Bush, Obama and Political Good Cop Bad Cop.

Tweet

Prs. Obama has scheduled an interview with Arab TV, which has his detractors making accusations and his supporters becoming anything from unquestioningly supportive to scratching their heads and trying to make excuses. I have a different take on it. Hold on to your black helicopters, but I have to wonder something about Prs. Obama and his "kinder gentler" approach to the war on terror. I don't know if it's what he is really doing, but if it is, I'm gaining a whole new respect for him. We already know that one of Prs. Obama's better qualities is the ability to play to an audience. But so far we've only seen that in practice on the campaign trail. We have only seen him action in that one type of situation. However, as most of us know, when we have a gift, it usually comes in handy in a variety of situations. Like all other presidents (which the exception of George Washington), Prs. Obama has to work with what was handed to him by the previous administration. It doesn't matter if the new president wants what is handed to him or not, it comes with having your butt in the big chair in the oval office. One of the things that Prs. Bush handed over to Prs. Obama is Bush's reputation in the Arab and Muslim world. Whether it's true or not, Prs. Bush was percieved as Anti Arab, and Anti Muslim. Good Cop Bad Cop is a tactic often used by police departments while interrogating a suspect of a crime. It is also commonly used when interrogating POWs to get them to talk. The one playing "Bad Cop" comes in with heavy handed talk and actions that scare the ever-lovin' out of the one being interrogated. The "bad cop" finds a reason to leave and storms out the door. Then the "Good Cop" comes in and pretty much bad mouths the "Bad cop" talking about how he's gone rogue, or is under investigation himself. He then turns his attention to convincing the suspect that "good cop" is on his side and if they can just work together, then the "good cop" can protect him from "bad cop". By reaching out to the Arab and Muslim world, Prs. Obama has a great opportunity to play "good cop" here. He can convince them that the days of "cowboy diplomacy" are over, and he isn't as quick to "find a terrorist under every turban". It doesn't matter if any of it is true or not, it only matters what Prs. Obama's audience comes to the table believing about Bush. So far, Al Qaeda and the Taliban have pretty much controlled the propaganda debate. They have played on the incompetent press, the American left, and the perceived Anti Bush sentiment in the world, and played it well. If Prs. Obama can use that as a weapon against the terrorists, then he can turn the tables in the propaganda front as efficiently as Gates and Gen. Patreaus turned the tables on the terrorists in Iraq. I've written about how the propaganda front is an important part of any war effort before. The left and the incompetent press would have rather died that to a have allowed Prs. Bush any success at all, much less in the propaganda front of the war on terror. Now that Prs. Obama is in office though, the incompetent press will be more than happy to help Obama succeed any way they can. This means that whatever Obama does in the "good cop" department, the incompetent press isn't going to get in the way... in fact, with any luck, they will be as happy to comply as they have been with Al Qaeda. There is no way of knowing if this is what Prs. Obama is up to. It's not like Obama (or anyone close to him) is going to come out and say this if it is true. But if it has any truth to it at all... BRAVO OBAMA!