Hunting the Syrian Squirrel

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“Obama: Anatomy of a World Leader,” by Alex Gray (detail)

You’re not supposed to say that The Syrian Crisis has been manufactured for domestic political purposes. The underlying situation is legitimately serious enough — a two-year civil war in which the dictatorship has allegedly used sarin nerve gas against civilians.

The problem is that this administration is so dishonest and cynical, so committed to campaigning and so inept at governing, that whatever they do, our natural suspicion is that they’re playing politics.

Serious People therefore cannot say what a lot of people suspect: When Congress returned from their August recess, they were due to have hearings on a series of Obama administration scandals — IRS, NSA and especially, Benghazi. By ginning up an international crisis over Syria, Obama was basically shouting: “Look! Squirrel!”

If Syria is the Big Story that all Serious People are supposed to be talking about, all the scandal investigations — IRS, NSA, Benghazi — became by definition Small Stories for Unserious People.

SYRIA SAYS IT ACCEPTED
RUSSIAN WEAPONS PROPOSAL
— Associated Press

Syria accepts Russian proposal on weapons;
France to bring resolution to Security Council
— Washington Post

Obama Backs Idea for Syria to Cede Control of Arms
— New York Times

“Did John Kerry just River
himself a Royal Flush?!?!? Wow!”
— AOSHQ

OK, there’s the requisite Syria News Headline Stack, and I can therefore say I’ve done my quota, so all you Serious People who have been running around on the Syrian Squirrel Hunt can stop mocking my unseriousness for ignoring the Big Story.

Tomorrow? Yeah, the one-year anniversary of the Benghazi attack, and all anyone will be talking about is the president’s Syria speech.

Tell me again how serious you are, Serious People.

You just got played.

Chumps.

 

66 comments

  2. And as per the “Squirrel!” aspect: I don’t disagree, but I think Valerie Jarrett realized she dug her construct so deep a ditch domestically that she had no choice but deploy the shiny object… but the light refracted back into the Unicorn King’s face….
    And John Farkin’ Kerry is making Amtrak Joe look like a philosopher king.

  5. It has been said that it’s better to be lucky than good, and Barack Hussein Obama has been very lucky in his life, and he might have just lucked out of this one, too.

    Still, it’s one thing for Syria to say that it will agree to turn over its chemical weapons to international control, and another to actually do it. If the weapons stay in Syria, and the international guardians are unarmed, then Syria can take them back and use them at will.

    My first impression is that this is a stalling tactic.

  6. Has Harry Reid given his statement yet?

    If Reid believes Assad is Hitler, then wouldn’t making any deal with him be the equivalent of Chamberlain making a deal with Hitler for the Sudetenland?

    Shouldn’t Reid oppose this deal?

  8. It is certainly tempting–and personally satisfying–to attribute the various foreign policy debacles of this administration to incompetence. Alas, I’ve come to the conclusion that these are various bits of penance the O is practicing for what he believes to be our country’s various sins of racism, imperialism, and exceptionalism. Only be destroying our status as Superpower and inflating the status of those who have been traditionally our adversaries, can he transform the country into what he believes it should be. In other words, he’s living out his father’s fantasies. Or, more prosaically, he’s dealing with his “daddy issues” on our dime.

  11. Ah yes, tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the Benghazi attack. Perfect time to remind folks that the same admin who is trying to convince us of their “solid intelligence” that shows Assad gassed his own people, is the same admin that lied about Benghazi being caused by a video… even when they KNEW it was a terrorist attack. They even lied to the families of the fallen as the bodies were being received. And they wonder why nobody trusts them?? That’s rich!!

    As an aside, that treasonous fossilized hag, Hillary Clinton, who is largely responsible for those 4 dead Americans, will be receiving The National Constitution Center’s 2013 Liberty Medal tonight… one day before the Benghazi anniversary. Oh, and presenting the award to her will be none other than Jeb Bush. The next GOP candidate?? NOT IF I CAN HELP IT!!

  14. That’s all it is. Putin has pushed the whole process back to start, ‘reset’ it if you will. Now Assad has all the time he needs to crush the rebellion, Putin has time to rearm him, and in the end Assad keeps his chems. The only losers are US credibility and the Syrian people, and NO ONE involved with this farce gives a Damn about them…

  20. Instead of dumbstruck awe at the manifest profundity of my incontrovertable Zen-like sagacity in the manly art of blog commentary, I am denounced! I feel so cheap and dirty right now…

  21. John Kerry has, with one rhetorical statement, done for Vladimir Putin what 70 years of conflict with the Soviet Union failed to do. Vladimir Putin is now the leader of the free world. The United States is no longer the superpower of Western Civilization. Game Over.

  22. “Chumps” is too kind by half. Highly descriptive, but still far too
    kind. They’re all sheep, following the jackass over the cliff.

    FORWARD!

  23. It’s a regular theme at Ace’s.

    Someone is always busy being more serious about stuff than everyone else. That’s the math that doesn’t work. Hence the snark, that does.

  25. I just want to puke reading this. Kerry – the arrogant genius who was “born to rule” and still wants to be president. Thanks for nothing.

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