Take That, Straw Man!

There he goes again, beating up Mr. Straw Man. One of these days, I hope someone writes a book analyzing the frequency of this fallacy in Obama's speeches. Working title: Take That, Straw Man!

Regarding the speech the president gave the other day at American University? I agree with Jonah Goldberg (copied below). Obama's comments were pretty abhorrent, particularly the one about Republicans who oppose the Iran deal as having "common cause" with those who chant "Death to America" in Iran. In my view, anyone who still supports this president is either willfully blind, woefully partisan, or profoundly deceived. 

Obama’s Iran Speech

(from The Goldberg File, by Jonah Goldberg, 8/7/15) 

For reasons I will get to in a moment, this was an absolutely terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. So I couldn’t get my normal Friday column done yesterday. That was particularly vexing because it was on Obama’s Iran speech, which I thought was not only bad, but outrageous. It was petulant, small, nasty, partisan, wildly hypocritical, and dishonorable in almost every regard. People who celebrated it should be ashamed of themselves. And the press’s ho-hum reporting on it as if it were just another presidential speech is a searing indictment of not just their news judgment but their partisanship. 

The president of the United States said critics of the Iran deal were finding common cause with a murderous Iranian regime -- a regime that he has coddled, accommodated, and apologized for time and again. He imputed to his domestic political opponents a none-too-vague whiff of cowardice, dual loyalty, and dishonor. In vintage Obama mode, he condemned the partisanship of his critics while delivering a searing partisan attack. He once again bragged about his opposition to the Iraq War while denigrating all those who supported it -- including both of his secretaries of state and his vice president -- as if that proves the rightness of everything he does. But this time he went further, basically suggesting that if you don’t support this deal, you are rewarding this evil fifth column in our midst. It was disgusting. 

Last, he threatened that if you don’t support his deal, it will mean war. 

This is a lie. First of all, if Congress votes down the deal tomorrow, who here believes that Obama will say, “Well, we have no choice now. We have to go to war.” 

Anyone? 

Who here believes that the people cheering his speech as powerful and impressive will apply its logic if it fails? Will David Axelrod -- who loved the speech, of course -- suddenly say, “Diplomacy has failed, alas. Now we have no choice but to bomb Iran.”? 

They are fear-mongering and lying while denouncing their opponents as fear-mongerers and liars. 

They are dishonestly threatening war because war is the only option less preferable than this unbelievably bad deal. It’s a magic-beans deal, minus the magic. It’s the equivalent of giving the Clintons millions in exchange for Mrs. Clinton attending your wedding. 

It was the most shameful presidential speech on foreign policy in my lifetime. Shame on him and his fans.

For Further Reading

"Obama Blasts Opponents of Iran Deal" (Kevin Liptak, CNN Politics, August 5, 2015).

"Obama's Crass Cynicism Exposes the Iran Deal's Shaky Foundations" (Noah Rothman, Commentary Magazine, August 6, 2015). 

"Who is the One Actually Making Common CAuse with Iran's Hard-liners, Mr. President?" (Charles Krauthammer, National Review Online, August 6, 2015).

Full text of the speech can be found here.