Nicholas Sarkozy - Obama's Iran Policy "Utterly Immature"

From Haaretz.com:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama's positions on Iran, according to reports that have reached Israel's government.

Sarkozy has made his criticisms only in closed forums in France. But according to a senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate's stance on Iran as "utterly immature" and comprised of "formulations empty of all content."

Obama visited Paris in July, and the Iranian issue was at the heart of his meeting with Sarkozy. At a joint press conference afterward, Obama urged Iran to accept the West's proposal on its nuclear program, saying that Iran was creating a serious situation that endangered both Israel and the West.

According to the reports reaching Israel, Sarkozy told Obama at that meeting that if the new American president elected in November changed his country's policy toward Iran, that would be "very problematic."

Until now, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have tried to maintain a united front on Iran. But according to the senior Israeli source, Sarkozy fears that Obama might "arrogantly" ignore the other members of this front and open a direct dialogue with Iran without preconditions.

The article goes on further to note:

The French intelligence community believes that Iran has already obtained about 40 percent of the enriched uranium it would need for its first bomb, and that at its current rate, it will obtain the rest of the uranium it needs in the spring or summer of 2009.

Could Obama's naivete be the opening Iran needs to present the "test" of Obama that Joe Biden has referred to? What could the test be? A mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv? A dirty bomb set off in New York, or Washington? If any of those things were to happen, would anyone
care, really, how well Obama performed under pressure, especially when we have an opportunity to elect a candidate who rogue nations wouldn't DARE to "test?"

Realistically, John Kennedy performed admirably during the Cuban Missile crisis, but it would never have happened if he hadn't been perceived as weak. Although is was a heroic moment for him, wouldn't the world have been better if we'd never had the crisis at all?

Obama Wants to Campaign About Issues? (Since When?)

“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it is still a pig” Senator Obama said to his endearing crowd and the crowd loved it. Was he referring to Sarah Palin? Was he being sexist? I did not want to devote an article on this, but I might well have to. The official responses from the Obama surrogates is that “John McCain has used this phrase before”. Yes, Senator McCain has used this phrase many times and so do many others. Yet, one has to put the phrase in context. When McCain evoked the term, no one has said anything about lipstick. McCain has used the term routinely. He uses this phrase to talk about pork projects. Get it? Pork and pig. On the other hand, Obama used the “a pig with lipstick” comment shortly after Governor Palin referred herself as a pitbull with lipstick. As Mark Brown (an Obama supporter) wrote:

But, more important, Obama knew as well as anyone listening to him that
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has the market cornered
on lipstick for this campaign season, even if she puts hers on a pit bull.
By invoking lipstick, Obama invoked Palin. Despite his protestations later,
he knew it, or certainly should have known it.
And even though the line got Obama a big laugh from the partisan crowd, which clearly drew the connection, he blew it.

Do I think Obama was referring to Palin? Most probably, just because of the reaction from his audience. In other words, even if he did not mean it that way, his audience certainly thought he did. It was either a swap or a gaffe. Either way, the apology is for him to make, not Palin – assuming if an apology is needed. Do I think he is sexist? Not really, which is why I didn’t want to devote an article on it in the first place. Yet, it is silly to say Obama used the “pig with lipstick” just like any other people have used it (including McCain). That is just dishonest. The contexts were completely different.

Obama camp started to complain about McCain running on characters instead of issues. In reality, McCain has talked about issues before Obama has. Obama supporters were dumbfounded when the Obama team told them that Rick Davis (McCain campaign manager) said this election is not about issues, but rather on composite view of what people take away from candidates. Rick Davis is actually not far off, though he phrased it in a confusing way. He may need to issue an apology for his very confusing statement – after Obama issued his apology. This may be a character-driven election as I wrote earlier in my “New Gallup Poll on Character Dimension” on Sep 9th, 2008. Currently, McCain leads Obama on several character descriptions. For example, McCain leads Obama as being “ a stronger leader” and “put country first”, while Obama leads on “cares about the need of people like you”. Ironically, Obama campaign is the expert in personality campaigning. I am dumbfounded for the dumbfound-ness Obama supporters have for Rick Davis. Obama ran his primary campaign on characters and personalities, not on issues. Had it been an issue-driven primary, Clinton would have won, but Democrat voters delivered Obama the victory based on his “personalities” and “characters”. According to a Gallup poll, Obama beats Clinton on “cares about the needs of people like you” by 12 points, on “shares your values” by 6 points and on “honest and trustworthy” by 19 points! In fact, David Plouffe (Obama campaign manager) proudly and loudly touted the Gallup poll as the reason to vote for Obama. Plouffe said,

“She is not seen as trustworthy by the American people (cited Gallup) … The
American people will not elect a candidate that they do not see as
trustworthy ... These kinds of evasions and misleading of voters causes a real 'character gap.'”

