has brought up in public indicates an overly-peaceniky agenda in a time of terrorism and rogue states. She spoke at Pitzer-Claremont's graduation this year, and after shamelessly plugging her 2002 book, she implied America has been a disgrace so far:

...and your kids will ask you, "what did you do to meet those challenges?" I hope you can claim prouder ancestry than we can.

Of course, this was better than her spiel against the U.S. military at Santa Clara's graduation two years ago (also involving a shameless book plug):

...none of my yammering was making the US government even a tad more willing to act morally abroad. We had invaded Iraq, which was falling to bits; our soldiers and guards had been revealed to be torturing detainees and, despite the pattern of abuse, only minor "bad apples" were being punished.

Hopefully, Ms. Power understands that working for the State Department involves putting a "happy face" on American foreign policy, and she will drop the tired old arguments preached at institutions of higher education about America being the source of all evil dating back to the days of the woolly-mammoth. Her blog indicates that she did an interview with Democracy Now!, the same group that made apologies for the RNC protesters that wreaked havoc and vandalized the Twin Cities. Perhaps she will ensure that unemployed, low-life hooligans get appointed to key ambassador positions around the world. Now that's the hope and change we were looking for!

Obama Gussies Up Website to Take Credit For Iraq Withdrawal

Iraqis and an American Soldier Dancing as SOFA is Announced, which Obama had nothing to do with [h/t MadTom]

The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) in Iraq was put together by the executive branch of the current administration and is currently in the approval process by the Iraqi government. It was just approved by the Iraqi Cabinet today [AP], and awaits Parliamentary approval. The agreement requires that Coalition Forces be withdrawn from Iraq by 2012. This is a testament to the effectiveness of the surge in crippling the enemies of Iraq, the improvement of the Iraqi Security Forces, and highlights that the Iraqi people are comfortable that the worst is behind them. Journalists familiar with being on the front lines are saying that the war is essentially over.

Obama has been advocating for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq for quite some time; however, he did so when violence in Iraq was at its peak in 2007 and he even suggested that some level of genocide would be acceptable if troops were withdrawn early. But all is hunky-doory on Obama's website as he is still pushing his own withdrawal agenda, despite the fact that the SOFA is already done being negotiated by the Bush Administration. From Change.Gov:

The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month -- which would remove all of them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 -- more than 7 years after the war began.Under the Obama-Biden plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel. They will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.

This plan sounds closely analogous to the SOFA, and no doubt The Obama is going to be the hero to anti-war lefties who have been clamoring for an end to the Iraq war ever since it began. The original Change.Gov Iraq Agenda called the Iraqi government a bunch of imbeciles for not making enough political progress. I guess "going with the program" and taking credit for other people's hard work is a step up. But, why does Obama feel like he has to cater to MoveOn.Org types who have been feeding us talking points about Iraq that conveniently ignore reality? At least he's not pushing that dumbass Biden plan from 2007 that went over like a lead balloon throughout the Middle East.

A Plea to Obama Regarding Afghanistan: Don't Be Ellis!

For those not familiar with '88 classic action movie, Die Hard, Ellis was the sleazebag who unsuccessfully tried to appease his terrorist captors to get an early release, but was shot in the head. A "Don't Be Ellis" plea was issued months ago to the newly formed Pakistani government regarding misguided negotiations with the Taliban insurgency in the FATA, and a similar plea is being issued to the President Elect today.

Granted, Operation Enduring Freedom is in need of a serious overhaul as enemy combatants continue to operate freely in the Pakistani tribal areas and violence has risen rapidly this year. But, according to the Washington Post, Obama might be leaning a bit too precipitously towards negotiations and reconciliation with the fanatics in the Taliban to end a long war in a quick fashion:

The incoming Obama administration plans to explore a more regional strategy to the war in Afghanistan -- including possible talks with Iran -- and looks favorably on the nascent dialogue between the Afghan government and "reconcilable" elements of the Taliban, according to Obama national security advisers.

This tactic of "reconciliation" worked well in Iraq, as Coalition Forces teamed up with Sahwa councils (many of whom were ex-insurgents) to give Al-Qaeda the boot. However, you get into an "apples and oranges" argument, because the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was largely motivated by power and money (which is easier to co-opt), while the Taliban are much more motivated by religious fanaticism. A look at Musa Qala, which fell under Taliban control in early 2007, demonstrates this fact. From The Long War Journal:

Four Afghan men are hanged for allegedly spying for American forces. Locals claim that the Taliban closed all of the schools in Musa Qala and force females to wear a burqa and be accompanied by a male relative when traveling in public; they also claim Taliban FM radio program airs during the day. A hefty Taliban tax has also been imposed on the impoverished citizens and tales of forced military conscription have merged.

Attempting to negotiate with a bunch of crazies may prove completely worthless, as Pakistan has learned the hard way. General Petraeus (CENTCOM Commander) has given subtle indication that some level of reconciliation would be a "positive step", but it is certainly unwise to make it the cornerstone of a new strategy in Afghanistan.

