Many years ago, Saturday Night Live used to run very short videos called "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy". The contents of the videos were normally totally inane statements that were about as far from deep thoughts as possible, but they were put forth in a manner as if they were words of a prophet explaining the mysteries of the universe. When I read today's column from New York Times' columnist Tom Friedman, I kept thinking how similar it was to that old SNL schtick.
Friedman writes today to defend president Obama for not having a strategy for dealing with ISIS. I can summarize Friedman's column with two words: "it's complicated." Friedman goes into detail to explain why he thinks deciding on a strategy is complicated. If ISIS had just appeared on the scene last week, his column might make sense or at least it might not be totally ridiculous, but ISIS is not new. Over a year ago, Obama himself told us that he was working on a strategy to deal with ISIS. Let me give that proper emphasis. OVER A YEAR AGO, OBAMA TOLD US HE WAS ALREADY WORKING ON A STRATEGY TO DEAL WITH ISIS. Last January, some eight months ago, ISIS captured a large area of Iraq including the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. What has Obama been doing for the last year? For the last eight months? Even if it is a complicated problem, Obama has had MORE than ample time to come up with a strategy, but he has not done so. This is not something that even a sophist like Friedman ought to be able to defend with a straight face. Indeed, rather than even try to defend the current lack of a strategy in the context of the last year, Friedman just ignores it. Like I said, "Deep Thoughts by Tom Friedman."
Friedman writes today to defend president Obama for not having a strategy for dealing with ISIS. I can summarize Friedman's column with two words: "it's complicated." Friedman goes into detail to explain why he thinks deciding on a strategy is complicated. If ISIS had just appeared on the scene last week, his column might make sense or at least it might not be totally ridiculous, but ISIS is not new. Over a year ago, Obama himself told us that he was working on a strategy to deal with ISIS. Let me give that proper emphasis. OVER A YEAR AGO, OBAMA TOLD US HE WAS ALREADY WORKING ON A STRATEGY TO DEAL WITH ISIS. Last January, some eight months ago, ISIS captured a large area of Iraq including the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. What has Obama been doing for the last year? For the last eight months? Even if it is a complicated problem, Obama has had MORE than ample time to come up with a strategy, but he has not done so. This is not something that even a sophist like Friedman ought to be able to defend with a straight face. Indeed, rather than even try to defend the current lack of a strategy in the context of the last year, Friedman just ignores it. Like I said, "Deep Thoughts by Tom Friedman."
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