The Foundation

“[I]t need not be observed that there are pretended as well as just causes of war.” –John Jay

Editorial Exegesis

“The expectation of the world’s lone superpower in a major military operation is ‘stalemate.’ Welcome to the era of the Obama ‘smart war.’ Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen has been warning that he is unclear of the ‘endgame,’ as the Daily Telegraph describes it, in Libya. The outcome of Operation Odyssey Dawn is ‘very uncertain’ and could end up as a stalemate that keeps Col. Moammar Gadhafi in power. Appearing Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ Mullen said U.S. force will mean that Gadhafi is ‘going to have to make some choices about his own future.’ Sounds like we’re sending Dr. Phil over to Tripoli to give the longtime tyrant some tough love. … The president says our military operations were ‘authorized’ by the U.N. Security Council and the Arab League. He didn’t give the U.S. Congress – the Constitution’s authorizers – even one of those bows he likes to perform in the presence of foreign gentry. Is one of the purposes of Operation Odyssey Dawn to illustrate the New Multilateralism – i.e., a Change-We-Can-Believe-In U.S. foreign policy in which we never shoot until the U.N. Security Council gives permission? … Libya seems to be ‘a war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics,’ as Obama said of Iraq. We’ve seen that passion on the covers of tabloid newspapers with Navy-released photos of Tomahawk cruise missiles and headlines like ‘Take That!’ As for the politics, it certainly would be convenient for the president to be able play the hawk as the 2012 election approaches.” –Investor’s Business Daily

Upright

“At once presumptuous and flippant, President Obama used a Saturday audio recording from Brazil to inform Americans he had authorized a third war – a war in which America’s role is unclear and the stated objectives are muddled. Setting aside the wisdom of the intervention, Obama’s entry into Libya’s civil war is troubling on at least five counts. First is the legal and constitutional question. Second is the manner of Obama’s announcement. Third is the complete disregard for public opinion and lack of debate. Fourth is the unclear role the United States will play in this coalition. Fifth is the lack of a clear endgame. Compounding all these problems is the lack of trust created by Obama’s record of deception.” –columnist Timothy P. Carney

“So in the eleventh hour we have decided to bomb Libya. What is the mission? What are our objectives? The public is in the dark. Barely anyone has mentioned how Congress hasn’t debated or authorized any of this. Secretary of State Clinton is reportedly furious with the administration’s dithering. Vice President Biden, the purported foreign policy expert, is missing in action. And President Obama is away touring South America. The whole scene is very strange and a bit surreal. We have stumbled into war and it feels as though the intervention is both belated and haphazardly rushed at the same time.” –columnist N. M. Guariglia

“Hourly cost of whatever it is we’re doing in Libya: about $4 million. Total cost of building one mile of border fence, as undertaken by our horribly inefficient, bloated, largely incompetent federal government: about $2 million. So, every 30 minutes we’re in Libya is one mile of border fence we could have built: Assuming the mission is accomplished in each case, which investment would make us safer?” –columnist Kevin D. Williamson

“If it weren’t so sad, this story from the Washington Times would be too funny. It seems that money from President Obama’s $862,000,000,000 ‘stimulus’ bill of two years ago has been spent to upgrade the Wilmington, Del., AMTRAK station. Vice President Biden lobbied personally, we read, to get the funding for the station he has famously used ever since he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. Now, AMTRAK, grateful for his support, has all on its own initiative decided to name the spruced-up station the Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. AMTRAK station. Well, we all wanted to know who would replace the late, beloved Robert Byrd of West Virginia as the king of pork. Now we know.” –columnist Ken Blackwell

“In the past, obstacles, even failures, have been viewed by Americans as an opportunity to excel, as a chance to overcome and to gain the advantage by learning from mistakes and making a better product or service. … What the nation lacks is a leader capable of summoning the nation’s abilities. So far, all we seem to be getting is the thin gruel of defeatism that urges us to abandon hope, because the problems are just too hard. I, for one, am sick of it. We are a great people, capable of great sacrifices and great accomplishments. If only President Obama would believe it too.” –columnist Lurita Doan

The Demo-gogues

What leadership: “[It’s] very easy to square our military actions and our stated policies [on Moammar Gadhafi’s regime]. … We can’t simply stand by with empty words. We have to take some sort of action.” –Barack Obama, who until following the UN on air strikes basically stood by with empty words

“With respect to initiating this [Libya military] action while I was abroad, keep in mind that we were working on very short timeframes, and we had done all the work, and it was just a matter of seeing how Gadhafi would react to the warning that I issued on Friday. He, despite words to the contrary, was continuing to act aggressively towards his civilians. … But, when it comes to our military action, we are doing so in support of UN Security [Council] resolution 1973, that specifically talks about humanitarian efforts, and we are going to make sure that we stick to that mandate.” –Barack Obama

“Never let a good crisis go to waste”: “Well, we’re in Libya because of oil. And I think both Japan and the nuclear technology and Libya and this dependence that we have upon imported oil have both once again highlighted the need for the United States to have a renewable energy agenda going forward.” –congressman Ed Markey (D-MA)

Tooting his own horn: “We have made extraordinary progress over these last two years. When you look back at the track record of work that we’ve done over the last two years, I think it’s fair to say the promise we made to the American people has been kept, that we have delivered in change that we can believe in. … There are times where Michelle reminds me that I volunteered for this job. Because she looks at me and I looked tired. But I’m telling you, I am having an extraordinary time, because there aren’t many moments in our lives where we know that we’re making a difference. And this is one of those moments.” –Barack Obama

