Home » To surge or not to surge: Obamlet II

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To surge or not to surge: Obamlet II — 23 Comments

  1. Great reworking, Neo! When it comes to the Obama bunch, Shelley, too, and his impact on Yeats, also come to mind:

    ******************************
    All that they would disdain to think were true:
    Hypocrisy and custom make their minds
    The fanes of many a worship, now outworn.
    They dare not devise good for man’s estate,
    And yet they know not that they do not dare.

  2. I would say that Obama is not like Hamlet. Hamlet was feigning crazy to stay alive and out of the assasination game. though ultimately it didnt work out to well.

    no… i would say that given times as they are, our illustrious leader represents a different character from theater. Pippin. however i doubt that our living version could learn as well as pippin ended up learning (in the play at least).

    Pippin (musical)
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippin_(musical)

    enter Rohm and the others….
    The play begins with a leading player of a troupe and the actors in various costume pieces of several different time periods.

    they and everyone on stage introduces us to this new person
    The Leading Player invites the audience to join them in a story about a boy prince searching for fulfillment (“Magic to Do”). They reveal that the boy who is to play the title character is a new actor.

    the lyrics kind of fit the libs… all these invisable hands making things happen.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADeU6qz37B4
    Join us…….. Leave your fields to flower
    Join us…….. Leave your cheese to sour
    Join us…….. Come and waste an hour or two
    Doo-dle-ee-do
    Journey……. Journey to a spot ex-
    citing, mystic and exotic
    Journey…….. Through our anecdotic revue

    We’ve got magic to do…….. Just for you
    We’ve got miracle plays to play
    We’ve got parts to perform…. Hearts to warm
    Kings and things to take by storm
    As we go along our way

    of course, we have to hear the whys frmo our own dreamer pippin himself.

    Pippin tells the scholars of the time about his dreams (“Corner of the Sky”), and they happily applaud Pippin on his ambitious quest for an extraordinary life.

    …So many men seem destined
    To settle for something small
    But I won’t rest until I know I’ll have it all

    So don’t ask where I’m going
    Just listen when I’m gone
    And far away you’ll hear me singing
    Softly to the dawn

    and simlar kind of theme of the childhood of an educated boy and others around him.
    Charles and Pippin don’t get a chance to communicate often, as they are interrupted by nobles, soldiers, and couriers vying for Charles’ attention (“Welcome Home”), and Charles is clearly uncomfortable speaking with his educated son or expressing any loving emotions.

    yes, unloved childhood is familiar from the autobiography. and the clintons are there too.
    Pippin also meets up with his stepmother Fastrada, and her dim-witted son Lewis. Charles and Lewis are planning on going into battle against the Visigoths soon, and Pippin begs Charles to take him along so as to prove himself. Charles reluctantly agrees and proceeds to explain a battle plan to his men (“War is a Science”).

    and his afghanistan soon to be farce… he has much of the same education as to what war is.
    WAR IS A SCIENCE
    WITH RULES TO BE APPLIED
    WHICH GOOD SOLDIERS APPRECIATE
    RECALL AND RECAPITULATE
    BEFORE THEY GO TO DECIMATE THE OTHER SIDE

    Now, gentlemen, this is the plan for tomorrow’s skirmish.

    THE ARMY OF THE ENEMY IS STATIONED ON THE HILL
    SO WE’VE GOT TO GET THEM DOWN HERE, AND THIS IS HOW WE WILL
    OUR MEN IN THE RAVINE (THAT’S THIS AREA IN GREEN)
    WILL MOVE ACROSS THE VALLEY WHERE THEY PLAINLY CAN BE SEEN
    AND THE ENEMY IN BLUE WILL UNDOUBTEDLY PURSUE
    FOR THAT’S WHAT YOU DEPEND UPON AN ENEMY TO DO

    THEN TO GUARANTEE THEIR FOLLY
    WE’LL BRING BOWMEN INTO PLAY
    WHO WILL FIRE JUST ONE VOLLEY
    AND RETIRE TO POINT “A”.

    AND THEN, AND THEN,
    AND GENTLEMEN, AND THEN…

    PIPPIN
    AND THEN THE MEN GO MARCHING OUT INTO THE FRAY
    CONQUERING THE ENEMY AND CARRYING THE DAY
    HARK! THE BLOOD IS POUNDING IN OUR EARS
    JUBILATIONS! WE CAN HEAR A GRATEFUL NATION’S
    CHEERS!

