tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post7884639652736624663..comments2024-03-26T06:17:49.527-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: How Not to NegotiateStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-78396889701713534922015-07-21T07:37:24.646-07:002015-07-21T07:37:24.646-07:00Others have criticized Bush for invading a country...Others have criticized Bush for invading a country on a pretext and for not securing a long term status of forces agreement when he had the chance to do so.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-84877412412080818602015-07-21T03:35:37.631-07:002015-07-21T03:35:37.631-07:00I have occasionally reported judgments of those wh...I have occasionally reported judgments of those who consider Obama an especially bad negotiator. The Iran deal was a perfect example. As for the Status of Forces Agreement in Iraq objective journalists like Michael Gordon of the NY Times and Dexter Filkins of the New Yorker have affirmed that Obama botched the negotiations. The view is widely held by those who know anything.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-8630987468364230522015-07-20T15:45:19.279-07:002015-07-20T15:45:19.279-07:00I could easily argue that President Bush is a bad ...I could easily argue that President Bush is a bad negotiator using the same logic Stewart applies to play Monday Morning Quarterback while criticizing President Obama. I am questioning the "applied logic" of the original post merely to point out that the partisan bias is obvious and invalidates the supposed "logic."<br /><br />Your opinion of Obama and what's really happening is foreign to my opinion of Obama and what I see happening. But I don't mistake my judgments of the world for reality. I just realize stuff happens and I form judgments which are often similar to and often different from the expressed judgments of others.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-20492276252413452492015-07-20T03:54:34.513-07:002015-07-20T03:54:34.513-07:00President Obama seems to have contempt for America...President Obama seems to have contempt for America. <br /><br />As I have said many times before, I do not believe he has learned anything since college. As I have also said before, he does not seem to have an American understanding, bearing, nor outlook on the world. <br /><br />One could say he is sophisticated and cosmopolitan. Fair enough. But he could have done lots of other things in his life besides being President of the United States. So there's something more to it than that. <br /><br />Washington observers have noted Obama is very mindful of his image, sometimes obsessive about it. So he's calculating, intentional, and aloof... some might say "cool." Fine. He’s intentional and calculating. It would hardly be the first time we’ve seen that with a politician.<br /><br />But he reserves his worst moments for his fellow countrymen. Our enemies have benefited from his presidency far more than our friends. And we're not even talking about imagined enemies... these are clear enemies. He's been tougher with Putin, but that's because Putin has been aggressively disdainful of him, and in very personal ways during personal encounters. But the idea that we just struck a nuclear deal with Iran with few concessions from the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world is... baffling. <br /><br />When one is baffled, it is wise to check our premises. <br /><br />The premise is that he is president, and therefore has an interest in the country's welfare and interests. But he offered no real vision in 2012, content to savage his opponent in the most personal ways, attacking his motives... while offering precious little on his vision or positions. He spoke in soaring platitudes in 2008. Most of the country gave him an honest chance, save Rush Limbaugh and the far right. I think everyone wanted him to succeed. Now I sense there are a lot of people who cannot wait for him to leave. And he's not done yet... not by a long shot. <br /><br />The actions he will take in the next 18 months will be dizzying, and will leave most people -- including those of his own party -- in great consternation, looking for cover. We refuse to see him for what he is: Barack Obama is a Leftist. He has contempt for America and its history. He seeks to transform the nation, and doesn't give a whit about limitations imposed by some document composed by slaveholding elites back in 1789. <br /><br />This may sound like a stinging indictment, but I think we have to say what's really going on. Our president is not an American in the traditional sense we all recognize and would accept. No one thought FDR was un-American. Carter was a hapless Christian who applied his religious purposes to his foreign policy with disastrous results. Bill Clinton had demons (and still does), but I had no doubt he had an American core. I believe Hillary wrong on a lot of things, but I don't doubt her patriotism. <br /><br />I do doubt Obama's patriotism. He seems foreign, detached, other-worldly, seeking utopian outcomes for a "brighter" future that will bankrupt us and destroy individual opportunity for citizens. I find the same things of many of his cabinet members and key subordinates. Samantha Power as U.N. ambassador would be a joke if it weren't true. But I don't sense Obama is looking out for our nation's interests, and too blinded by ideology to see that he's not really serving his own long-term interests, nor his family's. He'll forever be the darling of those who connect with his ideology, but I suspect that will be all.<br /><br />We have a long way to go in the Obama presidency. The nation will survive, but the American spirit will take a huge hit. And that’s something I think he’s deaf to.Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-34194786833415523962015-07-20T03:54:12.349-07:002015-07-20T03:54:12.349-07:00Anonymous @July 19, 2015 at 10:29 AM:
Being a goo...Anonymous @July 19, 2015 at 10:29 AM:<br /><br />Being a good negotiator -- at least in terms of the outcome you stated: a status of forces agreement -- is in some way dependent on the interests and intentions of those you negotiate with, is it not? I don't know how that's indicative of political bias. Bush did not secure a long-term status of forces agreement, nor did Obama. This is fact. <br /><br />If I was to be political, I would say the consequences of not securing such an agreement have been disastrous for the people of Iraq, its neighboring countries, and the United States. Politics is determined by the choices one makes in seeking and using power. Bush's was aggressive in invading, Obama's was passive in never effectively seeking a status of forces agreement, choosing to abandon the American position in Iraq rather than carry on in that part of the region. After all, he characterized Afghanistan as the "good war," implying that the other was not. That was his choice.<br /><br />Whatever the case, I'm not sure why logical assertions are not applied assertions by virtue of an adjective you've selected in characterizing the expression and application. Your declaring my assertion "not valid" is most curious.Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-51364459767343154652015-07-20T03:52:58.492-07:002015-07-20T03:52:58.492-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-88455397096296814002015-07-19T10:29:16.833-07:002015-07-19T10:29:16.833-07:00Logical assertions applied with obvious political ...Logical assertions applied with obvious political bias are not valid expressions of applied logic.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-84805176182030919892015-07-17T21:53:10.254-07:002015-07-17T21:53:10.254-07:00Anonymous, therefore you are saying Bush sucked as...Anonymous, therefore you are saying Bush sucked as a negotiator. Yes?Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18222603717128565302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-60096575032876982122015-07-17T17:39:36.994-07:002015-07-17T17:39:36.994-07:00I suspect you mean Bush did not want to negotiate ...I suspect you mean Bush did not want to negotiate with the deposed regime in Iraq. However his administration established the new government. If Bush wanted a long term status of forces agreement he should have secured it as a good negotiator. Since he failed to secure that status of forces agreement he should also be judged a bad negotiator according to the logic applied above.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-77058587936886394472015-07-17T15:35:59.800-07:002015-07-17T15:35:59.800-07:00I think you have it all wrong. I think he got exa...I think you have it all wrong. I think he got exactly what he wanted.Larry Sheldonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12653436584890594776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-37886112225990925752015-07-17T13:33:18.217-07:002015-07-17T13:33:18.217-07:00So President Bush must have been a very poor negot...So President Bush must have been a very poor negotiator since he resorted to confrontation by invading Iraq and subsequently failed to negotiate a long term status of forces agreement.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-14272647236319163772015-07-17T10:55:32.336-07:002015-07-17T10:55:32.336-07:00Seems to me you have summed him up as he is. I aw...Seems to me you have summed him up as he is. I await Ares' disagreement.Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.com