Distractions

Mark Steyn on Obama's rocky road to Utopia, well, not rocky, littered with "distractions", via NRO:

The Reuters headline put it this way: “Pirates Pose Annoying Distraction For Obama.”

So many distractions, aren’t there? Only a week ago, the North Korean missile test was an “annoying distraction” from Barack Obama’s call for a world without nuclear weapons and his pledge that America would lead the way in disarming. And only a couple of days earlier the president insisted Iraq was a “distraction” — from what, I forget: The cooing press coverage of Michelle’s wardrobe? No doubt when the Iranians nuke Israel, that, too, will be an unwelcome distraction from the administration’s plans for federally subsidized daycare, just as Pearl Harbor was an annoying distraction from the New Deal, and the First World War was an annoying distraction from the Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s dinner plans.....

Er, okay. So the North Korean test is a “distraction,” the Iranian nuclear program is a “distraction,” and the seizure of a U.S.-flagged vessel in international waters is a “distraction.” Maybe it would be easier just to have the official State Department maps reprinted with the Rest of the World relabeled “Distractions.” Oh, to be sure, you could still have occasional oases of presidential photo-opportunities — Buckingham Palace, that square in Prague — but with the land beyond the edge of the Queen’s gardens ominously marked “Here be distractions . . . ”

Me, I'm thinking this is just how the new president works. He's noted the pirates, put them on the list of things to bring up at the UN, and moved on to the important stuff, like how to make Americans use more alternative energy.


I probably should have made it: "There is no enemy so so mighty that he cannot be brought to his knees by a powerfully worded UN resolution. Now get out of my office."

***Update:
Which you've no doubt heard by now:

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama twice authorized the military to rescue a U.S. captain held by Somali pirates and whose life appeared to be at risk.

Officials say Obama gave the OK on Friday and Saturday to rescue Capt. Richard Phillips from a lifeboat off the Somali coast. Officials say both times the Pentagon believed Phillips' life was at risk.

No word on why he had to give the order twice, nor did the article say if he added, "And I mean it this time." to Saturday's order. Still good news that he was able to make this decision.

Course, then he got it wrong, right after that:

Obama praised the captain for his bravery and courage. The president also said the United States needs help from other countries to deal with the threat of piracy and to hold pirates accountable.

No. The United States doesn't need help from other countries. Other countries need to do their share in solving this problem. The problem requires their efforts, not the United States.

So, good outcome all around. The Captain is free, the president acted unilaterally, and there was enough pow-pow to make other potential pirates think twice about getting into that line of work. (And with Obama at the helm, not Bush, the reporters don't have to spend the rest of the weekend trying to prove that the three dead pirates were just three guys who happened to be on the boat)