Obama and Syria - 2nd Term Blues

Telegraph: Reports on the options faced by the Oval when it comes to Syria, they are " ..training the opposition, long-range strikes, a no-fly zone, creating rebel buffer zones and commando raids to secure chemical weapon stocks. ".

Lets Get Real: 

The US Army is creating options for the Oval but the price is almost like throwing yourself off a cliff, the reluctance to ACT is a common mind set of the US Military, in the first Gulf War 1 the Pentagon tried to frighten the Oval with the costs of the War, after Vietnam the US Officer Core does not want to be left with an unpopular WAR, thus the fact of the Army of late in Iraq and Afghanistan.   The decision NOT TO TAKE ACTION, is also a political choice, if the Oval does not take action this will send the signal to Iran that it can go nuclear with no comeback from the US, this would mean that Israel would have to ACT, thus a regional WAR, thus what ever the Oval does its a lesser evil choice, and even that could be a disaster.   The US needs to set a no fly zone in Syria, take out the planes and chemical weapons of Assad and create a buffer zone on the Jordan and Turkish borders, this will be a great risk folks, well President Obama wanted the job. 

Liberal Left and Obama - 2nd Term Blues

CNN - Politics: Has an article from the liberal Senator Al Franken on the NSA spy collection, the article states the following, " ..when Americans lack the most basic information about our domestic surveillance programs, they have no way of knowing whether we're getting that balance right. This lack of transparency is a big problem. ".

Lets Get Real:

As this blog has noted the liberal base will want to vent, its an interesting article folks, but Franken is a JOKE, he is from Minnesota, the Great State that gave us VP Mondale, the only State to vote for Mondale in 1984 and rejected him when he ran for his old Senate Seat, Franken is from the entertainment business, HE IS NO REAGAN, even less the Terminator, one can see the political reason for this article, he might be a joke but he is no fool, he is covering his base, ( CYA) with this article.   In till 2017 the liberal base will be critical but NOT TO critical, Obama is a LIBERAL at the end of the day, thus ObamaCare,  also Democratic States are looking for a bailout, and there only chance is with supporting President Obama, politics is a cynical business folks, but pure in a way, there are winners and losers, and liberals, they change their minds with the wind of who they support. 

The Hill and the Oval - 2nd Term Blues

Guardian: Reports the following on the Amash amendment, " Obama administration alarmed by vote on 'Amash amendment' aimed at blocking blanket surveillance of phone records ". 

Lets Get Real:

As the Guardian broke the Snowden story one is not surprised that it is leading with this story, the left can not quite get its head around the fact that Obama in some areas is quite a HAWK, his use of drones to kill terrorists, his ruthless search for leaker's, the collecting of the phone records of ALL Americans, even Nixon never went that far, in many respects he makes Bush 43 look quite liberal.  On the other hand, he left Iraq, he wants to leave Afghanistan, he wants to move on from the War on Terror, while at the same type keeping the structure of the War on Terror, thus the Oval manages to annoy both the Democrats and the Republicans, lets see how long the LIBERAL BASE can be kept in check by the Oval, they will want to vent, also in many respects Obama is a lame duck President, thus they can not cause that much political damage.  

Split in Democrats OVER NSA Spaying - 2nd Term Blues

BBC News: Reports that House Democrats will support the Republican Amash amendment to block the NSA spaying on Americans. 

Lets Get Real:

Lets recall folks that the 2014 Mid Term Elections is around the corner, the liberal base of the Democratic Party will be asked for money by Congressional Democrats, the extreme liberal base reject the idea of BIG GOVERNMENT, if this was happening under a Republican President there would be calls for a Watergate type investigation, but since this is the 1st African American President and liberal to boot, they left on the whole has been quite, but they will want their people on the Hill to support any move to curb the power of the NSA, thus folks, lets see what pressure that the base places on the HILL, if the Republicans retake the White House in 2017 expect the Democrats to return to normal, by 2017 they will be going bonkers, the Obama Administration is not pure liberal as they expected, they will need to vent by 2017. 

Obama and the NSA - 2nd Term Blues

The White House: Press Statement by the White House Press Secretary on the Amash Amendment that would block NSA funding to spy on the phone records of US Citizens. The Statement states the following, " In light of the recent unauthorized disclosures, the President has said that he welcomes a debate about how best to simultaneously safeguard both our national security and the privacy of our citizens.  The Administration has taken various proactive steps to advance this debate including the President’s meeting with the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, his public statements on the disclosed programs, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s release of its own public statements, ODNI General Counsel Bob Litt’s speech at Brookings, and ODNI’s decision to declassify and disclose publicly that the Administration filed an application with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.  We look forward to continuing to discuss these critical issues with the American people and the Congress.

However, we oppose the current effort in the House to hastily dismantle one of our Intelligence Community’s counterterrorism tools.  This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open, or deliberative process.  We urge the House to reject the Amash Amendment, and instead move forward with an approach that appropriately takes into account the need for a reasoned review of what tools can best secure the nation.  ".

Lets Get Real:

The liberal base of the Democratic Party will not be happy that the Oval is trying to block this Bill that would prevent the National Security Agency from collecting the phone records of ALL of Americans.  From the left point of view its BIG BROTHER gone wild, but this is the age after 9/11, THE Oval can not afford for something to go wrong on his watch.  Even if this passes the House it should die in the Senate, in less Majority Leader Reid can not control his group.  One can argue that this move is more of warning shot over the bow of the Oval, keeping the Oval aware that the Congress is a equal branch of the US Government.  On this the Oval is right, Nixon would have loved the spaying of the NSA one would assume.