The Obama campaign team made the case that the perception of characters (not characters) is necessary for winning elections, and they won their primary race on that. His campaign has talked about how large a crowd he can gather, and that voters can connect with him, he cares about people like you and shares your values, and he has the judgment and the temperament to lead and he is also cool too and he can make the government cool! These are are characters/personalities. It is rather ridiculous that the Obama team, which is the most talent personality-driven team, is accusing McCain for running on characters and personalities. Now that McCain is viewed more trustworthy than Obama, I wonder how his supporters feel if we attack him the same way he attacked Hillary Clinton. On second thought, how about Rick Davis apologizes for his comments after Plouffe apologizes for his comments?

My Take on McCain's Speech

I enjoyed Senator McCain's acceptance speech very much. It wasn't stylishly delivered as Obama's or Palin's speech, but it was delivered in a serious and sincere tone. It fits his straight-talk style very much and it sounds presidential. It may be the best speech from the two conventions. Yes, I like it even better than Palin's speech. :) After listen to Palin's speech, I smile and even laughed abit, but after listening to McCain's speech, I have a very humble and sobering experience. McCain's speech is nicely layout. Jay Cost wrote an article Friday. It states:

"Last night - McCain did three things: (a) Reminded us that he's a maverick; (b) Told us what the maverick would do if we elect him; (c) Told us why he's a maverick. [So, contrary to some pundits, it was actually a very well-organized speech.] The confession at the end was the "why." He fights for the country, not for a party, because it was in Hanoi that his country saved him. Country first, party second."

The speech successfully reintroduced McCain: his life, his experience and his character. It also reassured voters about his knowledge in military and national security. He shows that he understand some Americans are experiencing economic hardship and he offered solutions, such as job training. Personally, I think McCain can spend more time on the economy. Yes, he said he will keep the tax low and Obama will raise the tax, but these messages are too general and most independent voters will probably not be persuaded. They will ask how McCain's economic plan different from President Bush's. Americans, on average, are not worry about inflation or wages. They are most concern of job security/job opportunity. Instead of attacking Obama on tax increase in general, McCain needs to specially attack Obama for wanting to raise corporate tax, and wanting to increase minimum wage which actually makes low-wage jobs more vulnerable. When you put a higher tax on companies and make their labor more expensive, then you are actually encouraging companies to move out of the county: resulting more job outsourcing. To be fair, Obama states that he will keep corporate tax low for companies that create high tech and innovative jobs. Nevertheless, he will raise corporate tax on average. Consequently, on average, corporations will be forced to move oversea. McCain team need to explain their economic plan beyond "lowering tax". They need to demonstrate that 1) McCain has a good economy plan and 2) he understands the economy. Overall, I am very fond of the speech. Of course, the speech was watched by many which must have been a great news for the McCain team – it received a slightly higher rating than Obama's speech.

Today, both Gallup and Rasmussen polls have shown McCain and Obama are essentially tied. Make no mistake, this is still a Democratic year.

Experience: Who Has More - Obama or Palin

Gereard Baker contributes an excellent side by side experience comparison of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin for Real Clear Politics that shows who has more leadership. Baker compares and contrasts the two on Political Experience, Biography, History as well as Appeal, Executive Experience, Religious Influence, Record of Bipartisan Achievement, and Human Life . It's very interesting to see the Democrats have anointed a candidate that essentially has less true leadership and reform experience to offer than John McCain's VP choice. Sarah Palin has a proven record of reform and will continue to work for a better, more efficient government. Take a moment to read Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama

What Joe Biden REALLY Thinks of Barack Obama

Obama Compares His Own Celebrity to Paris Hilton

In light of the recent hissy fit from Barack Obama's campaign over McCain's Celebrity ads, an interesting quote I thought I'd share with you:

"Andy Warhol said we all get our 15 minutes of fame," says Barack Obama. "I've already had an hour and a half. I mean, I'm so overexposed, I'm making Paris Hilton look like a recluse.”

