The mainstream press is determined to keep pounding the “Arab Spring” fiction the same way its man in Moscow, Walter Duranty, kept insisting Stalin was Socrates.
Duranty had his own pathetic reasons for lying. Today’s reporters do it to prop up President Obama, because calling spring winter wouldn’t look good for their man in Washington.
Even so, sometimes the truth leaks out inadvertently. Here’s the lede from an article in yesterday’s New York Times.
President Hosni Mubarak did not even wait for President Obama’s words to be translated before he shot back.“You don’t understand this part of the world,” the Egyptian leader broke in. “You’re young.”Mr. Obama, during a tense telephone call the evening of Feb. 1, 2011, had just told Mr. Mubarak that his speech, broadcast to hundreds of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, had not gone far enough. Mr. Mubarak had to step down, the president said.Minutes later, a grim Mr. Obama appeared before hastily summoned cameras in the Grand Foyer of the White House. The end of Mr. Mubarak’s 30-year rule, Mr. Obama said, “must begin now.” With those words, Mr. Obama upended three decades of American relations with its most stalwart ally in the Arab world, putting the weight of the United States squarely on the side of the Arab street.It was a risky move by the American president, flying in the face of advice from elders on his staff at the State Department and at the Pentagon, who had spent decades nursing the autocratic — but staunchly pro-American — Egyptian government.
Given the Libyan murders and anti-American riots in 20 countries, it seems clear that our president has zero idea how in over his head he is. And he’ll do anything to avoid admitting it.
For a variety of social, psychological, and biographical reasons, Barack Obama came to believe in his own inevitability and unerring brilliance. He never had reason not to believe in them until he reached the White House, when, for the first time, his assumptions politically and about his own infallibility were challenged.
Which explains why he considers his political opponents to be “enemies.” And also why he can’t stomach the idea that anyone might consider him less than the smartest guy in the biggest room on the planet.
If you’re looking for insights into the president’s psyche, consider his appearance on Jon Stewart’s show just before the historic 2010 shellacking. Stewart wondered why he hadn’t kept more of his campaign promises and asked about Obama’s economic adviser Larry Summers.
“In fairness,” Obama said testily, “he did a heck of a job.”
Stewart remembered President Bush’s defense of FEMA head Michael Brown, who Bush had insisted was doing a “heck of a job” after Hurricane Katrina.
“You don’t want to use that phrase, dude,” Stewart said. The audience laughed.
But not Obama. Instead of laughing along at his unintentional echo of a famously stupid moment, he bristled—then lied: “Pun intended,” he insisted.
No, it wasn’t intended. That’s clear. Because if it had been intended, he would’ve been criticizing Summers, not defending him. (It also wasn’t a pun.)
Obama can’t stand to think that anyone considers him less than perfect. So he keeps doubling down on mistakes.
From the economy to healthcare to foreign affairs, he doesn’t let facts get in the way of his self regard. And with the press bolstering him, he has every reason to keep on keeping on.
Hey, you Arabs over there, you just better start having a real spring already, dammit, or the man himself will be coming back to Cairo, reminding you how much you love America now because he’s president.
(UPDATE: Uh-oh: Early in his speech today at the U.N., our president said, “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam”; and, “This is the season of progress.” See? It’s spring in Obama world.)
UPDATE #2: Here we see the President of the United States in New York, prepping for his speech at the U.N.
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