highfalutin ways of speaking, there is revealed a pretension that is becoming insufferable, a sense of moral and class superiority in office, which he has not yet earned. Moreover, when he is on his own, without speechwriters, Obama is surprisingly unimpressive. He is rambling, fairly boring, error-prone, evasive, and not well-informed.In addition, President Obama seems to be unable to admit error, to apologize, or to voice what all can see to be true. “Calibrated” is a word he often hides behind, as when he brushed off his insulting remark about the Cambridge policeman — as if he, President Obama, did not use an inexcusable insult. No, the president’s words were wrong,youth toms shoes on sale, not just imprecisely “calibrated.” Try to figure out the correct calibration of “stupid.”President Obama no longer persuades.— Michael Novak’s latest book is No One Sees God. His website is www.michaelnovak.net.[标签:标题]
Is Obama Pressing the Reset Button on Defense? His proposed budget cuts would not bring peace but would endanger America's security. Despite all his initial talk of bipartisanship and putting aside the stale arguments of the past, President Obama is revealing himself with each passing day to be a traditional, doctrinaire liberal.And although it has received little coverage, Obama’s liberal instincts are influencing the direction of America’s defense posture. True, Obama has not cut and run in Iraq and Afghanistan, as many feared he would, and for this,cheap toms for women and kids, he deserves the praise he has received from conservatives. But the longer-term defense policies the Obama administration is establishing are troubling and will be very difficult for a future president to reverse.The core policies mapped out in President Obama’s defense budget are not the result of an internal Pentagon review,toms womens shoes cheap. They originated inside the Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, and were openly, if quietly, laid out during his campaign. CAP’s website features “a progressive ‘Quadrennial Defense Review’” and other papers laying out defense policies “progressives” would like to see in a Democratic administration. The center boasts that President Obama’s recent defense cuts “reflect the overall thrust of CAP’s recommendations over the last four years, and [the administration’s] specific recommendations clearly embrace our suggestions.” Advertisement The Defense Department is charged with writing and submitting an actual Quadrennial Defense Review to Congress at the beginning of 2010. When it crafts this document, the department should bear in mind that while a liberal think tank may have insights worth considering, it is simply no substitute for the professional military and intelligence experts who have real-world responsibility for our safety.The Obama administration has received an impressive amount of political cover from its shrewd decision to retain Defense Secretary Gates. But political cover and wise policy are not the same. Conservatives should remember that our nation faces substantial threats not only from radical Islam but also from an emerging set of geopolitical actors whose interests will almost certainly conflict with ours in the coming decades.Will Russia move aggressively to retake former Soviet states? Will China move aggressively to occupy Taiwan? Will Iran build an intermediate-range nuclear capability that can threaten Israel and our European allies? What options will be open to the United States to contain such threats?As a command pilot with more than 3,400 flying hours, I could not help but take notice of the administration’s zeal last week in ending the F-22 Raptor program, which produces the most advanced strike fighter in the world. The F-22 is the only plane we have that is capable of penetrating deep into the most sophisticated, lethal air defenses in the world and destroying them. During the congressional debate, the F-22 was derided as a “relic of the Cold War” that has not been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. NRelated articles:

• http://www.ipet99.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=3241038
• http://38.126.44.240/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=480072
• http://www.weclickdate.com/blogs/posts/hf28jphj