8.11.13: The Art of the Smack Down

The overt, overarching theme of today's Meet The Press illustrated the art of the smack down.

To distill and differentiate however, they weren't all of the same variety.  Let us explain.  A slap is mostly executed in one of two ways - either with the open hand where contact is made with the palm or it's delivered with the back of the hand, knuckles first.  Where the former signifies a notion of shunning someone, the open hand slap is one that more demands that the recipient regain focus.  Both kinds were exemplified today.

All of the round table guests liked the fact that President Obama delivered a 'smack down' of Russian President Vladimir Putin in cancelling their upcoming summit meeting, but none of them were sure if it was actually a good idea.  Giving whistle blower Edward Snowden a visa was the last straw in a series of Russian thumbs to the eye of the United States so the administration had rightly determined that enough was enough.  The reason it was a good move is that in considering the Russian mentality and the ego of Mr. Putin, Mr. Obama's only play to maintain a modicum of respect is to tell the Russian president to 'step off' until he can check his id at the door.  It was an openhanded smack down for sure, one designed to refocus Mr. Putin's awareness of the United States' strength politically and that the administration isn't simply going to roll over to him.

With that said, boycotting the Olympics would not be the right thing to do and here's why.  In this country with its deep political divisions (conservative vs. liberal), there is one thing that everyone can have a fun, animated conversation about that unifies, and that is sports.  (No matter what two football fans' respective political beliefs are, they can still always talk football.)  It's the same way with the Olympics and international competition, it brings the world together in a positive way.  The only other example we can think of that also does that is the international space station and for the United States not to participate in either at any time would be a mistake if this country intends to do what it says, which is to help lead the world into the future.  We wouldn't be surprised (and it will happen) that a brave athlete from somewhere in the world is going to win gold and dedicate it to the oppressed, giving us a teaching moment in the face of Russia's intolerant laws toward its gay community.

The other, more exciting, confrontational smack down was a pure knuckle-first backhand crack delivered by Anna Navarro to the proverbial face of Representative Steve King (R-IA) without any intent of reconciliation.  After David Gregory presented Mr. King with videotape of his controversial remarks about Hispanics mostly being 130 lbs. marijuana smugglers and his response, Mr. Navarro cut into the Iowa Congressman saying he needed therapy and was a mediocre congressman with no legislative record, while he listened.  Ouch!

And she's a Republican Strategist... While the need for therapy is debatable, we disagree with Ms. Navarro in her assessment of Mr. King as a mediocre congressman.  That's far too generous a descriptor.  However, we agree with her that Mr. King's ignorance furthers the debate in favor of those who want reform. As David Ignatius noted, Congressman King's views are not where the country is moving.

Now we'd like to conduct a bit of a smack down of our own, one that employs both a backhand and forehand with a 'Smartin' up!' at the end of it on Congressman Mike McCaul (R-TX).  Mr. McCaul is the Chairman of the House's Homeland Security Committee so if he didn't know that these NSA surveillance programs existed, programs which for the record Congress people had multiple opportunities to be briefed, doesn't speak well of his leadership.  He stated that the president failed to explain these 'lawful' (his word) programs, but what about Congress?  If these programs are lawful, that means Congress authorized them so they should be explaining them as well. 

He went on to say that the president is trying to bring the country back to a pre-9/11 mindset, suggesting that Mr. Obama is not being diligent enough on terrorism, which is simply sophomoric criticism.  Just by reading newspaper headlines this week, you would know that the U.S. has been launching multiple, daily drone strikes in the Arabian Peninsula.

Mr. McCaul also stated that the president has failed to engage the moderate Muslim community [in our fight against extremists]. But how would he propose this be done considering that we've now, under President Obama's administration, created this existential fear across the Middle East that at any moment you could be vaporized by a smart bomb from a robot plane?

Ted Koppel talked about his op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and how we've created a psychology of fear (along with an economy/industry of one) in this country.  His key example to note - a conference call by Al Qaeda shut down nineteen embassies this week.  Well, we also transferred that fear abroad with the use of drones.  It's certainly not pre-9/11 behavior.

We don't dismiss the use of drones entirely, that's not the point.  The point is that it just seems like Mr. McCaul hasn't done his homework and that if you're the Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, you should understand, appreciate, and articulate the nuances of our security policies in the presence of our Bill of Rights, but also within the context of how we're engaging terrorism around the globe.  That's exactly what we should expect from an individual in that kind of leadership position.


Round Table: David Ignatius of the Washington Post; Republican strategist Ana Navarro; David Brooks of the New York Times, and Former Governor of New Mexico and UN ambassador, Bill Richardson..