This Obama Coverage Not WH Approved

Remember Mike Williams, the best blogger not blogging? He's back today with an electronic letter that follows. Welcome back, Mike.

According to a Pew Research poll ( may take about 20 seconds to load due, perhaps, to heavy traffic) President Obama “has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades.”

Larrey Anderson, commenting on the poll at American Thinker:

President Obama has made an awful lot of promises -- none more often than his vows of bipartisanship… voters who were hoping for that promised change to bipartisanship need to refocus their dreams on something else. Praying for the survival of our Republic seems like a good start.

Praying for the survival of our Republic! Are we going a little hyperbolic here? The Gateway Pundit: “This week Obama promised to weaken our national defense, bashed America while in Europe, told the world we were torturers, and handed over our rights at the G20.”

James Lewis at American Thinker:

We have a rock star president who for the first time in American history fired the President of a private corporation, General Motors, then immediately flew to Europe with an entourage of 500 courtiers and a worshipful media, bowed waist-deep to the King of Saudi Arabia, and proceeded to accuse his own country of arrogance.

[…]

What arrogance these Americans have. Either that, or a very, very -- no, stunningly -- ignorant man was just elected president -- largely because millions of benevolent voters believed that we owe black people a presidency. They may come to see that as their biggest mistake ever. In the next couple of years they will see a tripling of government debt, high inflation, a permanent loss in their personal wealth, and a major devaluation of the dollar….

And Lee Cary:

Sticks and stone will break our bones, but what are insults from the Obama administration doing to our national psyche?

First, Attorney General Eric Holder called us cowards. Sure, it was framed in the context of interracial issues, but a coward is a coward is a coward. (Was he a coward when he faithfully executed former President Clinton’s final pardons, include one granted to Marc Rich -- yet another tax evader?)

Now, Holder’s boss, President Obama, confessed to our European friends, and others in the vicinity, that we’ve been arrogant.

So let’s see if we have this right. We’re cowardly, arrogant, we torture people, we don’t listen to our friends, we’re selfish and hence must be forced to share our wealth, our children are poorly educated, and our airports and infrastructure are substandard to China’s. What’d I miss?

I don’t know about you American Thinker readers, but I’m getting bummed out. I’m not on suicide watch, but I am wondering about joining a local therapy group for those suffering from ISS (Insult Stress Syndrome)….

So, why does Obama bash us? Paul Mirengoff of Power Line reasonably asks. His fourth possible reason:

…American bashing is the product of his ego. Scott suggested as much yesterday when he described Obama as "bestriding the Western world in the guise of a philosopher king." By distancing himself from America's foreign policy, he presents himself as something greater than a mere American president attempting to project American power and American ideas. Any president can do that. So grand is this American president that he will project his own special synthesis of world ideas, at least rhetorically. In doing so, not coincidentally, he will impress elites at home and abroad, and enhance his personal popularity, if not that of the country. His intellect will be admired and he will become a beloved figure throughout the world.

Meanwhile, in what Bill Katz calls the grown-up world:

The president is about to address the Turkish parliament. This should really be rich, as Turkey is a Muslim country. The opportunity for high grovel is so tempting. The president has already bowed down physically to one Muslim leader, the king of Saudi Arabia, as you've seen in a widely circulated photo. We can't wait to hear what honors are about to be bestowed on other aggrieved Muslims.

This, from the Washington Post, should put the president's current excursion in Europe into some perspective:

As Obama prepared to address the Turkish parliament Monday, the U.N. Security Council met in an emergency session. Despite the urging of the United States and Japan, the 15-member council could not agree on a statement criticizing North Korea's rocket launch. China and Russia said they were not yet convinced that Pyongyang had violated any U.N. rules, according to council officials.

Remember all that palling around that Obama did with Russia's Medvedev last week? Remember the smiles? Remember the talk about "resetting" our relationship with Moscow? Remember the pledge to start negotiating a new nuclear weapons treaty? Remember the warmth and the good times? Oh, and also the swell food.

Lot of good it did us. The old reds won't even admit that North Korea broke any rules. Security Council resolutions? Did you see any resolutions? Maybe the secretary-general's dog ate them. That must be it….

We’ll give a Brit the last word on Obama for today. He starts off:

Isn't it time for him to go home yet? It is good, in theory, that the new President of the United States is taking so much time to tour Europe. He arrived in London last Tuesday, has been to Strasbourg, Prague yesterday and now he's off to Turkey. It shows, I suppose, that he cares about the outside world and that is 'A Good Thing'. But his long stay means that we are hearing rather a lot from him, way too much in fact….