Obama also is considering talking with Iran to achieve some level of common goals in Afghanistan[WaPo]:

Obama said during the campaign that his administration would explore talks with countries such as Iran and Syria, rejecting bedrock Bush policy and rhetoric that some U.S. military officials believe may have outlived their usefulness.

Iran, on Afghanistan's western border, has played a mixed role over the years, at times indirectly cooperating with U.S. objectives and at times assisting the extremists.

It is true that the Iranian theocracy has a vested interest in keeping the bordering countries of Afghanistan and Iraq stabilized. But the past few years has shown that they are much more interested in fighting their holy war against The Great Satan. Whether it be using Hezbollah surrogates to murder our troops, shipping weapons to the Taliban, or deliberately undermining newly-formed democracies to make America look bad, the motivation for Iran's nefarious activities remains clear.

The President-Elect needs to weigh these options carefully and consider the consequences. As our Commander-in-Chief, we hope that he leads the world in stomping out the murderous brand of terrorism that has besieged civilization. But, we are deeply concerned that he may try to pander to the far-left base that is already banging on drums and proclaiming "war is over". These are tough times for our country, and we urge Obama not to cave-in to a quick fix like Ellis.

-Famine

More 90s Retro on Obama's Transition Board

At This Rate, Vanilla Ice May Be Head of the Dept. of Energy

Following up on Obama's tendency to bring about a new age of politics by advancing far-left ideas from the 1990s, he has selected various Clinton-era relics for his Economic Advisory Board. Politico has a scoop that Robert Reich, former Clinton Secretary of Labor, and Laura Tyson, Clinton's Head Economic Advisor have all been tapped. These wonks have been safely sequestered at UC-Berkeley during the "rethuglican" rule of the last 8 years. Bu,t hopefully they don't run America into the ground the way the the lavish expenses for the UC system is making the CA state economy teeter on bankruptcy. The Obacalypse also hopes that Robert Reich's advice on Iraq isn't followed by The Obama. From his blog in January 2007:

Let’s be clear: Twenty thousand additional troops won’t quell the violence in Iraq. It will only lead to more American deaths. The civil-war bloodbath there is escalating and it’s out of our hands. The only practical issue here in the U.S., over and above the additional losses of life, is who will be blamed for this slaughter – and its repercussions throughout the region – especially during the runup to the 2008 election.

Luckily for those Americans that were there and the Iraqis, the violence was quelled with additional troops. However, Reich doesn't think much of our military in the first place, as he sees them as underskilled, undereducated rubes with no choice but to suck off the teet of Uncle Sugar. With a crack advisory team like this, Obama's off to a great start.

World's Troublemakers Weigh in on Obama

Iraqpundit writes that many of our allies are pleased with the selection of Obama as President. This is good news, as America's standing in the world needs some serious repair in light of recent worldwide opinion polls. But what about the quasi-dictator hooligans who continue to oppress their suffering people? Iran says Obama must stop the "war mongering", Chavez hopes he can meet the president select on "equal and respectful terms", and Al-Qaeda thugs in the online forums said "Today America elected Obama because al-Qaeda wanted it, after God desired it! In 2004 America elected Bush because al-Qaeda had wanted it, after God desired it!". Ho-hum. This is normal and silly chatter from the usual rabble, but another questionable regime appears to have taken action. The apparatchiks at Pravda wrote a glowing review of Obama in yesterday's edition:

Those of us in the international community who predicted eight long years ago what would happen if Bush were elected must do two things. First, never forget the damage done by George W. Bush and his minions of evil and make sure that, like the generations after Hitler, history does not pardon these criminals as well-meaning politicians who were the victims of tough times. Secondly, we must give Barack Obama a blank page to write on, and hand him the pen with a sincere and open smile.

Welcome back, people of the United States, welcome back into the fold of the international community, where you will find friends and not foes, where you will find we all prefer to smile and not to cry and that when we do cry, our tears taste of salt just like yours do, whether we are pink, blue, white, yellow or black.

Sounds like kind words from our sometimes friends across the pond. Unfortunately, President Medvedev decided to deploy the nuclear-capable Iskander missiles today in an attempt to spook the incoming Obama administration. The President then prattled on about the U.S. being the architect behind the global financial crisis. The Telegraph reports that some Russian media delved into the ridiculous:

Several tabloids incorrectly reported that the main message of Mr Obama's final campaign speech was a call on young African Americans not to let their underpants show above the waistline of the jeans.

Jeez. It's like these guys want to go back to the good old days of the cold war, replete with shoe-banging and thermo-nuclear annihilation. Despite a resurgence in classic movies like Matthew Broderick's War Games, our country doesn't need this headache while we are already engaged in a difficult fight against Islamic extremism.

Joe Biden originally gave us six months before Obama would face a serious crisis. President elect Obama didn't even get 24 hours before Russia started puffing it's chest Soda Popinski-style. Please have a plan, Mr. Obama.

Russian President Trying to Act Tough

-Famine