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acquiescence to Islamic cultural pressures because it is driven, at base, by a conviction that self-preservation as a nonMuslim is itself offensive in a Muslim society. The fact is, Muslim societies across time and continents have forced non-Muslims to pay a tax, the jizya, to remain non-Muslims, and inflicted all manner of humiliations, physical and mental, upon them as a matter of Islamic law, or Shariah, for doing so. Where Islamic law is not officially in effect, Bat Ye’or explains, the de facto state of dhimmitude may still arise and flourish in the habitual appeasement of Islamic sensibilities to forestall the occasional violent eruption or attempt — the odd 9/11, 7/7 or thwarted Times Square bombing. The net effect of all this appeasement, this dhimmitude, is the creeping — galloping — incursions of Islamic law into non-Islamic institutions and societies. In Afghanistan, the same triggers are in place. We have an infidel army walking on eggs to placate, cajole and bribe an Islamic society into supporting what are, any way you cut them, infidel values and interests against those of the indigenous Islamic jihadist groups. To this end, Western military authorities now specifically ordain that the Quran must be revered (or else violence might ensue). They, in effect, require that Islamic customs on polygamy, on the sexual abuse

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JULY 29, 2011 of children, be tolerated (or else violence might ensue). The Danish cartoons, the Rev. Terry Jones, freedom of speech must be denounced by the highest Western military officials — by Gen. David Petraeus himself (or else violence might ensue). These capitulations on bedrock Western traditions of speech, conscience and human rights could occur only under a debased leadership, military and civilian. When the fear of giving offense to the local Islamic community (by shooting Taliban or wearing body armor) trumps self-preservation (by shooting Taliban or wearing body armor), we know the military’s dhimmitude is complete. What I am describing, of course, is the execution of COIN doctrine to win Afghan “trust,” also known as “hearts and minds.” As Brig. Gen. Steven Kwast put it in 2009: “Victory in this conflict is about winning the hearts and minds of the Afghan people and engendering their trust. When the Afghan people trust us and believe us when we tell them what we’re going to do, we will win this overnight.” Tell it to the Easter Bunny. Meanwhile, our troops pay the price and our military is dhimmified. Taking off troops’ body armor so as not to offend friendly Afghans? Are they kidding?

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began. When he emerged victorious — at least in the press and in some public opinion polls — his numbers began a slow climb. In March 1996, Clinton was at 52 percent approval. In June ‘96 he was at 58 percent. In August he hit 60 percent. And in November he was reelected. Of course, Gingrich and the Republicans were re-elected, too; pundits who describe the ‘95 to ’96 shutdowns as a disaster for the GOP often neglect to mention that. So in a narrowly political sense, both Clinton and the GOP won the shutdowns. The question now is whether Obama and his Republican adversaries might do the same after their current fight over the debt ceiling. In his drive for re-election, Clinton needed Republican help, not just as a foil but as a source of policy initiatives. For a man who announced “the era of big government is over,” Clinton had to be dragged kicking and

screaming toward both balanced budget legislation and welfare reform — now seen as key accomplishments of his presidency. Republicans did the dragging, and when Clinton moved the GOP’s way, his prospects improved. The public also found that it liked divided government. Republicans were elected in 1994 because voters wanted to place a check on Clinton. Republicans were elected in 2010 because voters wanted to place a check on Obama. With that check in place, Obama might find that if he, like Clinton, were to move the GOP’s way, his prospects might improve. Of course, there are plenty of reasons why it might not work. In November 1996, unemployment was 5.4 percent. It’s 9.2 percent now and is predicted to be at 8 percent or above in November ‘12. “The economic situation is so dramatically different,” says a Republican strategist who is skeptical of the Obama-GOP win-win scenario. “You have

anemic economic growth, you have unemployment that has been above 8 percent for more than 20 months, and you have a deficit that is more than a trillion dollars. Clinton had an economic strength that Obama doesn’t have.” In the end, Obama might be doomed whatever he does. But as his campaign aides have pointed out, he’s betting that voters will judge him on whether they feel he’s taking the economy in the right direction, not whether he has reached any particular point. It’s a pretty thin hope, but it might be a little more realistic if voters perceive him working with Republicans to go in that right direction. To many Republicans these days, Obama resembles Jimmy Carter more than Bill Clinton. Certainly Obama’s dour, eat-your-peas lecturing evokes the worst of Carter’s sanctimoniousness. But Obama’s popularity is nowhere near as low as Carter’s was at the same point

in their presidencies According to newly compiled figures from the Gallup organization, Obama’s average job approval in the most recent quarter — his 10th quarter in office — was 46.8 percent. Carter’s was an astonishing 31 percent. Obama is more in the range of Ronald Reagan (44.4 percent) and Clinton (49.3 percent) at that point in their presidencies. Both won re-election. As they seek to win the White House themselves, Republicans can only hope that Obama is not as savvy — or as flexible — as his predecessors. Byron York is chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner.

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