Obama’s Great Expectations and Modest Objective
By Charles Lemos on July 22, 2008 at 8:30 AM in Barack Obama, Commander in Chief, Germany, Obamaisms, Qualifications
I am beginning to wonder if Obama actually went to law school and taught Constitutional law. In fact, I wonder if he went to grade school. Back in May, Obama referenced having visited 57 states; today on Face the Nation, the very junior Senator from Illinois said this:
“[T]he objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people like President Karzai or Prime Minister Maliki or President Sarkozy or others who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years.”
Surely he knows that two terms is eight years or is he hoping for a repeal of the Twenty-second Amendment. I wouldn’t put it pass him. Talk about great expectations. And I was under the impression that the objective of this trip, other than the glorification of the He who we have been waiting for, was a fact-finding mission. You’re not President, you’re a half-term very junior Senator from Illinois. You’re not even the nominee yet, only a presumptive (he doth presume much methinks) one.
And I must ask who is going to pick up the tab for this event. It had better the Obama campaign that pays for the police, the security, the conveniences and the clean-up.
Why are Earth should the city of Berlin be saddled with the cost of an Obama campaign event? This is the theatre of the absurd with Obama as the master of deception but Europeans will see what they want to see and hear the glowing eloquence of a meaningless banter. There is no there there in Obama.
Here is ABC Jack Tapper on Obama’s latest gaffe in article entitled The Butterfly Effect:
Today on CBS’s Face the Nation, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in Afghanistan, told the paparazzi-pursued correspondent Lara Logan that “the objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people like President Karzai or Prime Minister Maliki or President Sarkozy or others who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years.
“And it’s important for me to have a relationship with them early, that I start listening to them now, getting a sense of what their interests and concerns are.”
The notion that Obama will be dealing with world leaders for eight-to-ten years, possibly up through July 2018, suggests that either (a) he believes that not only will he be elected and re-elected, but the 22nd amendment will be repealed and he will be elected for a third term, OR (b) he was speaking casually and just meant two terms.
(I’m guessing b.)
There is a term in chaos theory describing the how infinitesmal variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system.
Most of us are more familiar with the more common name for it: the butterfly effect.
The butterfly effect was introduced in Ray Bradbury’s 1952 short story “A Sound of Thunder,” when time travelers change the world beyond measure by accidentally killing a butterfly in prehistoric times.
Similarly, international diplomacy can be impacted by careless or glibly-chosen words. (Cue President Bush’s “crusade” remarks.)
Some Democratic allies of Obama’s are — off the record — concerned that the senator too often doesn’t consider the potential butterfly effect of his diction.
Take his support for an “undivided Jerusalem,” or his remarks about women seeking abortions when they’re “feeling blue,” which upset feminist leaders.
Or the media kerfuffle after his “refine my policies” presser.
On his press plane on July 5, after that incident, Obama said, “I’m surprised at how finely calibrated every single word was measured.”
A reporter noted that that is precisely what happens with the president, he can change world affairs with one word, finely calibrating your words is what happens.
“Well, of course, no, I understand,” Obama said. “But for me to say that I’m going to refine my policies, you know, I don’t think in anyway is inconsistent with prior statements and doesn’t change my strategic view that this war has to end and that I am going to end it as president.”
This week Obama will have his words picked apart like never before, and it will be an international audience of not just opponents but actual enemies.
They will be watching and waiting to see if he kills any butterflies.
Had your fill yet?
From my blog, By The Fault.
, the basis for the Best Motion Picture Nominee (Golden Globes) starring Brad Pitt.
, the novel by John Le Carre, a new motion picture starring Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.
by 
* (Included in the 
* 
.by David Fredosso who wrote 2008's 
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