No Fly Zone

Louisiana is now experiencing historic record flooding ... not this time from the likes of Hurricane Katrina, but rather because of just plain torrential rains which have flooded many of the same upstate  areas where George Bush's perfidy caused wide devastation back in 2005 ... see: Weather News. Although the death toll between the two events is not comparable, certainly the damage to personal property may soon be nearing parity.

President Obummer, having learned from history, has decided not to fly over these devastated flooded zones to look down in sympathy. Rather, he has opted to play another few rounds of golf on Martha's Vineyard.

Obama’s Golf Game

President Obama has been playing quite a bit of golf on Martha’s Vineyard during his summer vacation. Yesterday he dropped his scorecard ... and here's what it contained:

Hole   Title                                Score             Reason                                          .

1              Upbringing                                Birdie                Doting Grandparents 

2             College Career                            Birdie                Racial Preferences     

3             Community Organizer         Par                      Gaining Street Creds             

4             State Senate                                 Par                     Often Voting Present 

5             Rev. Wright’s Church          Birdie               Absent During Hate Speech                          

6              Democrat Keynoter               Eagle                 Prowess  Using Teleprompter

7              U.S. Senator                                Eagle                  Media Love Affair                

8              Presidential Campaign    Eagle                 Hillary’s Fumbles                 

9              Financial Bail-Out                Birdie              No Depression           

10            Stimulus Program                Dbl Bogie       No Shovel-Ready Jobs          

11            Obamacare Passage            Trpl Bogie      Not Bipartisan

12            Iraq End/Afgan Surge       Dbl Bogie       Political Moves

13            Auto Industry Bailout       Dbl Bogie      Ignored Bankruptcy Process             

14            Government Shutdown      Bogie              Vindictive Closings

15            Second Election                      Birdie               Poor Romney Turnout

16            Libya/Syria Conflicts       Trpl Bogie     Shooting off Mouth   

17            Ukraine Situation             Trpl Bogie      Inability to Sway Europe       

18            ISIS Insurgency                   Trpl Bogie      Too Little, Too Late

Eight over par ... not quite a scratch golfer … just like he is not quite a scratch president,

Shrinking Violets

President Obama has finally shown a bit of a backbone in his "limited" air strikes against ISIS artillery pieces and mortar positions in Northern Iraq. I say a "bit of backbone" for he still believes that he is reflecting America's reluctance to engage in any significant show of air power after Libya has blown up in his face. 

Not only is Obama still a shrinking violet but he resides in a field of such flowers. No country in Western Europe ... save Great Britain ... has shown the slightest inclination to deal with the spread of ISIS and its brutality. This group of about 10,000 jihadists just killed at least 500 Yazidis ... many buried alive ... see: Huffington Post Story (Huffington Post editors ... I think you are playing into ISIS’s barbarous hands by calling them the "Islamic State") ... and the world yawns.

And this field of posies is not limited to Western Europe. Where is Saudi Arabia? (Oops, I forgot, Saudi Arabia, like ISIS, is Sunni also.) Where is Iran? (Oops, I forgot, Iran, even though Shi’ite, does not mind seeing mass executions … particularly in Iraq.) Why is Catholic Latin America not rising in humanitarian outrage to save other Christians from being crucified? (Oops, I forgot, they’re all on trains to the Texas border.) The African nations, Eastern Europe, Egypt, Israel. Jordan and Lebanon have their own problems. But what about Russia (here I’m a little surprised at Putin’s wallfloweredness.) And the rest of the world is apparently not paying attention.

So President Obama must feel vindicated to lead from behind once again. “If the rest of the world wants me to fix this mess again, I’ll not be dragged into another war by you folks. I’ll make like I’m appalled and do a few token things, but the American people (me) don’t want any more involvement in this Mideast swamp. I think I’ll just take a couple of weeks off in Martha’s Vineyard, I’ll play some golf, I’ll eat some ice cream, and see if things aren’t better when I (lots of first person references here) get back.”

“I'll keep talking about not puttin' boots on the ground [in my opinion an over-used red herring] and then maybe I’ll pick some violets …”

Michelle, Ma Belle

Michelle Obama

Is there trouble in Paradise?  Four recent developments seem to indicate that there may be problems abrewing for President Obama and the First Lady:

1)      Michelle Obama, it appears, will be spending considerable time away from the White House this summer … “vacationing” with her daughters at Martha’s Vineyard … see: White House Dossier.

2)      In his recent summit meeting in California with President Obama, Chinese President, Xi Jinping, was not accompanied by his wife.  The reason – Michelle Obama decided not to attend this tete-a-tete, a bit of a diplomatic insult since the Chinese leader’s wife is quite a celebrity in China and was preparing to make a splash at this meeting … see: Telegraph Story

3)      Michelle Obama has exhibited unusual testiness of late … witness her ungraceful handling of a heckler at a recent New York fundraising … see: Christian Science Monitor Story

4)      In America, hairstyles seem to take on unusual significance, so Michelle Obama’s recent buzz cut (see above photo) and her wearing of black “helmet” wings in public tells this commentator that she has decided to alter her former lifestyle … to what end, it is unclear.

What does this all indicate?  To most Americans, not a bagatelle.  But the confluence of these events tells me that there is a change … maybe a sea change in our First Lady … and that there might be more interesting revelations waiting in the (White House) wings.