At this point, it’s pretty clear Russian President Vladimir Putin does not take the Obama administration seriously.
And why should he?
When Russian agitators started making trouble in Eastern Ukraine, the State Department responded by creating a Twitter hashtag. And these days, the administration is considering whether it should be tougher than Europe.
The president has lost Maureen Dowd.
MAUREEN. DOWD.
This is how the Obama administration responds to violent protests and deadly terrorist attacks against our embassies:
[W]e’ve made our views on this video crystal clear. The United States government had nothing to do with it. We reject its message and its contents. We find it disgusting and reprehensible. But there is absolutely no justification at all for responding to this movie with violence. And we are working to make sure that people around the globe hear that message.
Obama’s secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, has an interesting set of priorities:
- Cutting the military to pre-World War II levels.
- Instituting a "unisex/universal dress and service cap" for the Marine Corps.
- Banning cigarettes on U.S. military ships and bases.
- Reviewing hairstyle policies.
President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) are, at the behest of left-wing eco-oligarch Tom Steyer, actively blocking construction of a pipeline that would boost U.S. oil production and create jobs, which is pretty relevant, you would think, in the context of the slow-motion, postmodern invasion of Ukraine.
And what is Vladimir Putin up to? He's making plans to attend a military parade in Crimea, the Ukrainian territory recently annexed by Russia.
Meanwhile, as Maureen Dowd notes, President Obama will give the commencement address at West Point next month, which will focus on "putting his foreign policy in context."
