President Monkey See, President Monkey Do

The Montreal Gazette begs Obama to remember to dance with the girl who brung him: specifically not harming Canada after all the adulation they showed him:

Dear President Obama, Like most Canadians I rooted for you madly and cried when you were elected President-of-The-World. So far, I think you've been a great leader, reaching out to the whole planet

Ohh, good call. Kiss up a little bit first, try to see if that helps.

On June 1, you will officially defend the "world's longest undefended border," a border I've crossed hundreds of times. From now on, we Canadians need passports to enter the U.S., a major hassle for truckdrivers, boaters and shmoes like me who can no longer cross to buy cheap Polo shirts without remembering to pack passports for the whole family.

Not by any means defending either Obama or this program, but it was actually one of the few actual bad policies enacted by George W. Bush. Obama, who took a blowtorch to any Bush program that might actually cause a benefit to anyone [is that why "No Child Left Behind" is still intact? -ed], left the June 2009 border requirements alone. Hence the title of this post...

So what other insights does Josh Freed have to offer?

Meanwhile, your new Homeland Security chief, Janet Napolitano, told CBC the reason for the new passport law was that the 9/11 terrorists "entered our country ... across the Canadian border."

Hello? Fact check - or as CNN always says, "time to keep'em honest." Sorry Mr. President, but none of the 9/11 terrorists came across the Canadian border. You let them all in yourselves with your lax security - so if anything we should be toughening our border against you.

Other than the fact that the last bit makes no sense, clearly Freed hasn't been paying attention. Obama picked Napolitano. She's his guy. Certainly she is a far poorer choice than any single member of Bush's cabinet could have been -- Colin Powell included. Besides, don't bother Obama with facts. He doesn't know anything about them. He doesn't care.

Our only would-be Canadian terrorist was Ahmed Ressam back in 1999 and they caught him at the border. But somehow the idea Canada was Jihad Training Central for 9/11 bombers became an urban myth - part of a "blame Canada" list that includes mad cow, SARS and any U.S. blizzard.

Speaking of Mad Cow, wasn't there a President who defied powerful interests in his own party and his own bureaucracy to defend Canada against protectionism? What's Obama's track record on that file again?

Yes, Mr. President, I know your border policy is just a continuation of Bush-league ones you inherited. But you don't have the excuse Bush did: He was dim and you're brilliant. So why blame us? Are you trying to show Americans you're not as liberal as you look?

Ah, suck up some more Freed, that might work. Problem is that your precious "fact-checking" has somehow failed you. Obama is stupider than Bush. Obama is stupider than liberals claimed Bush was. In fact, President Monkey is probably a stupider choice of President than an actual monkey. [its like TSN discovering a monkey picks playoff winners better than its own analysts -ed]

As for the last bit, Obama is in fact more liberal than he "looked" to the MSM, and now he doesn't really cover it up very much. That's the thing Freed can't wrap his head around: Obama's liberalism is at the core of what he does. He isn't doing things because they are right, he's doing things that give him more power, more influence, more control. He's not interested in letting "schmoes like you" cross the border unimpeded. He's interested in controlling your life. The sooner the Josh Freeds wise up to that fact, the better off they'll be.

Adviser: Well, sir, you're looking a bit soft on foreign policy. You've opened up to Cuba, offered to talk with Iran's "I'm-a-dinner-jacket" and negotiate with Hamas and the Taliban. You've got to show some toughness somewhere, sir.

Oh come on, he did shoot all those pirates (without any regard for the Geneva Convention, one may note). If you want to talk about who Obama is tough with, as noted above, its his own people: if you're an investor, or a shareholder in a TARP-assisted company, Obama hates you and wants you to suffer. The people in the tea party protests all understood exactly where Obama is willing to be tough, and that's the part that scares them.

Sorry, Mr. President, I understand America's frustration. Eight years after Sept. 11, you still can't find Osama, you're fleeing Iraq and your banks are broke. But why take it out on Canada?

Do you really think demanding passports from 35 million Canadians will stop terrorism, any more than seizing elderly ladies' shampoo at the airport? Professional terrorists don't arrive at the border with a crumpled Canadian Tire card, then plead to get in. They have real fake passports.

Europe has gone the other way and eliminated all borders - you can drive from Spain into France without noticing. Meanwhile, we need a passport to ski in Vermont, which many Quebecers consider part of Canada.

The fact that:
a) A Clinton-nominee came up with the idea of searching shampoo bottles

b) Protectionist border enforcement with regards to everything except illegal Mexican immigration has long been a standard plank of Obama's party
never seem to occur to our Monsigeur Freed.

Exactly right. In fact, we're way too busy listening to Tonto to go and make bombs - or carry passports. So President Obama, hear this: We're not going to take it anymore!

Fortunately while Freed is right that we don't make bombs, we do use them. But this again speaks to the wussified world of Frenchmen and/or liberals: if you don't make and/or carry bombs, then its going to be awfully hard to be taken seriously when you say "we're not going to take it anymore!" It's like the British police officer in the old Robin Williams sketch:

In England, if you commit a crime, the police don't have a gun and you don't have a gun. If you commit a crime, the police will say "Stop, or I'll say stop again."