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John Brennan, Obama National Security advisor, addressing an unidentified group

By Alan Caruba

There’s a YouTube video of John Brennan, the President’s national security advisor, praising Islam and the Arab culture to an unidentified group of Arabs that is so revealing it should be probable cause for his removal from office. At one point, he addresses them in fluent Arabic, a language acquired in his studies and CIA posts over the years.

When the British Empire spanned much of the globe there was a term for men who embraced the culture and nations to which they were assigned. They were deemed to have “gone native”, often wearing Arab garb and becoming apologists or advocates. Among the most famous was Lawrence of Arabia, but there were many others such as Lieutenant-General, Sir John Bagot Glub, called “Glub Pasha” and best known for leading and training Jordan’s Arab Legion from 1939 to 1956; the same Legion that took part in attacks on Israel after it declared independence in 1948.

In the video, Brennan waxes poetic about Arab culture. In 1977 Brennan had received a degree in political science from Fordham University. During his studies he had spent his junior year learning Arabic and taking Middle Eastern Studies courses at the American University in Cairo. He received a Master of Arts degree in government with a concentration in Middle East studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980.

His career in the Central Intelligence Agency was one in which he reached the highest rungs as an analyst, serving at one point as a daily intelligence briefer for President Bill Clinton. In 1996, he was the CIA station chief in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when the Khobar Towers, a housing complex, was blown up by a truck bomb, killing nineteen U.S. servicemen billeted there. He would serve under CIA Director George Tenet as the director of its newly created Terrorist Threat Integration Center from 2003 to 2004. He would serve as director of the CIA’s National Counterterrorism Center from 2004 to 2005.

One might assume from such an impressive resume that Brennan was the ideal man to be appointed President Barack Hussein Obama’s chief counterintelligence advisor with the title of Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism.

One might assume that, but Brennan, from his earliest days in that post made a number of statements and authored a USA Today opinion editorial that revealed deeply felt sympathies for the very people who were and are attacking Americans at home and overseas. In his USA Today opinion, Brennan criticized “Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering that only serve the goals of al Qaeda.”

Commenting on Brennan’s USA Today opinion, Jeb Babbin, in an article for Human Events on February 11, 2010, wrote of Brennan and the Obama administration’s incomprehensible national security actions, “Consider their consistent record of bad decisions only one year into Obama’s presidency: to close the terrorist detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; to move Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other al Qaeda varsity out of the military commissions system and try them in civilian criminal court; to war against the intelligence community; to put the White House in charge of interrogations of captured terrorists; and, most recently, the hasty decision to put the Christmas Day underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, in civilian custody thus preventing professional intelligence interrogators from having access to him.”

Babbin characterized Brennan’s USA Today article as “a string of fibs and misleading statements so easily disproved (that) it leaves observers wondering about Brennan’s sanity.”

Writing in the Washington Observer on May 26, 2010, Spencer Ackerman reported that “Brennan signaled as well that the administration is concerned that blowback from civilians killed by drones could turn tactical success into strategic failure.” Brennan said the U.S.

Wow, let it never be said that President Obama doesn’t choose ambassadors that share his (mis)management style:

Candidate Barack Obama promised to end the time-honored American practice of appointing ambassadors who have no experience in foreign policy, but President Obama has completely ignored that promise, appointing fundraisers to dozens of ambassadorships all over the world.

Today, the State Department revealed that another fundraiser turned ambassador ran her embassy into the ground … only to return to fundraising and leave the State Department to pick up the pieces.

According to a new State Department inspector general’s report on the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas, Ambassador Nicole Avant presided over “an extended period of dysfunctional leadership and mismanagement, which has caused problems throughout the embassy” since she was appointed by the president in 2009. Prior to being America’s envoy in the Caribbean, Avant was Southern California finance co-chairwoman of Obama’s presidential campaign and vice president of Interior Music Publishing.

According to her glowingly positive Wikipedia page, Avant spent her time in the Bahamas “focused on five priority initiatives: Education, Alternative Energy, Economic and Small Business Development, Women’s Empowerment and Raising awareness of the challenges facing people with disabilities.”

