Doug Ross:
Just moments after accusing Mitt Romney of “shooting first, aiming later”, “President Obama accidentally blurted out a slight modification to U.S. foreign policy: Egypt is no longer an ally of the United States.”
NBC’s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel ripped the president for his outrageous and unexpected remarks.
Barack Obama’s assertion that he doesn’t consider Egypt an ally stunned NBC’s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel. Engel, reporting from Cairo, tells Chuck Todd that he needed to “sit down” after hearing that statement. Engel reminds Todd that the US had two major Arab allies in the region when Obama took office, on which it spent a significant amount of foreign aid to keep it that way — Egypt and Saudi Arabia. If we’ve lost Egypt as an ally, Engel asks, wasn’t supporting the effort to overthrow Hosni Mubarak a huge mistake?
After accusing Mitt Romney of “shooting first, aiming later” — in the very same interview — the White House immediately attempted to walk back the president’s diplomatic gaffe.
President Barack Obama didn’t intend to signal any change in the U.S.-Egypt relationship last night when he said Egypt is not an “ally,” the White House told The Cable today.
In an interview with Telemundo Wednesday night, Obama said that the U.S. relationship with the new Egyptian government was a “work in progress,” and emphasized that the United States is counting on the government of Egypt to better protect the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, which was attacked by protesters on Sept. 11.
What that sounds like to me is a truthful and accurate assessment. While the White House has backed off on that for diplomatic reasons, it remains a truthful and accurate statement. I don’t know why Richard Engle would be “stunned,” unless it was shock over a politician speaking so straightforwardly.
Announcing our support for the Egyptian rebels was a calculated gamble–most likely a much better bet than attempting to prop up a doomed dictatorship in the face of a populace revolution, but a gamble nevertheless.
Does Mr. Romney presently consider Egypt a staunch ally? You certainly wouldn’t guess that from his own comments.
I don’t think we have all the facts on who is our enemy and who is our friend. All we know for sure is that the cowardly appeasement policy of the Obama administration is multiplying our enemies and driving away our remaining friends.
I keep pointing out that appeasement generally doesn’t involve creating such a high body count among the enemy leadership. People don’t seem to want to consider that glaringly obvious inconsistency in their appeasement theory.
Democracy in the middle east is an oxymoron.
@Greg:
It’s called perspective, Greg, which you don’t necessarily have, since you seem to be entirely up Obama’s ass. And maybe conservatives don’t have the right perspective either, considering our enormous dislike for Obama, but we may be more correct on this than you seem to be.
Hell, Obama’s own State Dept. corrected him and claimed Egypt as a “major non-NATO ally” in the ME. Sounds to me like there is a major disconnect between Obama, and the State Dept. Yet, you want to paint the picture of Obama as a “real” statesman, who has a sane handle on everything. Other people see him exactly as Aye’s cartoon portrays him. And, given his missed daily briefings, in favor of more golfing and campaigning, Aye’s cartoon may be more accurate than anything else.
OH, tha’s easy. Just ask David Gregory.
Greg, what you and Obama fail to understand is that diplomacy is the art of tactfully smoothing over hard facts.
Some people lack tact, they want to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth no matter how many bridges it burns.
If a newly wed mad tries that with a new bride who is cooking for the first times, he will ruin what should have been their blissful early married months.
Obama lack diplomacy.
Fact: Obama is an empty suit.
Fact: Obama got admitted to top universitites as an affirmative action foreign student.
Fact: Obama is using a phony social security card.
Fact: Obama claimed for sixteen years he had been born in Kenya.
Fact: The media cares about none of this…they are in the tank…one suspects large amounts of money have changed hands…and been deposited in foreign bank accounts for media “stars”.