Obama's Getting Flicked

Flick!
When I was a kid in grammar school, one of the indications of personal status in the pecking order was whether one was a 'flicker', or 'flickee'.  Flicking is the process of snapping either the pointer or middle finger on the most prominent part of another's ear.  It's application although not painful, depending on circumstances, can be shocking, annoying, or embarrassing to the one being 'flicked'.  If you were flicked, you either had to retaliate in some way - preferably in an highly escalated way, or you would be subject to ever increasing personal jabs, pokes, punches, or some higher order of humiliations and painful personal experiences throughout the course of your school experience.

It apparent that the Obama Administration is being 'flicked' by a number of entities globally, testing his astuteness and resolve on some very specific issues.

Russia, very early on has 'flicked' Obama on asserting it's hegemony over the former Soviet satellites; it's assertion of claims on presumed oil-rich Arctic seabed territory; and it's support of Iran's nuclear capability development by selling them tools an services.  China 'flicked' President Obama yesterday by harassing the U.S. Navel research vessel USNS Impeccable.  Interestingly, this comes immediately on the heels of Sec.of State Clinton's visit, during which she indicated the Obama regime's diminished interest in supporting human rights suppression in China.  Iran's recent dismissal of Obama's overtures was a clear 'flick,' and some would say an even ruder gesture.

The escalation of attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq, although on a higher level and deadly, can also be viewed as 'flicks' by the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Without appropriate response to these 'flicks', we can expect that the Russians, Chinese, Taliban, and Al Qaeda will progressively turn up their tests of President Obama's resolve and willingness to absorb offensive acts against the interests of the U.S.  And just as in the school yard, if the 'flickee' does not react with appropriate force, not only will the abuses increase in intensity and frequency, but those who were once thought of as friends and allies will join in the 'flicking' process.  After the abysmal lack of appropriate courtesy and protocol shown to P.M. Brown and therefor the UK during his visit last week, it will be interesting to gauge their posture towards the US as these acts of testing Obama increase, as they will inevitably do.