In the Arena

Newt Be Nimble

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Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

You may have missed it, but the “biggest act of weakness by any American President in my lifetime” took place this morning. At least, according to Newt Gingrich, who has a bit of a problem with hyperbole. Indeed, in the ensuing moments after denouncing the wimpatheticity of Barack Obama, he proclaimed the President “the most radical President in American history” and the election “the most important in American history.” (Shockingly, most of the acts that made Obama “most radical” in American history–like support for an individual mandate for health care and cap-and-trade to control Co2, were things that Newt used to support.)

But anyway, back to…the biggest act of weakness in the history of the worrrrrld! I’ll keep you waiting, hide the answer beneath the fold. Because it was just so damn big and so damn weak. O.K., Here it comes…sit down:

The U.S. and the Israelis announced the postponement of a joint missile-defense exercise in the Persian Gulf because it would be too provocative at the moment. The announcement was made on the Israeli side by that simpering puddle of wimpitude Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister who doubles as an anti-Arab extremist. Hmmm….Maybe Lieberman hates Arabs, but has a weak spot for Persians?

Now let’s just think about this for a moment. There are signs that Iran is about to make a concession. Its various recent military threats have come a cropper. Nobody thinks the Iranians would really try to close their petroleum lifeline, the Straits of Hormuz. The international economic sanctions regime is hitting Iran hard, with the promise of even tougher sanctions to come. The Iranian government is split, perhaps fractured, over how to proceed. Even Bibi Netanyahu said over the weekend that Iran was seeming a bit “wobbly” these days. Do you think there’s a possibility that something is going on behind the scenes that Gingrich might not know about?

Is it possible that the postponement of these missile-defense exercises till the second half of the year is…a gesture? Or are we to actually believe that the Israelis, who never back down nohow–and Barack Obama, who has been pretty tough with the Iranians–have suddenly decided to seem intimidated by a “wobbly” regime? Perhaps in the fevered imagination of Rush Limbaugh, but not in the real world. No, this has the smell of a diplomatic gesture.

Meanwhile, we should take a moment to examine Gingrich’s own motives here. He is in the race, living to fight another day, because of the slathering of cash upon his candidacy by one Sheldon Adelson, a billionaire casino sleaze who doubles as the world’s most fanatic neoconservative and who throws his cash around in both Israel and the US. I would imagine that Adelson doesn’t like Iran all that much. I would also imagine that one quick way to get to Adelson’s heart is to proclaim Barack Obama a weenie when it comes to facing down Iran. And I would further imagine that the $5 million Adelson recently gave the Gingrich campaign will get Newt through South Carolina and no farther.

There is, therefore, a pressing need on Gingrich’s part to portray the President as cowering in the face of the Iranian threat. There’s a crisis, Sheldon. You can’t stiff me now! …Sheldon?