    CHARLES
    Pippin, sit down immediately.

    PIPPIN
    I’m sorry, Father. I just got carried away.

    not understanding, he bumps into jennings in drag as his grandmother berthe.. and explains that the problem is that there isnt enough time spent having sex while you can.

    Once in battle, the Leading Player re-enters to lead the troupe in a mock battle using top hats, canes, and fancy jazz as to glorify warfare and violence (“Glory”). This charade of war does not appeal to Pippin, and the boy flees into the countryside. The Leading Player tells the audience of Pippin’s travel through the country, until he stops at his exiled grandmother’s estate (“Simple Joys”).

    wrapped up in the simple truths of life, the trap is sprung… and the message that one has to party and have fun till healthcare comes to get you..

    [edited for length by neo-neocon]

  3. Well done, Neo. This is a keeper. In fact this is a “forwarder” [with al due attribution. Thanks.

    Bill

  4. Pingback:In the Navy « Aron Sperber’s Weblog

  5. “What would the neighbors think?” is much of what Nobama will be pondering. Unfortunately, he doesn’t consider me and thee to be his neighbors.

  6. I agree, a fine rewording of Hamlet’s soliloquy.

    Krauthammer however is a bit behind the curve, as Obama is no longer ‘dithering’ on Afghanistan.

    Obama’s Afghanistan ’strategy’ is now clear:

    “aides stress that while the president’s final decision on any changes is still at least two weeks away, the emerging thinking suggests that he would be very unlikely to favor a large military increase of the kind being advocated by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal…

    Obama’s developing strategy on the Taliban will “not tolerate their return to power,” the senior official said in an interview with The Associated Press. But the U.S. would fight only to keep the Taliban from retaking control of Afghanistan’s central government – something it is now far from being capable of – and from giving renewed sanctuary in Afghanistan to al-Qaida, the official said…

    Bowing to the reality that the Taliban is too ingrained in Afghanistan’s culture to be entirely defeated, the administration is prepared, as it has been for some time, to accept some Taliban role in parts of Afghanistan, the official said. That could mean paving the way for Taliban members willing to renounce violence to participate in a central government – though there has been little receptiveness to this among the Taliban. It might even mean ceding some regions of the country to the Taliban…

    Obama kept returning to one question for his advisers: Who is our adversary? the official said.”

    As ALLAHPUNDIT states: “In other words, rather than eat crap by forthrightly admitting he’s prepared to abandon huge swaths of the country to Islamist fascists, rather than invest another 40,000 troops, he’s going to create an artificial distinction between the Taliban and Al Qaeda to let him save face by claiming he’s focused on “the real enemy.”

    Much like how he was focused during the campaign on “the good war” in Afghanistan rather than “the bad war” in Iraq.

    I wonder how long it’ll be before he decides that not everyone who’s in Al Qaeda is an enemy either – or, better yet, that AQ’s been “substantially defeated” or something, which has been the unstated thrust of all those WH-leaked pieces in the press lately about how weak Bin Laden’s gang has become.

    Why, I’ll bet in a year or so we’ll be told that they’re so weak that we can start pulling out of Afghanistan altogether. Things sure have improved over there since Bush was president, huh?”

    For in depth analysis, see: Al Qaeda is the tip of the Jihadist spear

    http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2009/10/analysis_al_qaeda_is.php

    I would only add that regarding the assertion that “the Taliban cannot retake control of Afghanistan’s central government, something it is now far from being capable of…”

    The Taliban just successfully attacked Pakistan’s Military Intelligence Headquarters and took hostages…

    When, not if, they take over Pakistan, Afghanistan will fall into their laps.

  7. Norm: The place is surging with girls.
    John: Please, sir, sir, can I have one to surge with, sir, please, sir?
    Norm: No, you can’t!

    — A Hard Day’s Night

  8. [Obama] would be very unlikely to favor a large military increase of the kind being advocated by the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal…

    Geoffrey Britain: That’s my reading, and a dreadful prospect it is, since it is the worst choice in the long run.

    I suspect Krauthammer knows this too but has to play along with the narrative that Obama is still in the process of deciding.

