Recommended: On Obama and the Nature of Failed Presidencies

George Friedman of STRATFOR has posted another incisive article today: On Obama and the Nature of Failed Presidencies.  Friedman defines a "failed" presidency as one where the President has begun to lose support from his/her base, and so is no longer trying to garner support from the undecided middle but just trying to keep support from the base (though in Obama's case, it is not clear to me that he has ever really tried to court the middle). President Obama's approval ratings have been in the mid to high 30% level from many months now, indicating that a significant proportion of his base is now disenchanted with him.

As Friedman says, STRATFOR doesn't generally comment on domestic politics, but in the case of a lame-duck "failed" presidency with both the Senate and the House now in opposition hands, there are significant implications for US foreign policy, for what the president now can and can't do, and for how international opponents like Putin or Iran are likely to react to him, which is what Friedman examines.

Another thoughtful article.

Isn't it remarkable....?

Isn't it remarkable that during the recent Israel-Hamas battle there was daily hand-wringing at the UN and in the world press about the dozen or so Palestinian women and children civilians killed each day by accident by the Israeli forces, but there is little or no equivalent fuss made by the UN or the world press while ISIS deliberately and brutally and with malice aforethought kills, rapes, tortures and exterminates whole villages each day. While the Israeli-Hamas battle raged the Obama administration pressured Israel every day.  Funny how the administration is much more laid back about the ISIS threat, which is killing hundreds of times more people.

Is it because there aren't Jews involved?  Is it because the world cares less about  the Iraqi and Syrian people being murdered than it does about Palestinians? Or is it because, unlike Hamas, these poor Iraqi and Syrian villages don't have a sophisticated media presence to feed the world press neat, gripping, ready-made (and often contrived) headline stories?

The blatant hypocrisy and double standard sickens me.

Recommended: White House Netanyahu insults: What a 'chickens***' knows about lame ducks

The reported comment from a senior White House official that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a "chickenshit" marks a new low in an administration that has been remarkably incompetent recently in foreign affairs. But beyond that, it reflects an unrealistic policy toward Israel that has spanned decades and many administrations, in which American politicians, from the safe comfort of America, have tried to tell an embattled Israel what it ought to do.  The advice has mostly been bad - aimed more at supporting American interests than Israeli interests.  And to their credit, the Israelis have often ignored the bad advice.

  Zev Chafets' recent article in Fox News: White House Netanyahu insults: What a 'chickens***' knows about lame ducks is very good. In particular, the five "realities" listed at the bottom of the article that Zev claims Netanyahu knows are a breath of fresh air in a debate that has too long been dominated by unrealistic expectations.