It's Cruel To Lose Your Cool

It hurts to lose your cool. If you don't believe me, ask Peyton Manning. He will never be able to look at Tom Brady again without thinking, "he's has three and I have one". Life is tough.

It is bad enough when this happens to a star quarterback. It is far worse when the President of the United States loses both his cool and his groove. Sitting across from Bill O'Reilly, Barack Obama looked decidedly uncomfortable. But when the man that is supposed to be the most powerful man in the world blames his failings on a news channel it is downright embarrassing. He looked extremely uncool.

When asked questions about other scandals and his management of them, he rambled and equivocated. In other words, he has also lost his groove. Next week the President is going to Saudi Arabia. He is in trouble with the Saudis too, and he is surprised by it. What more can an American President do? He bowed as low as he possibly could in a gesture of deep respect. He has done all that he can to make sure America doesn't become energy independent, stopping the flow of American petro-dollars into Saudi coffers. He has done everything possible to weaken Israel and their strong allied relationship with America.

Wait a minute. Doesn't Saudi Arabia rely on the existence of a strong Israel. This is never spoken out loud, but you bet they do. A strong Israel is the only player in the neighborhood that can keep Iran in check. That strength is multiplied by the support of the United States. Without Israel to provide balance that whole area would be a tinder box.

One might ask, why don't the Saudis build up their own military? Simple. Saudis don't do work. Their military is for show. The Saudi princes love to fly those cool American jet fighter planes so they have an air force kind of as a hobby. But all is show. You will not see a Saudi prince getting his posterior shot off in a dogfight. The Saudis import workers to do their manual labor, and that includes fighting. America has always picked up the slack for them so we would have access to their oil. For decades now America has been the de facto Saudi military.

But now we really don't need their oil. We can be energy independent. This scares the hell out of the Saudis. Without Israel and the United States, working together, times will be very tough in the mideast. But a grooveless President lacking cool seems to be at sea in the Arabian Gulf. You cannot appease both Iran and Saudi Arabia by dumping Israel without creating a monstrous mess. I think our President is beginning to understand that foreign relations is way more complicated than he thought it was. In a hot dry place like that, it is a bad thing to lose your cool.