Bozell Column: No One May Lecture Obama
When Barack Obama replaced George Bush, there was unbridled joy among the elites. The days of "cowboy diplomacy" were over! Finally, we had a president who was a careful multi-lateralist, who wouldn't rudely impose his will, but would instead work with allies to build consensus.
But that's not what Obama delivered with Israel last week, is it? Obama went to the State Department and insisted Israel needed to stop its "unsustainable" policy toward the Palestinians and "boldly" retreat behind pre-1967 borders. A stunned Benjamin Netanyahu responded as any ally would if so roundly betrayed. He publicly – correctly – denounced Obama’s policy prescription.
Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic magazine (and website) posted an item on May 20 headlined: "Dear Mr. Netanyahu, Please Don't Speak to My President That Way." Netanyahu, he wrote, threw a "hissy fit." That pretty much encapsulated the American media’s reaction. "Cowboy diplomacy" is just fine from time to time – if the man in the saddle is Obama.
On that night's "NBC Nightly News," reporter Andrea Mitchell was finding anonymous distaste for Netanyahu from other Israeli officials, never mind that his country was unquestionably applauding him: "I was told that even some Israeli officials, David, were uncomfortable with what they acknowledge was a lecturing tone by the prime minister. But he felt very strongly he had to say this to the world, to President Obama's face."
By the time Sunday's "Meet the Press" rolled around, Mitchell heightened the attack on Netanyahu for daring to lecture the Almighty Barack. "Netanyahu seized on it. Even before he got on the plane, he criticized the President, and in such a fashion! He lectured him in the Oval Office. And if you look at that picture that you have up there right now, it was a stone-faced Barack Obama and Netanyahu basically treating him like a school boy."
And then, some more anonymity: "People even who work for Netanyahu, some Israeli officials, told him later that he went too far. That it was, it was really rude and that there would be blowback to this."
Mitchell’s NBC sure was less outraged when Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez came to the U.N. in 2006 and denounced President Bush as a devil. Kelly O'Donnell was downright blase: "Chavez repeatedly called the president ‘a devil,’ and labeled him a ‘Yankee terrorist.’ The administration quickly dismissed the swipe....And some say that the Venezuelan president cannot be so easily ignored because he has so much oil."
The next day, Matt Lauer turned to a set of VH-1 comedians. He played the Chavez devil clip, and said "That's wacky." Sherrod Small replied, "I ain't laughed that much at a Latino guy on TV since I watched Telemundo. He's got what it takes." Jessica St. Clair added: "He's saying what everybody wants to say, and so now we love him."
Thanks, NBC, for always standing up for our president, regardless of party.
How about when that idiot Iraqi journalist threw a shoe at President Bush's head in December of 2008, screaming "This is your goodbye present, you dog"? On NBC's "Today," reporter Richard Engel excused the shoe-tosser because he had relatives killed in Baghdad. Reporter Chuck Todd went further, virtually endorsing the Bush insult, saying that "in our last poll we had 80 percent said they wouldn't miss him," and "He's already being sort of kicked out of office by the American people."
The other networks were even worse. ABC's "World News" put "Folk Hero?" on screen as anchor Elizabeth Vargas trumpeted how this "instant celebrity to many of his countrymen." Then-employed and more perky CBS anchor Katie Couric hailed how "many Iraqis are calling him a hero." Reporter Elizabeth Palmer snidely concluded the man "should do jail time, said the Iraqi bloggers, because he missed."
Did anyone disagree with Obama’s position on Israel? Apparently not, if we are to trust the press. None of the network morning shows found critics of Obama's remarks on Israel. CBS’s "Early Show" instead turned to former Clinton State Department spokesman Jamie Rubin.
Anchor Erica Hill suggested Netanyahu couldn't "give an inch" politically to the president on Israeli security. Rubin replied: "This is unfortunate for everyone, I think. Because President Obama doesn't have the huge popularity in Israel that, perhaps, President Bush had, it's easier for Prime Minister Netanyahu to have a fight with him."
