TightyRighty.net

As everyone is aware, the IOC awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics to Brazil and Rio de Janeiro in spite of the efforts of President and Mrs. Obama and Oprah Winfrey, among others.  While some are reveling in this “defeat” for the President and bemoaning the loss of prestige incurred by the Office of President, I have a slightly different take on this matter.

I am hopeful that the President looks at this matter as a “teachable moment” (to use a recently publicized term) and does a critical assessment of his role in this process.

It appears President Obama believed he could sweep in at the last moment, and by the sheer force of his personality and the strength of his eloquent speech, he could win the day for the Windy City.  Instead it seems that the IOC panned his performance and Chicago was first to be “voted off the island.”

Unfortunately, the President believes the strength of his personality and the eloquence of his words are just the ticket to deal with many of the world’s despots and dictators, including Iran, Korea, Venezuela, Russia, etc.  He has taken a very soft approach with this cabal of thugs by continually apologizing for America, tweaking our allies (such as Israel, Poland and Czechoslovakia) in order to curry the favor of these hoodlums and then offering them an olive branch.

President Obama had the perfect opportunity (twice) to call out Iran for its nuclear arms program at the U.N. when he made the first speech of significance to open the General Session and then when he chaired the Security Council the next day.  At the time, he was sitting on a figurative bombshell with the knowledge that Iran has developed at least one other nuclear site.  Did he use the bully pulpit and this knowledge to call for accountability and conformance with international standards and threaten consequences for non-conformance?  No – first he made a “Can’t we all get along?” mealy-mouthed speech to the General Session in which he threw Israel under the bus and abdicated the U.S. role as leader of the free world.  Then he made a plea for a nuclear free world to the Security Council without naming the 2 biggest violators of the nuclear development regime – Korea and Iran.  He even angered our allies – the British and French, who wanted to expose the double dealing of the Iranians at the high profile venue of the U.N. Security Council.

Additionally, a few weeks ago he threw a massive bone the the Russians when he canceled a missile defense system for the Poles and Czechs.  The Russian President Medvedev indicated some flexibility regarding sanctions on Iran for its nuke program, but it is Russian Prime Minister Putin who wields all the power.  It is in Russia’s best interest for the Iranians to continue their nuke program so do not expect any sanctions requiring approval of the Russians.

So the pattern which has emerged is our President, fueled by his massive ego in which he believes he can reason with and negotiate peace, nuclear disarmament, (insert additional pipe dreams here) with anyone, no matter how evil, supplicating before and schmoozing and sweet talking the worst people in the world.  And what does he get for it?  These guys all tell the world how great he is (Qaddafi wants him to be president for life!) but none of them are forthcoming with any concessions which would make the world or the U.S. safer.  After the great American apology tour, how many countries said they would take any Gitmo detainees?  What concession of any significance has come from Iran, Korea, Venezuela, Russia, etc as a result of President Obama being “not President Bush?”  NONE!

So the President’s Olympic experience is a microcosm of the the way the world works.  He can be gracious and eloquent and likeable until the cows come home, but he is perceived by the world as a weakling and as a result, he gets nothing of significance, other than having his ego stroked and told how much better he is than the last U.S. president.

So perhaps President Obama will learn from this teachable moment with the Olympics.  The strongest horse wins the race, not the best liked. He needs to stand up and accept the mantle of leadership of the free world and begin to impose the U.S. will upon some of these bad guys and show them he means business.  He could start by calling for an embargo of gasoline into Iran by any oil company which wants to do business in the U.S. and tell the millions of Iranian protesters that he supports their cause.  He could rethink his position on the Eastern Europe missle defense system.  He could quickly agree to General McChrystal’s request for more troops to defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan.  He could stand behind the legally installed government in the Honduras and tell Chavez to foment his unrest elsewhere.

Is any of this likely to happen?  Depends whether the President wants to be a successful leader or or a well liked patsy.  Unfortunately, the national security ramifications of this answer are staggering.  Let’s hope the President can learn from this teachable moment.