But according to the State Department’s internal investigation, Avant was away from the embassy an inordinate amount of time — mainly shuttling back and forth to her home in Los Angeles — and when she was in town, she worked from her residence most of the day.

Avant was absent from the embassy 276 days between September 2009 and November 2011, including 102 “personal” days and 77 “work travel” days to the United States, of which only 23 were on official orders.

“Her extensive travel out of country and preference to work from the Ambassador’s residence for a significant portion of the work day contributed to a perception of indifference,” the report states. “The frequent absences of the Ambassador contributed to poor mission management.”

Hauntingly familiar, isn’t it? How this woman didn’t end up in Obama’s cabinet is beyond me. Of course, according to Obama, he’s got five years left in his presidency, so maybe we’ll be seeing more of Nicole Avant.

She’s since been dispatched to Hollywood to mend fences between Obama and temporarily disgruntled whiffle-brained Tinseltown lefties who will end up voting for him again anyway.

Read about yet another Obama supporter-turned-ambassador who was a mismanagement disaster here.

Candidate Barack Obama promised to end the time-honored American practice of appointing ambassadors who have no experience in foreign policy, but President Obama has completely ignored that promise, appointing fundraisers to dozens of ambassadorships all over the world.

Today, the State Department revealed that another fundraiser turned ambassador ran her embassy into the ground … only to return to fundraising and leave the State Department to pick up the pieces.

According to a new State Department inspector general’s report on the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas, Ambassador Nicole Avant presided over “an extended period of dysfunctional leadership and mismanagement, which has caused problems throughout the embassy” since she was appointed by the president in 2009. Prior to being America’s envoy in the Caribbean, Avant was Southern California finance co-chairwoman of Obama’s presidential campaign and vice president of Interior Music Publishing.

According to her glowingly positive Wikipedia page, Avant spent her time in the Bahamas “focused on five priority initiatives: Education, Alternative Energy, Economic and Small Business Development, Women’s Empowerment and Raising awareness of the challenges facing people with disabilities.”

But according to the State Department’s internal investigation, Avant was away from the embassy an inordinate amount of time — mainly shuttling back and forth to her home in Los Angeles — and when she was in town, she worked from her residence most of the day.

Avant was absent from the embassy 276 days between September 2009 and November 2011, including 102 “personal” days and 77 “work travel” days to the United States, of which only 23 were on official orders.

“Her extensive travel out of country and preference to work from the Ambassador’s residence for a significant portion of the work day contributed to a perception of indifference,” the report states. “The frequent absences of the Ambassador contributed to poor mission management.”

Avant was out of touch partly because she didn’t interact often with the State Department or anyone else in Washington, according to the inspector general. She left that to her deputy chief of mission, whom the report identified as also being poor at management and administration.

“The Ambassador had not had frequent policy-level interaction with the Department or other Washington agencies. At the beginning of her tenure, she relied unduly on her former DCM to attend to day-to-day contacts with the desk and other offices in the Department,” says the report. “Interviews in Washington likewise revealed that the front office of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and other Washington agencies were not in regular contact with the Ambassador about the conduct of her mission. This lack of regular contact contributed to the Ambassador’s sense of isolation from the Department.”

Avant did take several steps to establish the embassy’s equal employment opportunity program — but not until the inspector general’s visit. The embassy’s program for young Foreign Service officers was neglected, critical security upgrades were not made, and the embassy paid rent on a vacant office for two years.

One might think there aren’t important issues to deal with at a tropical post like the Bahamas. But the IG begs to differ, and made clear that the 154 American and 61 locally hired staff need good leadership.

“The Bahamas is a critical partner in ongoing efforts to ensure the security of the south-east flank of the United States.

Here is a brief note over what the Obama administration was arguing just over a year ago. From Fox News:

critics are pointing to another legal memo from the Justice Department that they claim is in conflict with the one issued Jan. 6 – and it comes from one of Obama’s allies. In 2010, then-Solicitor General, now Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan authored a letter to the Supreme Court Clerk’s Office with respect to recess appointments. While noting the president does have authority to make such appointments, Kagan added “… the Senate may act to foreclose this option by declining to recess for more than two or three days at a time…” In her Jan. 6th memo, Seitz addressed the 2010 Kagan memo and determined that it was not on point. . . .

