Barack Obama - Idiot Or Insidious?

President Obama stepped into the Rose Garden yesterday to announce a tentative deal with Iran over their nuclear development program. He touted it as being a historic event "which, if fully implemented, will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

"As president and commander in chief," Obama said, "I have no greater responsibility than the security of the American people, and I am convinced that if this framework leads to a final, comprehensive deal, it will make our country, our allies, and our world safer."

I don't know whether or not he actually believes that but if he does he shares that belief with a very small handful of people. I'm not one of them.

In a move that is completely out of character for the President (wink, wink), he blamed Iran's nuclear development on past administrations, then patted himself on the back for his decisive actions.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has been advancing its nuclear program for decades. By the time I took office, Iran was operating thousands of centrifuges, which can produce the materials for a nuclear bomb. And Iran was concealing a covert nuclear facility.

I made clear that we were prepared to resolve this issue diplomatically, but only if Iran came to the table in a serious way.

When that did not happen, we rallied the world to impose the toughest sanctions in history, sanctions which had a profound impact on the Iranian economy."

There's only one real problem with all of that self praise. Iran's nuclear ambitions were haphazard at best between the early 60s and 2010. They did develop secret refining facilities but their actual enrichment of nuclear material was periodic and slow. They shut down facilities several times over the years and mostly strived to gain the technology to do what they began in earnest in 2010 - full enrichment for weaponry. 

President Obama and Congress did place some very restrictive sanctions on Iran when it was learned that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapon. And the sanctions were working. Except when Iran indicated they would come to the negotiating table with the United States and others if the sanctions were lifted President Obama, with his vast amount of negotiating experience, said OK and removed the sanctions, giving Iran more and more money and freedom to build centrifuges. 

What kind of negotiator gives the other side what they want before they even sit down at the negotiating table? 

Iran then began to do what they have done for decades and what they do well - stall and lie. While negotiations were going on, in what the Obama administration still wants to believe is good faith, Iran was building new facilities, some of them secret, and laughing at the Obama administration. They're still laughing.

President Obama says this deal is good for the United States and good for the world. He even told Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu it will be good for them - even as Iran's Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, who leads the Basij volunteer force, said just this week that “Wiping Israel off the map is not up for negotiation."

And President Obama wonders why Prime Minister Netanyahu isn't really thrilled about the deal.

Netanyahu has already condemned the deal as being dangerous to Israel and I truly believe one day, due to the unfortunate negotiating by the Obama administration, Israel will be forced to take military action against Iran. It's difficult to say what reaction from Obama might be if Netanyahu does that given that Obama already hates him  and Israel. I have no doubt Obama will side with Iran should it come to that.

Back to the deal. Most of the sanctions were lifted before Iran even agreed to sit down at the negotiating table. As the negotiations proceeded Iran promised to shut down their centrifuges, give up their enriched nuclear material, shut down most of their enrichment facilities, and not construct any new facilities.

As he is fond of doing, President Obama drew the proverbial red line in the sand concerning the negotiations and said they would only continue until March 24th. As he regularly does, he backed away from that red line when Iran challenged him. Just weeks before the deadline the United States learned that Iran has another secret, hardened, underground enrichment facility. Yet the Obama administration trusts Iran so much that he extended the deadline until March 31st. 

Days before the second deadline Iran said they will not get rid of their enriched nuclear material and they will not shut down the clandestine underground facility. President Obama extended the deadline again. 

Then yesterday the President said we have a tentative deal. I guess he trusts Iran because they have been so honest and trustworthy up to now....?

Just a few hours after Obama made his big announcement Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif made a televised statement in which he said Obama is lying about the details of the deal and said Iran is not giving up anything. He said Iran will continue its enrichment program and will not be giving up any nuclear material. So who is lying - Obama or Zarif? One must ask the question "Who would stand to gain the most from lying about a deal?"

President Obama sent Secretary of Idiocy State John Kerry to be the chief negotiator for the Iran deal. Yeah - that makes me comfortable. A man who sold out his military buddies for personal gain, regardless of what it did to the nation, is the chief negotiator with a country whose leaders publicly proclaim "Death to America" even as the talks are going on. And when Iran says "We are not giving up our enrichment facilities and we are not giving up our enriched materials," Kerry says "Um, uh.... that's not the way it's supposed to be. But, well.... OK. If you say so." 

Everything about this deal, everything about the idea of making a deal with an enemy that threatens our allies, is wrong. Obama's new friendship with Iran is creating uncertainty in the Middle East where Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are fighting against Iranian backed terrorists in Yemen. You remember Yemen - Obama's counter terrorism success story that was just taken over by terrorists. And those terrorists get money and aid from Iran. So on whose side is Obama in that conflict - our allies or his new BFF?

With so many people in this nation and around the world saying this deal is bad I can't help but wonder why President Obama is so determined to make it. Is he really so ignorant about who and what Iran is that he believes whatever they tell him? 

Or is it possible that he's helping Iran attain a nuclear weapon by pretending that this deal is great, knowing full well that it will not only allow them to continue what they're doing but that they won't abide by any agreement anyway?

The definition of  insidious is: proceeding in a gradual, subtle way, but with harmful effects. Back in January 2012 I proposed that President Obama might just be insidious. The longer he is in office and the more his foreign policies fail it seems even more obvious. I can't help but wonder if his foreign policy failures are, in fact, exactly what he wants. It doesn't take much observation to make one believe everything he does is for the betterment and advancement of Islam and Islamic nations. 

While he condemns ISIS in public and talks big talk about "demeaning and destroying" them, he takes only enough action so it will be reported by his media lap dogs as progress, without doing any real damage. Meanwhile, ISIS continues to take territory. Except now Obama's new BFF is fighting against them with boots on the ground. 

Another interesting development in that situation is that when Egypt and Jordan attacked ISIS, after ISIS executed their citizens, Obama criticized Egypt and Jordan. Apparently attacks on ISIS that are not a sanctioned part of Obama's "60 nation coalition" (yawn) are not allowed. Perhaps because they might be too successful...?

Only Barack Obama and God know Obama's heart. I only go with what I see. The old adage of "Actions speak louder than words" is certainly true about Barack Obama. His actions often belie his words. Sadly, many people simply can't see that.

I don't know whether Obama is an idiot or insidious. However, given that his followers all say how brilliant he is (even though he can't put three sentences together fluently without a teleprompter) I would have to guess it's the latter. His actions, deliberate or not, have weakened the United States and that certainly seems to be what he wants. He is now helping to strengthen our enemies. Whether he is acting out of ignorance or has a plan with a goal, one thing is certain - he is definitely failing the American people. Even if they're too blind to see it.