The American Presidency in 2015: Speak Loudly and Carry a Selfie Stick

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JONAH GOLDBERG: The media use Darwin to "otherize" Scott Walker. A Bad-Faith Question.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: The president's passive foreign policy is driven by a belief that America lacks the moral authority to lead. Obama's Appeasement Crusade.

JOHN FUND: Team Hillary is famous for playing mean, and potential competitors are afraid to enter the ring. How Hillary Scares Off Elizabeth Warren.

ARMOND WHITE: Young-adult fiction meets soft-core porn. 50 Shades of Dull.

SLIDESHOW: Venice Carnival Costumes.

Morning Jolt
. . . with Jim Geraghty

February 13, 2015

The American Presidency in 2015: Speak Loudly and Carry a Selfie Stick

I suppose we should be thankful the president wasn't wearing green lipstick during his wacky video for BuzzFeed.

"Islamic State insurgents took control on Thursday of most of the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, threatening an air base where U.S. Marines are training Iraqi troops."

Islamists affiliated with al-Qaeda just took over a military base in Yemen.

Daily Beast: "White House Stalled ISIS Rescue. Foley, Sotloff, and Mueller Died."

Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations, discussing the Islamic State: "There has to be a fight on the ground. You can't do this by air. Everybody acknowledges that."

"The evacuation of American diplomats, soldiers and even CIA operatives from Yemen is stirring deep concerns that the U.S. is losing a vital foothold in territory that the most notorious Al Qaeda affiliate calls home."

It's not a silly time. But we have a silly president.

An Ally Collapses, and We Never Saw It Coming

Yes, the news out of Yemen is bad:

The Obama administration's senior counterterrorism official acknowledged Thursday that U.S. intelligence was surprised by the collapse of the U.S.-backed government in Yemen.

Nick Rasmussen, who directs the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate intelligence committee that Yemen's American-funded army failed to oppose advancing Houthi rebels in the same way the U.S.-supported Iraqi military refused to fight Islamic State militants last year.

What happened in Iraq with the onslaught of the Islamic State group "happened in Yemen" on "a somewhat smaller scale," he said. "As the Houthi advances toward Sanaa took place . . . they weren't opposed in many places. . . The situation deteriorated far more rapidly than we expected."

Rasmussen made the admission under questioning by Sen. Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican who noted that President Barack Obama recently touted Yemen as a success. Now, it's a "total disaster," Blunt said.

In response to other questioning, Rasmussen also noted that extremists in Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt and Algeria had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, suggesting a growing influence of that al-Qaida rival.

The Islamic State group is now the dominant extremist group in the Libyan cities of Derna and Benghazi, where a 2012 attack killed four Americans including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, he said.

"We've seen in recent months ISIL has looked to expand its reach in a number of places," Rasmussen said.

He acknowledged that efforts against al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate, considered one of the most dangerous to Americans, had been significantly diminished by the collapse of the government and this week's evacuation of the U.S. Embassy.

Omri Ceren of The Israel Project sends along some evidence that the Shiite Houthis who just took over Yemen are in cahoots with Iran:

Quotes from Iranian officials:

Ali Shirazi, a Khamenei representative to the IRGC Quds Force (Jan 2015): "The Houthi group is a similar copy to Lebanon's Hezbollah, and this group will come into action against enemies of Islam… The Islamic republic directly supports the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the popular forces in Syria and Iraq".

Ali Reza Zakani, a Khamenei-linked parliamentarian (reported Nov 2014): "Three Arab capitals (Beirut, Damascus, and Baghdad) have already fallen into Iran's hands and belong to the Iranian Islamic Revolution . . . [events in Yemen are] a natural extension of the Iranian Revolution . . . What is happening in Yemen is bigger than what's happening in Lebanon . . . 14 of its 20 provinces will soon to fall into Houthi control."

Ali-Akbar Velayati, Khamenei-linked Iranian politician and former Minister of Foreign Affairs (Oct 2014): "Ansarollah [the Houthis] in Yemen has played the same role that Hezbollah plays in Lebanon… in different situations in Lebanon, Hezbollah fights alongside the army with enemies of the nation"

Arabic media reports:

Al-Watan Al-Arabi (Feb 2015): IRGC has begun process of asserting direct operational control over Houthi units. (Arabic).

