This is not what leadership looks like

[erfalf]

Finally...guess what?  A 'consulate' in Iraq didn't exist until 2009.

You really make me chuckle sometimes.  LOL.

BTW, the attacks in Benghazi and Cairo are the first two on the President's watch.

Let's also remember who RMoney has said the biggest geopolitical foe of the US is.  Not Al Qaeda....but Russia.  Time warp anyone?

Except it opened in 2004, the first one. What opened in 2009 was a new building.

And there have been several other embassy attacks on Obama's watch. The most notable off the top of my head was in Kubal (Afghanistan).

[nathanm]

Except it opened in 2004, the first one. What opened in 2009 was a new building.

You may be confusing embassies and consulates. Consulates are usually just some guy's house.

[erfalf]

You may be confusing embassies and consulates. Consulates are usually just some guy's house.

Yes, there is a difference that I honestly didn't realize when I was typing that up. My bad. But we did open an Iraq "Embassy" originally in 2004.

[erfalf]

You're right, this kind of foreign policy leadership waffling can't be taught.

This is exactly what I would expect from Obama. No decision. Vote Present.

[Hoss]

Someone might want to let Gaspar know his brand of 'info' might be in the process of being plagiarized.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[erfalf]

Looks like we may have been warned:

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=284684

And we may have been unarmed:

http://nation.time.com/2012/09/13/whats-worse-no-marines-or-possibly-unarmed-marines/#ixzz26MsfFwaT

Of course Obama may have not known about anything since he has issues attending the briefings:

http://g-a-i.org/report-presidential-daily-briefings-a-time-based-analysis/

and the beat goes on...

[Hoss]

Looks like we may have been warned:

http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=284684

And we may have been unarmed:

http://nation.time.com/2012/09/13/whats-worse-no-marines-or-possibly-unarmed-marines/#ixzz26MsfFwaT

Of course Obama may have not known about anything since he has issues attending the briefings:

http://g-a-i.org/report-presidential-daily-briefings-a-time-based-analysis/

and the beat goes on...

Gaspar, you might want to reign your northern counterpart in.  He's stealing all your 'ahem' thunder!

[Conan71]

Here's more of the foreign policy expertise on display:

Asked if he considered the current Egyptian government an ally of the United States, President Obama Wednesday balked.

"You know, I don't think that we would consider them an ally but we don't consider them an enemy," he said in an interview with Telemundo. "They are a new government trying to find its way, they were democratically elected. I think we are going to have to see how they respond to this incident, to see how they respond to maintaining the peace treaty with Israel."

As The Cable's Josh Rogin points out, in 1989 Egypt was designated by Congress to be a Major Non-NATO Ally along with Australia, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and New Zealand.) Today the U.S. State department, somewhat awkwardly, re-affirmed that Egypt is an ally.

Asked about the president's comment, White House National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "'Ally' is a legal term of art. We don't have a mutual defense treaty with Egypt like we do with our NATO allies. But as the President has said, Egypt is long-standing and close partner of the United States, and we have built on that foundation by supporting Egypt's transition to democracy and working with the new government."

Vietor noted that last night President Obama spoke with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, "to review the strategic partnership between the Unites States and Egypt, while making clear our mutual obligations – including the protection of diplomats and diplomatic facilities."

After that call, Morsi condemned the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic posts in Egypt and Libya at a press conference in Brussels. Quoting the Quran, Morsi said, "whoever kills a soul, it is as if he had slain mankind entirely."

President Obama in his Telemundo interview said that, "So far at least, what we've seen is that in some cases, they've said the right things and taken the right steps – in others, how they've responded to other events may not be aligned with some of our interests so I think it's still a work in progress. But certainly in this situation what we're going to expect is that they are responsive to our insistence that our embassy is protected that our personnel is protected – and if they take actions that indicate they are not taking those responsibilities like all countries do where we have embassies, I think that's going to be a real big problem."

Speaking of work in progress, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo tweeted the Muslim Brotherhood twitter feed, alerting the Egyptians that the U.S. was aware that the expressions the Egyptian political party was making in support of the U.S. and against violence were not being matched by the Muslim Brotherhood's twitter feed in Arabic, which was focused on decrying the anti-Muslim "film" that many in the Arab world are using to whip up anti-U.S. sentiment.

Tweeted @USEmbassyCairo: "have you checked out your own Arabic feeds? I hope you know we read those too."

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/it-depends-on-what-the-meaning-of-ally-is/

"'Ally' is a legal term of art

That's some funnyass spin right there!  Obama would be in deep smile if it weren't for all his apologists.

[erfalf]

That's some funnyass spin right there!  Obama would be in deep smile if it weren't for all his apologists.

The apologists at the network devoted 20 times the coverage last night to Romney's response than to Obama's policies in regards to this tragedy.

[Hoss]

The apologists at the network devoted 20 times the coverage last night to Romney's response than to Obama's policies in regards to this tragedy.

They did because his response given the timeline he submitted them was hard to believe.  When most of your own party lambastes you about not looking Presidential, something is amiss...

[Conan71]

The apologists at the network devoted 20 times the coverage last night to Romney's response than to Obama's policies in regards to this tragedy.

Almost as if they've mistaken who the hopeful candidate is and who the incumbent is.

[erfalf]

Almost as if they've mistaken who the hopeful candidate is and who the incumbent is.

Pretty soon, this thread's focus will itself be turned completely away from Obama. Amazing isn't it?

[erfalf]

They did because his response given the timeline he submitted them was hard to believe.  When most of your own party lambastes you about not looking Presidential, something is amiss...

So do they not like the timing or the fact that he was right before Obama was?

[nathanm]

They did because his response given the timeline he submitted them was hard to believe.

More like Romney foobared up big and then lied about it the next day to try and dig himself out. At one point during his press conference he even said "the embassy" and quickly corrected himself to say "the administration," as if even he didn't believe what he was saying.

Edited to add: Besides, the political sideshow is much less interesting than the sideshow about the filmmaker claiming to be Jewish and financed by 100 Jews when he isn't and it wasn't. Something is very bizarre about all this.

[erfalf]

More like Romney foobared up big and then lied about it the next day to try and dig himself out. At one point during his press conference he even said "the embassy" and quickly corrected himself to say "the administration," as if even he didn't believe what he was saying.

Kind of like Obama and Egypt, but not?