Steyn Distills Obama To < 10 Characters

Posted on | September 14, 2014 | 45 Comments

by Smitty

The Obama Doctrine – “Don’t do stupid sh*t” – has been rendered in non-PG version as “Don’t do stupid stuff”. But it should be more pithily streamlined yet: Don’t do.

I guess one major value added by the Obama Administration is that we’ve more or less seen an operational test of what a Non-Interventionist/Isolationist/Unplugged foreign policy would look like. While I’m not offering the Full Neo-Con, here’s some truth: if you’re not doing warheads on foreheads, you’d better be offering some kind of leadership, at least. Offering neither is a recipe for the dirty diaper on display.

In defense of Obama, this is the paradox of our 1787 Constitution: it’s relatively silent on the matter. Chiefly because the Atlantic was the Mother of All Moats back then, and neither of the people living in Canada at the time were worrisome.

This might be a cogent criticism of the idea of a Convention of States. If it’s not delivering a framework to provide some kind of foreign policy guidance, some super-National Security Strategy against which candidates can be tested (assuming we ever repent of letting the media pass off no-talent rodeo clowns as competent) then why bother?

Category: Barack Obama

Comments

45 Responses to “Steyn Distills Obama To < 10 Characters”

M. Thompson
September 14th, 2014 @ 9:21 am

Pretty much. The scariest thing to me right now is the lack of firm leadership is pushing us in the direction of a major war.

And our rule by men without chests will make it much worse.
Quartermaster
September 14th, 2014 @ 9:40 am

I seriously doubt that a CoS will have much affect on the problems we face. If the scum in DC ignore what we have now, why wouldn’t they ignore what get passed by a CoS and ratified by the states?
kilo6
September 14th, 2014 @ 10:25 am

Heh,
6 letters in length, same as SCOAMF
hannamontana80
September 14th, 2014 @ 10:43 am

Mulattoes tend to be delusional. It’s that simple, really.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
September 14th, 2014 @ 10:59 am

Nice try troll. Have you been talking with racists like Andrew Sullivan or the idiots over at Kos?

Then again, maybe you are drug addled Miley Cyrus.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
September 14th, 2014 @ 11:00 am

Actually the thing that screwed up Obama was the socialist/Communist assholes on both sides of his family. It was not nature but nurture.
hannamontana80
September 14th, 2014 @ 11:07 am

While simple truths may make you uncomfortable, you cannot change them.
kilo6
September 14th, 2014 @ 11:11 am

Frank Marshall Davis

Grandpa naming his mom “Stanley” because he wanted a son

The “little red church” his family attended was Red for a reason

Mom split with step-dad Sotero when he started to buy into capitalism

the “tough, tougher, crunchy” dog-eater story

Etc etc

Yeah, he had a few bad influences
BurkeanMama
September 14th, 2014 @ 11:58 am

Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot because the Soviets knew he was not to be trifled with. Everyone and their demented second cousin knows that Obama is nothing but trifles.
This is going to get even uglier.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
September 14th, 2014 @ 12:10 pm

The simple truth being you are a troll trying to malign and cause harm.
Evi L. Bloggerlady
September 14th, 2014 @ 12:10 pm

They add up.
rambler
September 14th, 2014 @ 12:22 pm

He doesn’t “do”…. he hems and haws.
smitty
September 14th, 2014 @ 1:21 pm

But without the fine Shakespearean diction of Hamlet.
TroubleAtTheMine
September 14th, 2014 @ 1:24 pm

Does this kind of work pay well?
rambler
September 14th, 2014 @ 1:25 pm

He has enough problems with modern English on his teleprompter as it is.
Axle Rows
September 14th, 2014 @ 2:18 pm

If you’re not willing to honestly discuss the truth, you don’t deserve to live as a free man.

Or woman – whatever the case may be.

Defeating evil requires facing the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it may be.
Axle Rows
September 14th, 2014 @ 2:22 pm

Thomas Jefferson, in the “Laws” chapter of Notes on the State of Virginia was very clear in his description of the primitive, incapable mind of the negro.