“When a woman got raped, blame her because she was wearing a skirt too short, she looked the wrong way or she wasn’t home in time to make the dinner. We’ve gotten by that. But it’s amazing how these Republicans, the right wing of this party – whose philosophy threw us into this God-awful hole we’re in, gave us the tremendous deficit we’ve inherited – that they’re now using, now attempting to use, the very economic condition they have created to blame the victim – whether it’s organized labor or ordinary middle-class working men and women. It’s bizarre. It’s bizarre.” –Joe Biden

“The only people who have the capacity – organizational capacity and muscle – to keep, as they say, the barbarians from the gate, is organized labor. And make no mistake about it, the guys on the other team get it. They know if they cripple labor, the gate is open, man. The gate is wide open. And we know that too.”–Joe Biden

Insight

“The unions might be good for the people who are in the unions but it doesn’t do a thing for the people who are unemployed. Because the union keeps down the number of jobs, it doesn’t do a thing for them.” –economist Milton Friedman (1912-2006)

“An economist is a man that can tell you … what can happen under any given condition, and his guess is liable to be as good as anybody else’s too.” –American humorist Will Rogers (1879-1935)

Dezinformatsia

Adversarial press: “Susan Rice did a remarkable job at the UN. No one could have predicted, even critics of the policy could not predict such a muscular resolution being approved and the abstensions from Russia and China. This came much faster than anyone expected. And came with some very adept diplomacy. … The problem that the president has in projecting American values is that he first of all believes in a a multi-lateralist policy. Now on that score he has really accomplished that. This was pretty remarkable – bringing this whole coalition together and getting the Arab League.” –NBC’s Andrea Mitchell

The shoe is on the other foot: “This is the hand he’s been dealt by history, he’s a reluctant warrior, it’s not as if he’s converted to being a cowboy so people recognize the difference between him and former president Bush.” –MSNBC’s Jonathan Alter

Ya think? “I’ve just got a question for the group … I just wonder about the optics here, maybe this is too critical because things have to go on, the country has to function. But the president doing his brackets yesterday, and then going to a fundraiser – would we be more critical if this was George W. Bush?” –MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski

Speaking truth to power: “Obama played grand tourist. … The president’s sightseeing Sunday was sure to endear him even more to a diverse and multicultural country where his personal story already makes him popular.” –AP’s Jim Kuhnhenn

Newspulper Headlines:

100%, the Lowest It’s Ever Been: “U.S. Death Rate Hits Record Low” –WebMD.com

‘So It’s Not Surprising Then That They Get Bitter…’: “Many Banks Are Clinging to Billions in Bailout Money” –New York Times website

Answers to Questions Nobody Is Asking: “Larry King Has ‘No Interest’ in Interviewing Charlie Sheen” –TheDailyCaller.com

Helen Thomas Controls Self – Now That Would Be News: “Helen Thomas: Jews Control White House, US Congress” –Jerusalem Post

Playboy Playmate to Be Clinton Woman – Naw, That Wouldn’t Be News: “Clinton Woman to Be Playboy Playmate” –Associated Press

We Blame Global Warming: “Porridge Is Hot Stuff in Ireland Again” –Times (Munster, IN)

News You Can Use: “Horseshoes, Herbs and Urine: All Useful for Warding Off Fairies” –Caledonian Mercury (Edinburgh, Scotland)

(Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)

Village Idiots

Inspiring confidence: “We are … uh … We still very much plan to – to take the trip. I – I – I just want to emphasize with all … We are leaving on schedule on – on – on Friday. The… It bears repeating that this is a crisis, there is no question about it, and it is a crisis in Japan. It is not a crisis in the United States.” –White House spokesperson Jay Carney when questioned whether Barack Obama would postpone his Rio vacation while Japan (and the Middle East) are in crisis

Advice: “I warn my brother [Obama], don’t you let these wicked demons move you in a direction that will absolutely ruin your future with your people in Africa and throughout the Arab world. … Why don’t you organize a group of respected Americans and ask for a meeting with Gadhafi? You can’t order him to step down and get out. Who the hell do you think you are?” –Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan

Revisionist history: “April 4 [is] the day on which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life for the cause of public collective bargaining.” –AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka

“A lot of people forget that what [Martin Luther King] was doing in Memphis was fighting for sanitation workers there. It’s important for people to make the connection. Martin Luther King was so important to the labor movement. Workers’ rights and civil rights go hand in hand. It’s a time to remind people what he was fighting for.” –AFL-CIO spokesperson Josh Goldstein

Short Cuts

“The U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona was ordered to fire only beanbags at Mexican drug runners. No one’s happy. Arizonans want a wall, the cops say beanbags stop nothing, and Mexicans are demanding they use live ammunition because beans are an offensive racial stereotype.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

“President Obama told middle school students that he was always in trouble in the 8th grade. In fact, he was once sent to the principal’s office because he said the dog ate his birth certificate.” –comedian Jay Leno

“If George Bush reacted this way in an international catastrophe – wholly irrelevant radio addresses, golf outings for the 61st time … the left-wing media would require medically-induced sedation to keep them in check.” –columnist Brent Bozell

“One plus for Obama in all this [situation in Libya]: The Press Trust of India reports that Moammar Gadhafi wrote a letter to Obama in which he addressed the president as ‘our son.’ Gadhafi’s claim of paternity is one more bit of evidence – not that any is needed – that the claim Obama was born in Kenya is a flat-out lie.” –WSJ columnist James Taranto