Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Carol Platt Liebau (Harvard Law Review), February 2009 – “[Tom Pirelli] did most of the day to day work. Barack Obama was nowhere to be seen. Occasionally he would drop in he would talk to people, and then he’d leave again as though his very arrival had been a benediction in and of itself, but not very much got done.”
Benghazi Hearings, February 2013 – Under questioning from South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta could not explain why President Barack Obama spoke with him only once on Sept. 11, 2012 during the Benghazi terrorist attack, and never called back for any updates for over seven hours.

“US hesitant in condemning North Korean launch”

The draft leaked to the newspaper offers a list of “taboo conversation topics” that soldiers should avoid, including “making derogatory comments about the Taliban”…

Mark Levin talks with a Gold Star dad about Benghazi.

Shouldn’t a Secretary of Defense, as a bare-bones baseline, not have a record of trying to make America lose wars?

— Joshua Treviño (@jstrevino) November 13, 2012

It’s not a bug. It’s a feature.

Via Instapundit;

Okay. Just so we’ve all got our history right:
1990′s: Use an ill-timed military exercise to divert attention from the botched handling of an extramarital affair.
2010′s: Use an ill-timed extramarital affair to divert attention from the botched handling of a military exercise.

A more comprehensive dissection from Victor Davis Hanson.

NOT A MUSLIM.

Channel 2 Action News investigation found that the State Department is sending millions of dollars to save mosques overseas. This investment has received criticism as the United States makes an effort to slash nearly $4 trillion in government spending.Plenty of outrage following the announcement made Thursday afternoon by a government commission that suggested huge cuts to the budget, including eliminating the interest education for home mortgage. This juxtaposed with the United States investing millions to refurbish mosques as a good-will effort in Muslim countries has upset many taxpayer groups.

What do you get when you pair a President whose primary qualification is “black”, with a Secretary of State whose primary achievement is “Bill’s wife”?

In a commercial containing clips from their Washington press conferences, subtitled in Urdu, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton said “sorry” to the mad hordes attacking the American embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and deplored the infamous anti-Muslim14-minute YouTube video.
“We absolutely reject its content and message,” said Clinton in the advertisements, which ended with the seal of the American embassy in Pakistan. U.S. taxpayers footed the bill for this high-level official apology to the tune of $70,000.
This is not public diplomacy. This is madness.

James Taranto;

What message does the ad actually send the Mohammed Tariq Khans? On the one hand, a message of weakness: Assemble a big enough mob, kill enough people, burn enough flags and churches, and you too can grab the attention of the most powerful man and woman in the world. On the other hand, a taunt. If Obama and Mrs. Clinton really mean it, the Khans must think, why haven’t they presented the video makers for public mincing? The State Department’s ad contains no answer to that crucial question.

Oh yes it does. “Allahu Akbar!”

And the phone is ringing, ringing, ringing….

QOTW

“I also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals; that they belong on the battlefield of war”

Uh oh.

Michael Mukasey: Obama and the bin Laden Bragging Rights

“So wait, that can’t mean Bush was right when he basically said Bin Laden wasn’t that important anymore, right?”

Why Obama Turned Down the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Defense department agrees to allow Muslim cadets to wear hijabs. (h/t Dan)

Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
Carol Platt Liebau, 2009;

[W]hen he was at the HLR you did get a very distinct sense that he was the kind of guy who much more interested in being the president of the Review, than he was in doing anything as president of the Review.
A lot of the time he quote/unquote “worked from home”, which was sort of a shorthand – and people would say it sort of wryly – shorthand for not really doing much. He just wasn’t around. Most of the day to day work was carried out by the managing editor of the Review, my predecessor, a great guy called Tom Pirelli whose actually going to be one of the assistant attorney generals now.
He’s the one who did most of the day to day work. Barack Obama was nowhere to be seen. Occasionally he would drop in he would talk to people, and then he’d leave again as though his very arrival had been a benediction in and of itself, but not very much got done.
So, you know, you see that and you think, gosh, maybe that’s the way the guy operates, hut then you figure ok, obviously he always had his eye on bigger and better things.

Max Boot, 2011;

“Mr. Bush spoke weekly with Mr. Maliki by video teleconference. Mr. Obama had not spoken with Mr. Maliki for months before calling him in late October to announce the end of negotiations. Mr. Obama and his senior aides did not even bother to meet with Iraqi officials at the United Nations General Assembly in September.”

Via