While such obvious and simple truths tend to make us uncomfortable, we can overcome our discomfort by facing them and assessing them honestly.

Does each of us not have a moral obligation to defend the truth?
Wombat_socho
September 14th, 2014 @ 2:45 pm

No tolerance for racist trolls. You can change your handle but your IP is still gonna get whacked.
Wombat_socho
September 14th, 2014 @ 2:46 pm

I hear the Chicoms pay fifty cents a post to their pet trolls.
JackOkie
September 14th, 2014 @ 3:42 pm

Smitty,
Three points:
1. We need a Convention of States to restore the federal arrangement we had before the 17th Amendment. I would like to see not only that Amendment repealed, but replaced with one stating that the each State exclusively determines the means of election and recall of their senators (vote for federal taxes at the expense of your state’s legislature and you’re on next plane home).
2. Beneficial as point 1 would be, we should recognize it could actually pose difficulties for defense spending – consider Jefferson Davis’ struggles to get funds from the Confederate States.
3. Getting too specific with our Constitution could backfire, i.e., a balanced budget amendment or term limits will almost certainly have unintended consequences. If we want a strong constitutional republic we had better get serious about teaching civics and critical thinking in our public schools. We need to teach in depth the philosophical and political ideas that led to our founding, the issues our founders grappled with, the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers, and most of all the responsibilities of being a citizen of the US. If we did that, the media could not hold the sway they do now.
JackOkie
September 14th, 2014 @ 3:52 pm

Right now the federal government and the states compete for tax revenue. I submit that the current ratio of federal to state tax rates is due to the 17th Amendment emasculating the states’ legislatures. If that Amendment were repealed, restoring the balance between the states and the national government, you would see senators having much less appetite for federal taxes that encroach on their states’ ability to tax. In other words, I believe the average pay stub withholding amounts would reflect the power distribution the founders’ intended.
Dana
September 14th, 2014 @ 4:14 pm

I would be perfectly happy if Barack Hussein Obama wasn’t doing anything; it’s when he does do stuff that things get worse.
Dana
September 14th, 2014 @ 4:15 pm

You are allowed to substitute balls for chests; we all knew what you meant.
Dana
September 14th, 2014 @ 4:17 pm

Oh, no, exactly wrong: the states love the disparity, because it means that states all get to get federal grants to take care of what ought to be entirely state or local functions. Since most of the states have balance budget requirements, what it means is that they are passing along their deficits to the federal government, which is not so constrained.
Dana
September 14th, 2014 @ 4:17 pm

Oh, no, exactly wrong: the states love the disparity, because it means that states all get to get federal grants to take care of what ought to be entirely state or local functions. Since most of the states have balance budget requirements, what it means is that they are passing along their deficits to the federal government, which is not so constrained.
theoldsargesays
September 14th, 2014 @ 5:20 pm

4bits per post ?
Don’t scoff at it. For some who otherwise does nothing but collect a taxpayer supplied check every month that’s a pretty good supplement until November and the coming of walk around money.
K-Bob
September 14th, 2014 @ 5:42 pm

I addressed this thoroughly in The Sovereign States – a Phrase With Meaning

(It also includes my stupid hand-spasm where I keep typing “Eighteenth”Amendment, when I’m covering the Seventeenth. I do this all the freaking time for some bizarre reason.)
K-Bob
September 14th, 2014 @ 5:51 pm

Rob Natelson has an interesting point about the Seventeenth Amendment (yes, I did it again, but I edited it before hitting “Post”).

Natelson: The Problems With Repealing the Direct Election of Senators/17th Amendment

I think JackOkie’s item #1 is an interesting way around some of the problems Natelson points out.

I think we could also explore modifying Levin’s proposed amendment by dropping the direct election/appointment language, and instead modify the Seventeenth Amendment to give state legislatures the power to a) call in their Senators for instruction on the legislature’s position on an issue, and b) Declare an election when they’ve decided a sitting Senator is not representing the state adequately.