Arabi21 (Jan 2015): The Amarion website, which belongs to the IRGC, outlined a plan by which Iran intends to gain control over Yemen in early January 2015. The plan consisted of among other establishing "popular committees" to coordinate security tasks in Houthi-controlled areas (Arabic).

Okaz (Nov 2014; Saudi Arabian outlet): Senior Hezbollah commanders had arrived in Yemen to directly assist the Houthis in their military drive (Arabic).

Asharq Al-Awsat (Oct 2014; quoting Yemeni intelligence): Houthi fighters had established Iranian cultural centers in the provinces under their control.

Asharq Al-Awsat (Sept 2014; quoting and citing Yemeni intelligence): "Elements affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, who were training Houthis in the north of Yemen, are currently present in the capital Sana'a." The source added that IRGC and Hezbollah commanders were actively assisting the Houthis in implementing their military and political goals in Yemen.

Brian Williams, Insufferable B.S. Artist

This ad, to promote employment of U.S. veterans, is still running on cable. Right in the middle of it, asking "Their job, while in uniform is to get the job done. Don't you want someone like that on your payroll?" is . . . NBC News anchor Brian Williams.

A couple years back, my old clique of apolitical friends met "a friend of a friend" at a party. You know how you can sometimes detect a whiff of B.S. coming off someone, or their stories don't quite add up? That day, all of my friends got a not-quite-plausible story or anecdote. This guy told a series of tales of his exploits -- and unluckily for him, each one aligned with particular areas of expertise of my friends, and all of noticed some element that just didn't fit. He would have been too young to witness that historical event, he wasn't using the right terminology on that topic, and so on.

That guy at the party? Brian Williams. Okay, no, not really. That's my own little exaggeration for dramatic comic effect.

Maybe this guy was trying to impress us, but it ended up having the opposite effect. The truly confident never have to tell you that they're confident; the truly accomplished rarely have to list their accomplishments.

Evidence is starting to build up that Williams likes to tweak his recollections:

As a reporter for WCBS-TV in New York in 1989, Williams traveled to Berlin to cover the demolition of the Berlin Wall. The assignment has become an omnipresent line in his various biographies, and Williams himself has identified it as a career highlight.

"I've been so fortunate," he said during a 2008 forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. "I was at the Brandenburg Gate the night the wall came down."

Williams did indeed witness some of the wall's physical removal. But "the night the wall came down" is widely recognized as November 9, 1989, an iconic date with particular significance to Williams' "Nightly News" predecessor Tom Brokaw.

Brokaw was famously the only American anchorman to report live from the scene on that historic day, an accomplishment that NBC News has proudly trumpeted for years. It was a defining moment for Brokaw.

And Williams has, to be sure, consistently credited Brokaw and NBC for having a jump on the story. In a 2004 interview, Williams said he "arrived at the Berlin Wall a day after -- more like 12 hours after -- Tom Brokaw did."

"But I got there, and I have my own piece of the wall, my own piece of that memory that I'll always hold tight to," he added.

Other times, Williams has arguably conflated his experience with that of Brokaw's.

"Here's a fact: 25 years ago tonight, Tom Brokaw and I were at the Berlin Wall," Williams said at a gala held on November 8, 2014.

If he had any interaction with the pope, Williams didn't mention it then. But that changed in 2004, a year before the death of Pope John Paul II. While delivering the commencement address at Catholic University that year, Williams said the "highlight" of his time at the school "was in this very doorway, shaking hands with the Holy Father during his visit to this campus."

After reporting the news of the pope's death in 2005, Williams said on-air that he was "thinking back to the first time I met him at Catholic University, I guess it's 25 years ago now."

Days later, Williams provided a more colorful version of his meeting.

"I have to begin with a beautiful day in 1979," Williams said in an interview published by NBC News. "I was a student at Catholic University, and over the course of two hours, chatted up a Secret Service agent who spilled like a cup of coffee and told me that the pope would be coming our way, straight up the steps of a side door at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. I positioned myself and held out my hand and said, 'Welcome to Catholic University, Holy Father.' And he embraced my hand with both of his, made the sign of the cross, and said a blessing to me."

The same year, he told Esquire he met the pope simply by being in the right place at the right time -- not thanks to a chatty Secret Service agent.

ADDENDA: Here's last night's appearance on Greta.

Here's the Three Martini Lunch.

Here's the pop-culture podcast.

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