  9. Geoffrey Britain: Interesting (albeit not a soothing) analysis. There are two spoilers in this scenario that have yet to be heard from, in my estimation.

    First is that McChrystal could well retire if Obama takes the action you suggest. I am reminded of LBJ’s comment about people opposing his policies: “it’s better to have them inside the tent peeing out than outside the tent peeing in.” I suspect Obama would rather have McChrystal in uniform and following orders than retired and criticizing.

    Second is Code Pink. They’re a fundamental part of the left wing, yet they are making noises about women suffering under Taliban rule. And that’s a real problem. If the Taliban come back into the Afghan government and are able to re-institute many of the old Afghan policies that are so hard on women, Code Pink will not sit quietly by.

    Methinks Obama is still weighing various options and not liking what he’s seeing. I’ll bet he’s wishing he could vote “present” on this one. F

  10. “Geoffrey Britain Says:
    October 12th, 2009 at 3:36 pm”

    Great commentary and link, detailing comprehensively the nature of this truly ominous “black hole”. I have to wonder if even McChrystal’s proposal amounts to so much as a drop in the bucket relative to (and reiterating from the linked article), first of all, in comparison, the vast pool of logistically available foot soldiers which the jihad can cheaply and easily garner from the surrounding region; second the support they have from such state players as Pakistan’s ISI, Iran and others (note the article details). We presume that American firepower is potentially the great equalizer, and it may be in some respects, but to underestimate the profound advantage the jihad has in time and numbers is pure naivete, or something more insidious. Obama would have us believe this is one of the over-riding themes justifying his go-slow decision making process. However, to reiterate from my earlier comments; in nine months now, Obama has, in reality, made the Afghan war, specifically, a very low priority in his administration. The fact that up until the last few weeks or so, he had not spent so much as one hour meeting with McChrystal personally speaks volumes about the situation. Combine that with the administration’s policies on Iran, South America (esp. Honduras), Israel, etc., and even in compromising “Homeland” security (see the latest budget cuts in radiological equipment for NYC)… I’ll cut to the quick with my contribution to the peanut gallery today. This man, his administration, the entire Democratic Party, and the MSM have done everything possible during the last nine months to buy time for the enemy. The idea that so-called global warming, in any way, should be a higher immediate priority than America’s wars, is so preposterous it smacks of treason.

  11. Neo, that was truly brilliant!

    “….Soft you now!/The fair Nobel Committee! Wimps, in thy orisons/Be all my sins forgotten.”

    I think Shakespeare himself would have applauded that line.

  12. Those of us who read Michael Yon and Bill Roggio regularly knew, even during the campaign, that Afghanistan was ultimately going to be a longer more difficult slog than Iraq. Maybe not as bloody, but the logistics, the low level of education/modernity among the Afghanis, and the terrain were going to make it a much longer term problem to solve.

    With that in mind I knew that Obama, when faced with the realities of the situation, would opt for some kind of low road out of the country, which he would describe as a realist’s approach if not some sort of moral victory.

    He warned the Congress last week that McChrystle’s plan meant $50 billion more per year in costs and told them they would have to vote for the funds in the face of our deficits. Never mind that $50 billion is pocket change when you are talking about a trillion dollar budget.

    To go along with some of the other offerings here, there is this:

    “Homage to A Government”

    Next year we are to bring all the soldiers home
    For lack of money, and it is all right.
    Places they guarded, or kept orderly,
    We want the money for ourselves at home
    Instead of working. And this is all right.

    It’s hard to say who wanted it to happen,
    But now it’s been decided nobody minds.
    The places are a long way off, not here,
    Which is all right, and from what we hear
    The soldiers there only made trouble happen.
    Next year we shall be easier in our minds.

    Next year we shall be living in a country
    That brought its soldiers home for lack of money.
    The statues will be standing in the same
    Tree-muffled squares, and look nearly the same.
    Our children will not know it’s a different country.
    All we can hope to leave them now is money.

    By Philip Larkin 1969

  13. I’d hate like hell to be any kind of XX chromosome Afghan in a Taliban Controlled area.

    I’m sure he figures if it was good enough for his mom to get beaten by muslim guys, it’s fine for Afghan girls too….

    Do you think the MSM will report what happens in those Obama Taliban Controlled areas?

    F no!

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