Ray Hanania Online -- Hillary Clinton's Iran nuclear option obliterates reason

 

Hillary Clinton's Iran nuclear option obliterates reason
By RAY HANANIA
I think I actually now prefer a president who can't properly pronounce the word "nuclear" over someone who keeps using it like the theme in a "Get Out the Vote" election strategy.
Hillary Clinton said she would "obliterate" Iran if the Persian nation were to use a nuclear weapon against Israel.
My guess is Israel can take care of itself. But vowing to "obliterate" Iran sure doesn't hurt when you face the very likely possibility that the only way to win the Democratic Party nomination is to steal it.
Clinton clearly believes she can broaden her support among Jewish voters by pandering to them, and by throwing a Barry Goldwater mushroom cloud to Republicans who think John McCain isn't quite fanatic enough.
I had to look up the word "obliterate" just to make sure I knew exactly what she meant.
It has several meanings, according to the dictionary I am sure Hillary is using, Merriam-Webster. It has a long history of applying racist definitions to Persian-looking and other Middle Easterners.
The M-W says "obliterate" means: "1a -- to remove utterly from recognition or memory; 1b -- to remove from existence, destroy utterly all trace, indication, or significance; 1c -- to cause to disappear (as a bodily part or a scar) or collapse (as a duct conveying body fluid), to remove like a "blood vessel" obliterated by inflammation; or, 2 -- to make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or wearing away; or, 3 -- cancel."
I think Hillary means Option "1B," to remove from existence, destroy utterly all trace, indication or significance.
Of course, I could never read the precise style of a dictionary definition. M-W defines an "Arab" as a "vagabond," too.
The United Nations tried definition "2" on Saddam Hussein, but before they could wear away the dictator's power, President Bush, who pronounces "nuclear" as "nuke-a-ler," tried "1b" too.
That's how we got into this Iraq thing, which is a war but technically isn't a real war by Constitutional definition, I suppose, which is a conflict that has been going on for 4  and one-half years beyond the date in which we were told we had "prevailed."
Frankly, I'd prefer to apply "1b" to the Iraq War. I just want to make it go away at this point. We can't win. And I don't see how bombing Iran will help us achieve what voters have clearly asked the next president to do: Get us out of Iraq.
But to "obliterate" Iran gets Americans into a potential conflict that has a certainty of allowing them to prevail in a real way, as opposed to the White House "spin" way.
Hey. Can't get us out of Iraq. Obliterate Iran. It makes sense. Certainly more sense than even the lies we were spoon fed about Iraq in the first place.
"Obliterate" Iran and we don't have to worry about Osama Bin Laden. Rising oil prices. The collapsing home mortgage market. The recession. What to do when social security runs out?
Maybe Hillary didn't mean "obliterate."
I mean, we can give Hillary, a First Lady who couldn't remember whether or not the Serbs were firing bullets at her as she was running or walking from the helicopter during a tour of Kosovo, a little slack, don't you think?
Maybe she meant to say, "obligate," as in "We need to obligate Iran to adhere to international weapons treaties so they don't threaten to fire weapons at Israel."
Which is a good point since Iran's off-kilter President Ahmadinejad hasn't really threatened to nuke Israel.
Chances are even before Iran's nuclear plants even get close to being weapons-grade facilities, Israel, using American-made fighter jets and bombs, will probably render the nuclear centers useless.
Is Hillary trying to disparage Israel, by chance? Maybe she is trying to act the way a man acts when someone suggests that a "woman" might fight their battle for them.
This could be a maybe too sophisticated strategy to appeal to male voters. You know. The "I don't need my wife to fight my battles for me because I am a man."
Maybe Hillary meant to use the term "obfuscate" rather than "obliterate," which would make sense since she clearly has no idea how to handle foreign policy.
If the strategy of fiery rhetoric doesn't bump up the polls the way she hopes, she can always fall back on her "get out of trouble" card again, and use the "dumb blond routine."
It worked with the Kosovo bullets raining down on her head, her decision to stick it out with Bill despite his embarrassing infidelity, and the last time her polls started to slip.

Ray Hanania Online -- Hillary Clinton's Iran nuclear option obliterates reason