Walking and Chewing Gum

So for weeks now I've been hearing the complaints from Obama's critics that he is not focusing his efforts on the economy. He's worried about education, the environment, education, etc. I guess we've gotten to the point, after eight years of inefficiency, that we think our President can't walk and chew gum at the same time.

I heard an CNBC reporter last week voice her complaints, though strictly about the banking situation, that it should be "all hands on deck!" I guess that meant that Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates should have been concerned about the banking situation instead of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan etc. And obviously they should have been more worried about the banking situation than North Korea.

At least Newt Gingrich knows that the administration should have been concerned about North Korea. Of course in his eyes, Obama blew it. He should have launched a preemptive strike against the missile. Since we obviously have the spare funds, and spare troops to launch a third front.

My favorite line from Gingrich was "I just think that it's very dangerous to have a fantasy foreign policy, and it can get you in enormous trouble." Like the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld policy of regime building in Iraq wasn't a fantasy.

Since the Republican Party does not have a left arm, they are forced to constantly turn further and further to the right. Any move in the other direction is seditious, as they have been pointing out for years. They are trapped by their own oratory, so they now must use the only weapons in their arsenal, fear and tax cuts, and they can only appeal to their base by stating that America must go after those who are hell bent on our destruction. They cannot see that preemptive action against the North Koreans would be costly, both in money and bodies, and further erode our international standing.

Don't they remember the end of the Cold War? Just as what happened to the Soviets, Pyongyang is going to run out of money, and Kim Jong-il will run out of power long before they can get a bomb, and a missile to shoot straight.

I guess that is too sissified for Mr. Gingrich, who has a long career in the military and foreign affairs. His idea is to draw first, not from his holster but from a nuclear submarine in the Sea of Japan. Just like in the Reagan oaters, the bad guy will be bested.

Probably not, but his supporters, all couple of dozen of them, will know he's strong.