CBS’s liberal guest insisted it was "unfortunate for everyone" that Obama wasn't more popular in Israel, with the clear implication that he should be. Our media feel President Obama's pain so intensely that they can't bear the thought that someone would say an unkind word to him, especially with their cameras rolling. Their outrage at Netanyahu is only a small indicator of how much they're going to hate Obama's Republican opponents in the months to come.
- Brent Bozell's blog
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Comments
But of course when the president of mexico
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 11:08pm.
came to lecture us in our government, slamming us and that was to be applauded.
So what should we do?
Submitted by The_Barrel_Guy on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 1:44am.
When the President of the United States matches up closely to the village idiot,
Or, should we leave no stone unturned to make this a one-term presidency?
For you lurkers who voted for this disaster, you should go into your closet and never come back out!
Obama wanted to be King of China
Submitted by Slyrr on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 9:19am.
Remember just a couple months ago? Obama threw a fawning, slobbering state dinner for China? Always remember that liberals and people like Obama secretly lust for the total power and control that dictators like Hu have.
Seeing the dictatorial and brutal methods of China's regime, Obama gleefully exclaimed that he 'wished he was President of China' instead of America. The reason? 'At least in China,' he said, 'no one questions you!'
Unspoken?
'I'd rather be king of China - because in China you know how to deal with your people! You throw them in jail - you kill them - you run them over with tanks! That's the kind of power I want! I'm sick of all this 'freedom' crap! I wanna be a dictator like you, Hu! I can't wait to destroy all this freedom garbage so I can be the tyrant that I secretly want to be! I wanna wear a crown and a fur-lined cape, and carry a scepter and... and have a bunch of medals like all the other tyrants have, that's what I want!'
In 2012, let's give Obama the man-child his chance. Let's vote him and his rib-gorging wife out of power. Then let's seal them both in a crate and mail them to China so they can try practicing their peculiar brand of 'community organizing' on Hu's turf and see how he welcomes them.
man in the saddle??
Submitted by jon_torlin on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 11:28pm.
Maybe if it were Blazing Saddles! And no, I am not talking about the black sheriff(who is way smarter than DuhO'One anyway), but those characters that were idiots. Actually, DuhO'One would be more closer related to the Mel Brooks character.
-Jon
Taggart?
Submitted by Beukeboom on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 9:42am.
Taggart?
Possibly
Submitted by Utherpend on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 11:25am.
I think he means Governor William J. Lepetomane that Mel Brooks played who was oblivious to everything around him.
Yeah, but Taggart was dumber.
Submitted by Beukeboom on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:16pm.
Yeah, but Taggart was dumber. Perhaps Taggart = Biden?
Taggart = Biden
Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:28pm.
UAW = Mongo
Not nice!
Submitted by Now_I_Want_Change on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 1:04pm.
You insult Mongo!
Mongo only pawn in game of
Submitted by Beukeboom on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 2:01pm.
Mongo only pawn in game of life.
sorry about that
Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 2:37pm.
I was thinking more of the union members - huge group of people being used as a pawn
Now whose
Submitted by Vonu on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 11:43pm.
All wee weed up.
It's different when POTUS is on the receiving end!
Submitted by Jake6 on Tue, 05/24/2011 - 11:50pm.
Obama could chastise the SCOTUS at the SOTU speech and it was good. Obama could berate Paul Ryan at a speech that he asked Ryan to attend and it was good. However when Obama got a well deserved lesson in manners, in public, well now, that was just downright rude.
Go Benjamin, Go!
It was about time...
Submitted by Bill Brasky on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:12am.
... someone put Obama in his place. To his face no less. The insecure, arrogant man child we have for a president had this one coming. And the liberal media again shows their bias by attacking Netanyahu. I say go Bibi go! America should be so lucky as to have a leader of Netanyahu's caliber.
You finish the sentence.........
Submitted by Herbster on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:25am.
Until we get an honest media with no agenda............................
we must suspect
Submitted by Deskpilot on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 8:52am.
every syllable from their lips, and every puppetted sentenced from their keyboard on every issue.
Obama is not a man and no one
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:37am.
Obama is not a man and no one should refer to him as such. He is little more than a selfish child of questionable intelligence. All of his policies have failed inspite of having at his disposal a highly trained and "educated" cadre of liberal elites.
He is the buffoon by which all other buffoons must be measured. His ineptitude equals or exceeds that of the famous african statesman bob mugabe.