This would still let the Citizens of a state directly elect a Senator, but it would restore the intent of the Founders to have Senators represent the state.
K-Bob
September 14th, 2014 @ 5:56 pm

Any by “calling” an election, they would also be dismissing whichever or both Senators they choose. Said dismiss-ee would not be allowed to run for the office again.
Quartermaster
September 14th, 2014 @ 6:03 pm

I picked such a “tic” by typing too much LOL Cats tripe. While I like teh Kittehs, I keep typing teh instead of the. They comes out tehy, along with other such nonsense.
JackOkie
September 14th, 2014 @ 7:01 pm

Thank you for the link. As far as the problems Natelson identifies from the past, whom are our senators representing today? They are loose cannons for 5 1/2 years out of 6, then blow smoke enough to get re-elected. Would Nevada be better off without a senator for 6 months rather than having Harry Reid?

Dana, if California could hang on to the majority of the revenue they now send to the feds, don’t you think they would jump at the chance? They could certainly fund their high-speed train (of course, if they didn’t change their ways, they’d still eventually run out of money). The current system, where the states must pluck at the sleeve of Congress, is just the best they can do under the current setup.

Principle probably won’t motivate the states to get behind repeal, but avarice might.
Adobe_Walls
September 14th, 2014 @ 7:06 pm

That would inevitably cause senate terms to be however long their party held the state legislatures.
Bob Belvedere
September 14th, 2014 @ 8:26 pm

Must be that ‘Socialism Is Evil’ little puke again.
Bob Belvedere
September 14th, 2014 @ 8:28 pm

I would bet a lot of denarii that Barry has never read nor seen Hamlet.
Bob Belvedere
September 14th, 2014 @ 8:32 pm

Adobe makes a great point.

And let me add that, in the Spirit of The Founders: I don’t want the People to be able to directly elect Senators. The intent was for them to be beholden to the governments of the Several States, not directly the People. This was seen as one of the checks and balances in the system.
Bob Belvedere
September 14th, 2014 @ 8:35 pm

Senators should be appointed by either the Legislatures of the Several States or by the Legislatures with the Advise And Consent of the Governor – that is the one area where it should be left up to the individual states. They should decide whether to add to the Powers of their Governors.
Steyn Distills Obama To 10 Characters | That Mr. G Guy's Blog
September 14th, 2014 @ 11:46 pm

[…] Steyn Distills Obama To 10 Characters. […]
M. Thompson
September 14th, 2014 @ 11:48 pm

It’s a reference to C. S. Lewis’s “The Abolition of Man”.

Trying to give this place some culture.
K-Bob
September 15th, 2014 @ 1:05 am

Well that removal concept is included in Levin’s amendment. So that would be a problem anyway.

But without removal, Senators have little reason to bother with representing their state in Washington.
K-Bob
September 15th, 2014 @ 1:17 am

True. But Natelson’s point is more at the potential to change it back.

Since popular election is what most people think they “should” want, our chances there are damned slim.

Trying to talk to people about giving up that purported “right” is like trying to explain the 3/5ths clause to Democrats.
K-Bob
September 15th, 2014 @ 1:25 am

Hey, man! We got truckloads o’ culture here.

microwave Italian dinners,
microwave Asian dinners (authentic Asian, I mean. The package has Asian words on it),
microwave Indian dinners,
and Mrs Butterworths, all like, within three feet of each other.

Pour a tall, pink, Tupperware tumbler full of authentic Wine (from out of the box in the ‘fridge), and it’s like a tour of one of them foreign countries.
Adobe_Walls
September 15th, 2014 @ 11:56 am

And therein lies the irresolvable dilemma. It is not possible to educate the people in these less than dynamic conditions.
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September 15th, 2014 @ 2:31 pm

[…] Steyn Distills Obama To < 10 Characters […]
K-Bob
September 15th, 2014 @ 8:17 pm

Only The 2×4 of Payin’ Attention has a chance.
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September 21st, 2014 @ 6:02 am

[…] Steyn Distills Obama To < 10 Characters […]