One year ago this month, Vogue Magazine published a glowing profile piece of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s wife, Asma. Over the last year, Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour has defended her magazine’s portrayal of the Syrian First Lady despite the brutal crackdown in Syria by Asma’s husband’s regime that has killed more than 8,000 citizen protesters.

This week, President Barack Obama invited Wintour to the White House for the coveted State Dinner of America’s greatest ally – the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203611404577044123819688612.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

OPINION
NOVEMBER 21, 2011
Obama’s Failing Iran Diplomacy
By RICHARD GRENELL

On Nov. 13, President Obama made some remarkable statements. “When I came into office,” he said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Honolulu, “the world was divided and Iran was unified around its nuclear program.” Now, he said, “the world is united and Iran is isolated. And because of our diplomacy and our efforts, we have, by far, the strongest sanctions on Iran that we’ve ever seen.” Mr. Obama added, “China and Russia were critical to making that happen. Had they not been willing to support those efforts in the United Nations, we would not be able to see the kind of progress that we’ve made.”

more Iran discussion with Fox News’ Gregg Jarrett

discussing the UN’s Iran report with Gregg Jarrett

the latest on libya, pakistan and iraq

U.S. Pakistan relations & GOP Presidential candidates’ foreign policy positions

talking israel and palestine with gregg jarrett

analysis of obama’s un speech and israeli policies

In 2008, candidate Obama made fun of the Bush Administration for not having many friends and not being able to lead the world.  The facts show that Obama is less popular than Bush was at the end of his term.  The difference is that the Bush team actually produced votes at the UN (the Bush team produced 5 resolutions on Iran, Obama has only managed to get 1) and was confronting dictators.  Maybe you are more popular if you actually lead? See poll results here: http://aai.3cdn.net/5d2b8344e3b3b7ef19_xkm6ba4r9.pdf

Below is the official White House Press Pool Report from President Obama’s Pride reception at the White House.

In it you will see that Dan Savage thinks supporting gay marriage is being “out on the furthest limb” for Obama so he isn’t furious with him for his position.  Savage also predicts that Obama won’t ”evolve” on gay marriage until February, 2013 – after the next presidential election.  You will also see that union spokesman Gregory King thinks gays aren’t prioritizing marriage so Obama doesn’t need to either.  With supporters like these it’s no wonder Obama doesn’t feel pressure from the gay community.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/obama-puertoricovisit-richardgrenell/2011/06/15/id/400170

http://www.politico.com/blogs/onmedia/0611/Obamas_official_visit_to_Puerto_Rico.html  

When the White House released the erroneous fact that President Obama would be the first President since John F. Kennedy to visit Puerto Rico, CNN, NPR and others accepted it as fact and began reporting it. Without checking the White House’s spin, many media organizations highlighted Obama’s visit and failed to find that the White House was wrong – President Gerald Ford had visited Puerto Rico in 1976 and was the last president to do so. While many outlets reported the error, CNN and NPR repeated it and failed to correct the mistake while highlighting the trip.

It doesn’t seem like a gutsy call to put sanctions on a head of state who has jailed protesters and shot peaceful demonstrators since early March. President Barack Obama’s overdue call to add Bashar al-Assad to a sanctions list restricting his travel outside of Syria is a slow start to one of the greatest U.S. foreign policy opportunities of our generation. And today’s Middle East Speech did nothing more to push Assad.