Wasn't it disrespectful and
Submitted by TerryWest on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:41am.
Wasn't it disrespectful and arrogant of the President to give the speech prior to talking to Mr Netanyahu?
Thank you Brent..... MRC and Newsbusters have helped to
Submitted by Rush Fan on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:51am.
open many new eyes to the bias, agenda-driven liberal media. Both the latest cable network ranking, and the recent Suffock University political poll reflect the change in citizens' attitudes toward the liberal media.
As usual...
Submitted by Too Old To Be Cool on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 1:04am.
...the media uses "some say" to voice their own opinion.
The only "hissy fit" I saw
Submitted by robert108 on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 1:09am.
The only "hissy fit" I saw was when obama tried his walkback at AIPAC. He got peevish, as he always does when he can't get his way.
Boy Barry should be lectured
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 1:48am.
Boy Barry should be lectured as much as possible..........and by the myriad of people who have more class, style, intelligence,common sense, and experience to do so..............
But, you know what?? I want to say that it would be going 'in one BIG ear and out the other', but in Boy Blunder's case, I don't think that most of it even makes it to the first BIG ear, because the guy is so self-absorbed and narcississic and brainwashed that he can't even consider being taught something, or told something, or showed something - unless if fits into his dyed-in-the-wool socialist/communist/elitist/Marxist way of thinking.
And we were told that this is the 'smartest' President that this county has ever had??? I have yet to see ANY evidence of that.............although I see a LOT of evidence of his continued destruction and dismanting of the very principles and foundations of our great country.
Excellent article with excellent points
Submitted by ant on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 2:43am.
The media, in my opinion, has become one of the most despicable 'entitities' or organizations to my mind. There are many groups that should find condemnation, such as Hamas or the KKK, but at least you know what they stand for. The Media doesn't even have the ethical fortitude to admit they're of an agenda. Scum, guttersnipes.
Another unappreciated lecture
Submitted by Boil It Down on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 3:46am.
I'm sure those in the MSM who are so frantically trying to repair Obama's damaged image won't appreciate your lecture either Brent, nor will they learn anything. I thank you for trying. -bidn-
Oh My Gawd!
Submitted by dr-go on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 5:31am.
"The arrogance of Israelis" would be a better headline for Andrea's commiseration of the schoolboy treatment our President received. Yes, arrogance meets itself and doesn't particularly like the mirror image.
Nothing arrogant about Bibbi.
Submitted by hbnolikeee on Thu, 05/26/2011 - 12:32am.
BO is clueless and suggested something f-ed up. So, he needed to learn what life is.
Too Public to be Credible
Submitted by Gat New York on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 5:45am.
What happened this past week regarding Obama and Israel was far too public for useful idiots like Mitchell to have a shred of credibility other than to the few kool aid drinkers who still watch MSNBC.
What we witnessed in Netanyahu was a diplomat, s statesman, and a leader. What we witnessed in Obama was an amateurish political weasel.
As far as the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg throughout history there have always been those Jews who have turned their backs on their own in favor of a bigger calling. In his case it is the Big D (Democrat). Just because you have a Jewish last name or, in his case, spent time in Israel, does not give you automatic credentials to speak for the rest of us.
Also, when Paul McCartney ( a
Submitted by gopsteve on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 5:51am.
Also, when Paul McCartney ( a foreigner at that) came to the White House during yet another Obama party and made a joke about Bush's intelligence (right in the WH no less) and Obama said nothing, there was no media outcry....
Mitchell = racist?
Submitted by Mazzi on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 6:25am.
Andrea Mitchell Called PRESIDENT OBAMA a boy!! ("...it was a stone-faced Barack Obama and Netanyahu basically treating him like a school boy.")
Isn't that verboten? I thought a black man can not be called a boy under any circumstances, or is that another case where libs are allowed if they carry enough self-awarded racial cred?
Someone call Jesse and Al Sharpton! Off with her head!!
No, Netanyahi is the racist!!
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 7:33am.
You knew it had to happen....
Leftist group accuses Netanyahu of racism toward Obama.
