Well, Putin got the message and subsequently made a jackass of Obama when reaching a would-be arrangement for Syria's Assad, a Russian client, to hand over his chemical weapons, thereby dissolving the American president's flimsy red line, drawn with washable crayon.
Today, in a New York Times op-ed entitled "No Brief Encounter" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/opinion/dowd-no-brief-encounter.html?_r=0), Maureen Dowd tells us how Obama had planned to press the flesh with Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani at the UN, flash his winning smile, and make his charms be known. Dowd informs us, however, the Rouhani was not prepared to accept this overture:
"Obama administration officials at the U.N. on Tuesday explained to reporters that there would not be a bilateral between President Obama and President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, or any sort of 'formal meeting.'
'We’re not prepared for heads of state to negotiate or presidents to negotiate on the nuclear issue,' an official said, speaking on background. An 'encounter' would be permissible. Not a long one, but an 'informal, brief encounter.''So,' a reporter asked, 'like a handshake?''Yes, that type of thing,' the official replied. 'Exactly. On the margins here.'Except that, after the White House spent a week suggesting that there could be a press-the-flesh moment, Rouhani snubbed Obama. And not on the margins."
Or as Dr. Seuss might have explained it:
Not in a house,After four and a half years as president, Obama still doesn't "get it."
not with a mouse,
not in a box,
not with a fox,
and certainly not on the margins."
Or as Maureen Dowd concludes:
"A handshake can’t be forced on someone who is not quite ready to come to grips."
Indeed, Rouhani is truly someone not quite ready to come to grips. You see, Iran is still feverishly working on its first atomic bomb.
Well, we have a bozo "leader of the world" and it isn't funny. Not at all.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I really predicted this.
I think it's tragic that the nation which hasn't had some real human experience in a long, long, long time has so much power.
I recently had an interesting experience. I went to Daniel Goldhagen's talk (new book). While waiting for Daniel, I was chatting with neighbors. An "Jewish"JAmerican woman (100000th generation American) in her early 50s, still very attractive, found the topic (global antisemitism, the Holocaust) "fascinating, fascinating, fascinating" and wouldn't accept any other adjective I suggested - no, no, no, her mind wouldn't accept anything with let's say "tragic" component. Then she shared that she knew ONE immigrant from Germany who was SMART enough to emigrate. I, whose father's family's perished (Einsatzgruppen), exploded.
Only the nation which has lost a contact with human condition can elect a bozo.
Ah, this encounter took place on the Upper West Site where overfed, primitive bozos flooded the area with Obama signs in 2008.