WEST POINT SPEECH FOLLOW-UP

Most recently a column was published in this Blog that was intended to show how poorly our national leader, Barack Obama, did in all regards with his West Point address on the subject of adding more combat forces to Afghanistan. That article turn out to be extremely mild as compared to the positions stated in the German magazine, Der Spiegel, by author Gabor Steingart.

The points raised by Steingart were direct and unforgiving. Obama was accused of making a meaningless decision with his directive, according to Steingart, that "30,000 US soldiers are to march into Afghanistan and then march right back out again." Certainly this is a bit of an extreme position but the point was well taken. The goals of the addition of this large number of American combat soldiers into Afghanistan were not well explained but there was no question that their return to America regardless of their success would commence in the summer of 2011. Steingart went on to define this stated Obama position as a "dizzying combination of surge and withdrawal".

Little if anything stated by Obama was well received by Steingart. Such lines as "Obama needs no opponents. He's already got himself" and "Obama's magic no longer works", clearly left the impression that, at least to this German author employed by a major German magazine, the love affair between Obama and the German press was over.

As much as I disapprove of any foreign journalist taking shots at any American political leader, it is absolutely pleasing to witness that some sections of Europe have finally seen the reality of Obama politics. This expressed negative reaction, and maybe even a bit of fear, is just what most Americans have harbored towards Washington for almost a year.

As Steingart said in closing his article, this Obama "speech left dreamers and realists feeling distraught." To writer Gabor Steingart I extend a "vielen Dank".