Netanyahu’s “supercilious and patronizing attitude” in “scolding” Obama stems from the fact that Obama, the first black American president, is not part of the same social milieu as former presidents like Bush, Reagan and Clinton [CLINTON???? social milieu?? the first Trailer Park president???] “and the like,” he went on. Netanyahu did everything he could to “humiliate and hurt” Obama, Oppenheimer told his Israeli readers.
You really can't make this stuff up. Luckily, lefties are always there to provide....
How silly of me!
Submitted by Mazzi on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 10:35am.
I should have known - it is impossible for a lib to be a racist, and it is impossible for any other white person to not be a racist.
The gift that keeps on
Submitted by rockyracoon on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 4:25pm.
The gift that keeps on giving...eh motherbelt?!
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
"Make it so" doesn't work.
Submitted by amyshulk on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 6:55am.
"Make it so" doesn't work.
Ronald Reagan
Gotta wonder if...
Submitted by falcon on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 7:24am.
... boy Barry has been watching too much Star Trek: The Next Generation? He thinks he's Captain Jean-Luc Picard or something.
Here's the truth, boy Barry. Being captain of a ship is a lot different than being President. Presidents aren't in "command" except to the White House staff. You can't simply tell others who don't work for you what to do...and that includes the other 307 million of us.
“I will not stand by and watch this great country destroy itself under mediocre leadership, that drifts from one crisis to the next, eroding our national will and purpose.” – Ronald Reagan, July 17, 1980.
Apparently the PM and I think alike. ;-)
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 7:13am.
Obama used a tactic that my boys used to use as pre-teens.
They would bring up sensitive subjects in the presence of their friends, and then complain that I had violated some code when I rebuked them in front of their friends. Or they would show off by speaking disrespectfully to me, expecting me to ignore it because others were present.
I firmly made it known that if they started something in front of their friends, I would finish it in the same place.
Apparently the PM and I think alike. ;-)
I presume that, unlike Obama,
Submitted by Mazzi on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 10:43am.
I presume that, unlike Obama, your boys learned to not do that? I swear, lefties seem to be stuck in the pre-teen to teen mental age, before their brains are fully formed and able to make rational decisions. Like teenagers, they get some idealist thought in their heads and can't see it through to the end.
Obama can't see what would actually happen if Israel somehow agreed to his stupid idea - what the long-term implications would be. Luckily there are still SOME grown-ups in power in the world.
Surprised the MSM Libs Did not pull the Race Card on the PM..
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 7:29am.
Now that would be too predictable for the airheads at CBS, NBC, MessNBC and CNN. Their "Boy Wonder" is simply the epitome of perfection in their minds....disgusting!
Someone did it for them. See
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 7:34am.
Someone did it for them. See my reply to Mazzi, above.
Well "some American
Submitted by fatboy on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 7:38am.
Well "some American officials" say Obama got exactly what he deserved...a good bitch-slapping.
I don't suppose anyone
Submitted by kwbrownie2003 on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 8:14am.
I don't suppose anyone remembers how rude Obama was to Netanyahu the first time they met. Maybe this is just Bibi getting his pound of flesh for that.
I'm not sure BHO knows or cares-
Submitted by JIMMY1660 on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 9:02am.
this is not a classroom exercise. The real world where mistakes cost lives.
Or BHO is a Radical Muslim supporter.
Poor, poor O'Barry O'Bama, he
Submitted by Dan Diego on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 8:28am.
Poor, poor O'Barry O'Bama, he couldn't pout in a corner in the Oval Office.
Shoe Bomb-er
Submitted by guein on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 8:58am.
I wonder if Ms Mitchell experienced a similar outrage when the Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at Pres. Bush during the infamous press conference that MSNBC put on a loop and played over and over. I'm not a mind reader, but my guess would be that she wasn't offended at all by that incident, but rather shared in the jubilation with her journalistic colleagues.
King Obama
Submitted by ohio granny on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 9:47am.
If you don't bow down to the boy/child in the White House the stupid MSM accuse you of disrespecting him. Hey idiots tell me again exactly what has the smartest man in the world done to expect or earn ANY respect? Little Barry has disrespected all of our allies and anyone who dares disagree with him. The most "thin-skinned" administration ever.
