Remembering the Obama-Russia Reset Button

In early 2009, the Obama Administration, with much giddy showboating, boasted how they were pressing a bright red “reset button” with Russia.  Although not directly condemning George Bush, they strongly implied that his mishandling of Putin et al had caused the USA to miss an alleged opportunity to develop American-Russian collaboration that would make both countries and the world better places.

From the outset, the gesture was laughable.  ABC.net documented the absurdity of the attempt on March 9, 2009 as follows:

Russian media have poked fun at US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she gave her Russian counterpart a "reset" button with an ironic misspelling.

Ms Clinton's gift to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at their meeting in Geneva on Friday evening was meant to underscore the Obama administration's readiness "to press the reset button" in ties with Moscow.

But instead of the Russian word for "reset" (perezagruzka) it featured a slightly different word, meaning "overload" or "overcharged" (peregruzka).

Daily newspaper Kommersant put a prominent picture of the fake red button on its front page and declared: "Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton pushed the wrong button."

For once the Russian media had gotten it right, laying bare the sophomoric attention-seeking antics of Obama and his not so merry men and women.  The gang thought that the red button would be perceived in our country and throughout the world as dramatically symbolizing the “I’m not George Bush” philosophy that served as the basis for Obama’s intended remake of America.  Instead, the red button fiasco presaged a wagon train-long line of policy blunders.  Barack Obama proved one thing:  neither a president nor an administration can fashion a personality or practices that depend on not-being someone or something.  (Psychologists call that “negative identity” and it is negative in every sense of the world, the kind of identity adopted by many charlatans, crooks, and other criminals.)  

Since 2009 we have seen the results of the myopic not-George Bush governmental policies, especially as revealed in our interactions with Russia.  Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have empowered Vladimir Putin’s interminable anti-USA sniping and undermining.  On February 6 of this year, the Goggle search “2012 Russia condemns USA” produced 31,700, 000 results, including items illustrating negative Russian remarks and actions regarding  our country pertaining to Libya, Israel, Cuba, international law, violations, spying, and a host of others.

The Russian refusal to sanction Syria is only the latest of that country’s failure to cooperate with the USA, albeit the most inhumane one.  CNN reported that the United States, France, and the United Kingdom “were furious” with Russia for its February 5, 2012 veto.  The article noted that American Ambassador Susan Rice told their reporter, "Those that have blocked potentially the last effort to resolve this peacefully ... will have any future blood spill on their hands.  The people of Syria have yet again been abandoned by this Council and by the international community."  On February 6, Reuters quoted Rice as having used the word “disgusting” to describe Russia’s veto and its implications.

Syrian people lie dead in the streets because, having seen that Barack Obama supported the Libyans, they erroneously expected that our President would lead Russia, China, and the free world in supporting their rebellion as well.  

Susan Rice’s comments explain, then, why the Obama-Russia reset button had been colored blood red.