Laughing At Barack Obama

Explains a lot, doesn't it?

In response to Russia's annexation of Crimea, President Obama announced the imposition of sanctions against a grand total of seven Russians and four Ukrainians. Obama's characteristically weak pushback was met with derision from Russian officials.

One of those targeted, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, tweeted contemptuously, "Comrade Obama, what should those who have neither accounts nor property abroad do? Or maybe you didn't think of that?"

Then he added, "It seems to me that some kind of joker wrote the U.S. president's order."

Another tweet from inside Russia came from Alexei Navalny. A leading political opponent of Putin, Navalny commented that the punitive measures were "of course, funny." He added that "Obama only delighted all our crooks and encouraged them."

Another Putin ally also targeted by sanctions, Vladislav Surkov, was quoted as saying, “It’s a big honor for me. I don’t have accounts abroad. The only things that interest me in the U.S. are Tupac Shakur, Allen Ginsberg, and Jackson Pollock. I don’t need a visa to access their work. I lose nothing.”

The WSJ noted that after Obama's "sanctions" were announced the Russian stock market surged 3.7%.

Bret Stephens (WSJ, 3-18-2014) has some ideas about what makes Obama an object of ridicule.

Last year came the news that Mr. Obama was unaware of the problems plaguing his health-care website until after its rollout and that he never once had a private meeting with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius between July 2010 and November 2013. How does something like that happen?
An answer of sorts comes in an article by Sean Blanda on "How Barack Obama Gets Things Done" on the 99U website. The president, Mr. Blanda reports, wakes up at seven o'clock. He works out 45 minutes a day every day, not including his regular basketball games. He watches a lot of "SportsCenter." Dinner each night with his family. To limit "decision fatigue," he likes to set policy via memos where he can check the box on "agree," "disagree," or "let's discuss."
What do I take away from all this?
The obvious: A cavalier foreign policy by an inattentive president that elicits the contempt of the people it intends to punish ultimately encourages their aggression as well.
The less obvious: We need a fat president. Or at least one who rarely thinks and never speaks about how he looks in jeans. And one who doesn't spend his day testing his wits against a Hollywood stoner or bantering with Ryan Seacrest while a European ally is being pummeled by Russia. And one who would rather spend his time working than working out, even if it means putting on a few pounds.

And this from The Economist :

Over seven in 10 Obama voters (71%), and 55 percent of Democrats, regret voting for President Obama's reelection in 2012, according to a new Economist/YouGov poll.

Four years of Obama wasn't enough to convince that 71% to reject him in 2012? But one year later they do, when it's too late? Contemptible.