This administration is full or liars, cheats, crooks and thugs. The only thing they have earned (from anyone) is contempt..
Stunning point!
Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 11:17am.
When somebody throws a shoe at Bush, to the left, it's a joke. And it's sniggered at an indication that he deserved it. When somebody uses a tone on Obama, it's an indication of "rudeness", and a deficit of character.
When a stadium of college brats chanted "Bush must die" after the Gulf War, what the aghast conservatives had to calm down and understand was that this showed how angry young people were at "War for Oil". However, that the Tea Party may have shown anger was a demonstration of how "dangerous" they were.
The leftist narrative does not need to be resisted because it's not our narrative. It needs to be resisted and countered because it is so incapable of adjustment and dialog.
'Sniggered'???? Jeez,
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:06pm.
'Sniggered'???? Jeez, Quasi..............we won't tolerate 'racist' talk like that!!!!!
Netanyahu should treat obama
Submitted by jessieH on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 10:34am.
Netanyahu should treat obama the same way obama treats him. Talk nice to his face and stab him in the back when he isn't around. Treat him kindly when they talk and rip him apart when he can't defend himself.
Bibi's too much of a REAL man
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 12:08pm.
Bibi's too much of a REAL man to have to resort to the kind of junior high immature games that Boy Barry plays. O'Bama is, was, and always will be a snide little punk who hit the bigtime. The only difference is that now he's a BIGTIME snide little arrogant punk.
What?
Submitted by Patriot II on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 10:35am.
oblahma is a freaking nut case to even suggest such a dumbass mindless idea! This freak needs to go back to "a freak a"
a mans man
Submitted by scarletandgold on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 11:15am.
bebe didnt disrespect obambi..obambi disrespected himself..and like good lil marxists the stalworts over at nbc as usuall got thier marching orders to condem the great bebe..they raised thier arms straight, and no matter how hard they tried thier wrists limped out,but they condemened..but for real americans we saw a tough man full of integrity stand for his country and his people..he stood before congress and brought a sense of national pride to bear that we havnt seen here in many yrs..he stood firm and he stood tall never wavering ...sounds like a job for an american president..no such luck...its was the israeli president...americans stand behind you israel..with words and might...!
Respect is something that is
Submitted by Beukeboom on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 11:23am.
Respect is something that is earned not automatically granted. And Obama, as a man, has not earned respect nor has he shown respect either to the office of POTUS or to others.
Obama is only doing what is fair
Submitted by Agnostic on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 11:33am.
Obama paid back the Unions for helping to get him elected with GM and special considerations
Obama paid back the Environmentalist for helping to get him elected with attacks on energy
Obama paid back Finance companies for helping to get him elected with $$$ and exemptions
Obama paid back liberal groups and businesses for helping to get him elected with waivers from ObamaCare (btw, anyone else notice what Facebook is now doing to conservative groups with their new upgrade?)
Now Obama must payback the Muslims for running phone centers and raising money to help get him elected - it is only fair their efforts be rewarded as well.
Libya
Submitted by Lee Boggs on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 1:43pm.
Don't forget about Barry the Cowboy riding into Libya with guns a-blazin and telling Congress that he doesn't need their permission to shoot.
Considering we just bombed the crap
Submitted by Boudin on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 1:52pm.
Out of Tripoli, and yet not a peep from the media. I guess we shouldn't be suprised that he used the WPA to bomb them, but now claims he dont need it, because the un is involved.
Congress is a joke, they should move to defund this little escapade asap
I was told by numerous anonymous old Jews
Submitted by ConservaSerb on Thu, 05/26/2011 - 2:51am.
That Andrea Mitchell is the deadest lay on the entire East Coast.
A wise & frugal government, which shall leave men free 2 regulate their own pursuits of industry & improvement, & shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government. T. Jefferson
You are not conserve*
Submitted by cajun2 on Thu, 05/26/2011 - 4:33pm.
Again I have noticed the degeneration of respectful discourse at NB. You may find yourself among friends at yahoo buzz and they certainly would be acceptable of your type of jokes.
ConservaSerb........I concur with Cajun2.
Submitted by Rush Fan on Fri, 05/27/2011 - 1:59am.
I concur with Cajun2.