She’s a progressive La Raza racist.

At The Blaze, “Former La Raza VP Named White House Domestic Policy Director.”

And from Aaron Klein, “Look who Obama’s new czar is tied to… Cecilia Munoz previously worked with infamous list“:

Prior to her appointment yesterday as the next director of President Obama’s Domestic Policy Council, longtime immigration reform advocate Cecilia Muñoz served on the board of George Soros’ Open Society Institute.

Muñoz also chaired the board of directors of the Center for Community Change, or CCC, a Soros-funded community organizing initiative whose board boasts activists from ACORN, MoveOn.org as well as other notorious radical groups.

Muñoz is currently serving as the head of the White House office of intergovernmental affairs. She most recently worked for the National Council of la Raza, an open-borders group that lobbies for mass immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens.

The official White House statement announcing her new appointment yesterday noted Muñoz’s previous work for both the CCC and Soros’ Institute.

“Ms. Muñoz is the former Chair of the Board of Center for Community Change, and served on the U.S. Programs Board of the Open Society Institute,” the statement read.

“Over the past three years, Cecilia has been a trusted advisor who has demonstrated sound judgment day in and day out,” Obama in the press release. “Cecilia has done an extraordinary job working on behalf of middle class families, and I’m confident she’ll bring the same unwavering dedication to her new position.”

Muñoz’s new duties will include coordinating the policy-making process and supervise the execution of domestic policy in the White House.

While the White House release documented Muñoz’s work for the CCC, the statement did not further define the CCC, which recruits and trains activists to spearhead “political issue campaigns” while advocating for more citizen involvement in community organizations.

And at Knuckledraggin’:

And La Raza is involved in actively seeking reconquista. That and flat-out open borders, among other things.

I swear to God above, that fucking socialist son of a bitch isn’t happy just letting them in, now he wants to give our Nation to the Mexicans and let them turn it into the shithole Mexico is.

VIDEO HAT TIP: Verum Serum, “Obama Appoints Longtime Amnesty Proponent as Head of Domestic Policy.”

She’s a progressive La Raza racist.

At The Blaze, “Former La Raza VP Named White House Domestic Policy Director.”

And from Aaron Klein, “Look who Obama’s new czar is tied to… Cecilia Munoz previously worked with infamous list“:

Obama’s “Razist” Lobbyist Moves Up
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2012

With public attention focused on the GOP primaries, the White House quietly promoted another self-dealing lobbyist to serve as President Obama’s top domestic policy adviser. Promises? What broken promises?

Cecilia Munoz, the current director of intergovernmental affairs at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., will now serve as head of the Domestic Policy Council. She’ll wield heightened influence at Obama’s daily morning briefings and expand her reach from immigration issues to education, health care and beyond.

Gushing headlines heralded the advancement of Obama’s top Hispanic civil rights “advocate” as a win for the “middle class.” But Munoz is a veteran member of the Beltway lobbyist class whose former organization is reaping a taxpayer-funded windfall as she climbs the government ladder.

Before joining Team Obama, Munoz spent two decades as chief registered lobbyist for the National Council of La Raza (“The Race”). Whose “middle class” does The Race represent? I’ve tracked the radical identity politics-driven group for years as it promoted drivers’ licenses and in-state college tuition breaks for illegal aliens; opposed cooperative immigration enforcement efforts between local, state and federal authorities; and opposed a secure fence along the southern border.

Under Munoz, The Race advised the Mexican government on how to lobby for illegal alien amnesty in the United States. Mexico’s Institute for Mexicans Residing Abroad rewarded her with its Ohtli Prize for her service to the country. Their country, not ours.

The Race vehemently protested post-9/11 homeland security measures and joined a failed lawsuit to block immigration information-sharing between the feds and local police. The group also has called for TV and cable news networks to keep immigration enforcement proponents (including yours truly) off the airwaves, in addition to pushing for Fairness Doctrine policies to shut up their foes.

Most recently, The Race and other open-borders groups pressured the White House to deliver the DREAM Act illegal alien student bailout by executive fiat — after it was defeated repeatedly by bipartisan majorities on Capitol Hill. Obama started issuing the amnesty waivers last August. This week, the White House announced an even wider expansion of waiver status to illegal aliens claiming “hardship.”