Apparently, Barack Obama has no qualms in comparing himself to Paris Hilton when it suits his celebrity, yet he makes a big stink over the comparison in the ad.

Watch the McCain campaign ad below:

Barack Obama compared his own celebrity to Paris Hilton’s in a speech at the Gridiron Club in December, 2004. The quote is found in a Mark Leibovich article appearing in The Washington Post in February of 2005, ironically titled, The Senator’s Humble Beginning. Yes, the article is a couple years old, but it gives us an interesting glimpse at the creation of this myth behind the man. Although Leibovich was apparently already a fan at the time, he characterized Obama's celebrity as a series of calculations:

One of the keys to being well liked in Washington is to appear humble, which is why Washington is so full of people who are so unhumble when it comes to touting how humble they are. All of this comes naturally to Obama.

Appearing humble, although it comes naturally to Obama, is quite different from being humble of course. Another quote from Leibovich's article shows Obama's lack of humility, in what the author calls, an Obama "slip."


... Obama realized that his driver, David Katz, had never been to the White House, so he took him back into the reception. This is one of those small gestures that aren't so small when you're a celebrity.

"I told him it cost me 15 more pictures," Obama says. Even in jest, this is a rare instance where Obama lets slip with something that could be construed as immodest: volunteering a description of his celebrity force field, so big it breaches the White House.

Yeah, photo ops at the White House really are such a price for celebrity senators! Leibovich compares the Obama model to "the Hillary model":

Obama, 43, is following what is known in Hill parlance as "the Hillary model," named for the former first lady whose transition into the Senate is considered a prototype of how celebrity senators should proceed.

"The idea is to capitalize on your celebrity while downplaying it at the same time," [Thomas E.] Mann says.

Well, I guess the MSM have shown us that celebrity is more "newsworthy" in a Presidential campaign than the issues at stake. Personally, I can't figure out what could be so newsworthy about an opportunistic lawyer making the easiest case there is - "vote for me, I'm not George Bush" ... yeah, that's not a hard sell, dude! Being successful at making that case is laughable to me. Roughly 3/4 of our population are dissatisfied with the current administration, and damn near all of us are unhappy with the current Congress! Unfortunately, we voters rarely hear much about public dissatisfaction with the Democratic Congress in the media. Makes Obama’s “case” all that much easier when we don’t have access to the truth. Large crowds of fans do not demonstrate a candidate’s leadership abilities.

But, the power of a mob aided and abetted by the blatantly biased MSM cannot be underestimated. Who would have really guessed that Hillary Clinton would not be the Democratic nominee? Of course, Obama out "Hillaried" Hillary in the primaries. Perhaps with the help of a few "advisors" from the Senate as Leibovich notes,

"Offer to do extra work that will benefit the caucus," Daschle says. This will lubricate the relationships that Senate careers are built on. Also, Daschle says, "stay in coach class when you're flying somewhere."

Might have been nice if Obama had received some advice from Daschle about how to be a good public servant, hindsight being 20/20 and all. But I guess he took Daschle’s advice. Remember, although Hillary did well in the popular vote, Obama did very well in caucuses during the Democratic primaries. He does very well in the media, too. Calculated celebrity to win the White House, as if it's some prize for winning a popularity contest ... instead of an important responsibility which is supposed to be decided by We The People.

Maybe Obama forgot about the time he compared his celebrity to Paris Hilton's while talking to a room packed with people at the Gridiron Club. (ahem) In making such a fuss about the McCain campaign’s “Celebrity” ad, personally I think Barack Obama knows exactly what he's doing.

Do you?

All kidding aside, it's fun to talk about Paris Hilton and everything, but the video below is one of the things that legitimately concern me. Our Consitution grants no powers to political parties or to the media - only to people. It seems Barack Obama is no better at remembering what he said about Paris Hilton than he is remembering what he said about Iraq. Remember the campaign slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid.” … well, I have one for Barack Obama –

It's your content of character and lack of experience, dude!