Thomas Friedman, "Are You Sure You Want the Job?": How's Your Conscience? How's Your Golf Game?

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If you currently go to the homepage of The New York Times, you will see a picture of Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin warmly shaking hands in a luxurious room in Moscow. What do Assad, a monster, and Putin, a thug, have in common, apart from the war they are jointly waging against rebels in Syria? The answer is simple: As I observed yesterday, they were both empowered by Obama:

Recall Obama's March 2012 open mike promise to Putin, delivered via then Russian President Medvedev:

Obama: "This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility."

Medvedev: "I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir."

And let's not forget Hillary's infamous "reset" button  delivered in 2009 to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Bashar al-Assad? Remember how Obama tried to spin his "red line" involving Syria's use of chemical weapons:

"I didn’t set a red line. The world set a red line."

The world? Russia, China, Iran and Turkmenistan? Moreover, we mustn't forget how US Secretary of State John Kerry labeled Assad his "dear friend," and how his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, defended Assad in 2011:

"Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer."

Assad a "reformer"? May the Lord have mercy on us!

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Are You Sure You Want the Job?," Thomas Friedman begins:

"Having watched all the debates and seen all these people running for president, I can’t suppress the thought: Why would anyone want this job now? Do you people realize what’s going on out there? Obama’s hair hasn’t gone early gray for nothing."

Yeah, right. More likely, his hair has gone gray owing to his "Thank you, sir, may I have another?" school of foreign policy. That, or the more than 1,100 hours he has spent golfing as president. I will never forget the round he played just minutes after expressing his grief over the beheading of American journalist James Foley. He sure as heck took Foley's horrific death  personally . . .

Maybe, just maybe, when he leaves office in January 2017, he can dye his hair and become a spokesperson for Grecian Formula.