Who has benefited from Munoz’s Beltway lobbying? No, not the American middle class. The biggest beneficiary has been La Raza’s coffers. According to analysts at nonpartisan Judicial Watch in Washington, The Race raked in $4.1 million in federal subsidies in 2009 and more than $11 million in 2010. Much of that money came straight from the Obama stimulus boondoggle, and much of it went to mortgage counseling.

As a result of “strategic partnerships” with Wachovia and Bank of America, The Race has succeeded in lowering mortgage application requirements and watering down documentation standards. Illegal aliens have secured countless federal and private home loans over the past decade thanks to the lending industry’s version of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

In addition, Munoz’s group collected a $1 million Democratic earmark that funded “community development” projects. And the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services kicked in $25,000 to co-sponsor the group’s annual conference in 2010.

Munoz’s multi-culti armor has shielded her radical lobbying from scrutiny. You’ll recall that the Obama administration made a lofty vow to end lobbyist conflicts-of-interest as we know them.

What do you call a president who says that if Congress doesn’t approve what he wants he will do it anyway? You got to hand it to Obama. He clearly violates the Constitution and he revels in it. From The Hill newspaper:

Two days after defying Republicans and appointing Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, President Obama visited the new agency to take a little time to gloat.

Making a victory lap of sorts at the independent agency, Obama cracked a joke, telling employees that he came by to help their new director move in. . . .

The trip to the agency came just two days after Obama made the surprise decision to appoint Cordray to the agency while Congress was on recess.

Republicans have been running pro forma sessions to prevent such an appointment, and they expressed outrage Wednesday over Obama’s decision.

The president, who has made it clear he plans to run against Congress as he maps out a path to reelection, showed Friday that he is interested in keeping the story alive with a visit that seemed to poke at Republicans. . . .

“When Congress refuses to act, and as a result hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them,” he said.

“I’ve got an obligation to act on behalf of the American people. And I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people we were elected to serve. Not with so much at stake, not at this make-or-break moment for the middle class.” . . .

Something that should be embarrassing for the Obama administration but which isn’t getting news coverage:

The two Democrats that President Barack Obama appointed to the National Labor Relations Board during what he considered a congressional “recess” are not on the White House’s official list of Obama’s appointments and nominations for various positions.

Obama referred his two Democratic nominees, Sharon Block and Richard Griffin, to the Senate on Dec. 15. The Senate adjourned for the year – but did not go into an official recess — on the following day.

WhiteHouse.gov tracks the status of all of Obama’s appointments and nominations. Block and Griffin do not appear on that list — a sign that the administration rushed the recess appointments through too quickly for the Senate to even consider them.

“It’s hard to argue that the Senate was obstructing these Democratic nominees when they don’t even appear on the administration’s own list of nominations and appointments,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce labor policy specialist Glenn Spencer told The Daily Caller. . . .

There is a problem that the Obama administration faces.

Article. II. Section. 2. Clause 3: The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.

The problem is that these vacancies did not arise during the recess. The Senate apparently did not agree with the president that these vacancies constituted an emergency that had to be instantly taken care of. The Senate and not the president also has the power to determine when they are in session.

A normally fast confirmation for an Obama nominee is being held up by a fellow Democrat. From the NY Times:

When a Democratic president nominates a federal judge from a state with two Democratic senators — and the Senate itself is controlled by Democrats — a speedy confirmation hearing typically follows.

But in an unusual case of intraparty defiance, Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey is holding up President Obama’s nomination of a judge to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the only time a Democrat has tried to block one of Mr. Obama’s judicial nominees.

Mr. Menendez would not comment. But the nominee, Patty Shwartz, has been in a relationship for more than two decades with the head of the public corruption unit for New Jersey’s federal prosecutor. And that unit investigated the senator during his 2006 election fight, an inquiry Mr. Menendez has long contended was politically motivated. . . . .

But the connection has led lawyers and judges in the state to speculate that Mr. Menendez is acting out of resentment, rather than any concern about Judge Shwartz’s qualifications. . . . .