Kissinger: "Obama Is Like A Chess Player"

In a long interview with Germany's Der Spiegel, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger compared President Obama to a chess player making an opening move.

SPIEGEL: Do you think it was helpful for Obama to deliver a speech to the Islamic world in Cairo? Or has he created a lot of illusions about what politics can deliver?

Kissinger: Obama is like a chess player who is playing simultaneous chess and has opened his game with an unusual opening. Now he's got to play his hand as he plays his various counterparts. We haven't gotten beyond the opening game move yet. I have no quarrel with the opening move.

Read the whole interview here.

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Comments

[DrJulienArbor]

Does this sound like a game to you?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkPvzSZRuDo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZPRKJzgkHA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_sMsCpNt4c

[JC1c1]

Bush played Clue!

It was Saddam with the WMDs in Bagdad.

Hey I said he played it, I didnt say he was any good at it.

[JC1c1]

Baghdad*

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

George Bush was never a thinker but he sure was a doer, A doer of nothing.

[5150]

Kissinger says Obama is making the first move and allowing for transpositions without tipping his plans or making mistakes.

[MikeInMaine]

Why is this monster still the "darling" of talking heads. He belongs in only one public forum -- along with McNamara -- a parade of history's most despicable miscreants. May God forgive him. May the souls of the millions who died because of him -- in southeast Asia and in Latin America -- rest in peace.

[NoElephants]

McNamara also came out against the Vietnam war (which he started) and also came out against the Iraq war. He realized that it was pointless and stupid, and tried to stop it. Better to try and right a wrong than not at all.

[farmgirl10]

You are so right.

[cozen]

What is the real relationship between Kiss and O? Is it same as Kiss and B?

[anandarew]

Obama's mom, Ann Dunham Soetoro, worked with Peter Geithner (Timmy's dad) in Indonesia. Timothy Geithner's first job was with Kissinger and associates. That's the least degrees of separation I can reckon.

[takeyourballandgohome]

Kiss runs the GOP, always has and will until he dies....go Israel.

[openhand]

Kissinger backed Palin McCain.
Weeks before the election he agreed with Obama, against Bush, that the U.S. should have formal talks with Iran.
He seems to be one of the few in the GOP who knows that the Earth revolves around the Sun, although he should be in jail for war crimes.

[OKSunny]

I have to agree with Kissinger: He seems to take the back road to get things done; he makes his critics think he has no clue while all the while setting himself up for victory.
I believe that the California Courts also did this when they allowed the gay couples that had already been married to stay married, but agreed with the people that their vote (prop 8) still stood. When this goes to the Supreme Court (it will) there is no way that it is going to be found constitutional that some CA gay couples are allowed to be married and some are not. It is just a matter of time. Now gay marriages are going to be recognized in DC! He might be slow, but he's methodical and unobvious to his critics when getting his agenda in place. Very smart and kinda sneaky; just glad he is on our side! The real "RIGHT" (i.e. correct) side

[CrustAlmighty]

Those married gays take the back road to get things done too.

Sorry...I had to.

[Janet Barnes]

My eight year old nephew is a chess player.

Not a very good one.

I promise him ice cream and he likes me. Sound familiar?

[johnr49]

No, please enlighten us.

[PCMinistry]

Um..no that doesn't sound entirely familiar...maybe if your comment was on one of the Michael Jackson stories...otherwise you'll have to expand your metaphor.

[jmc42]

Kissinger is right. He and others are guiding the pieces on the board and Obama just happens
to be a pawn.

[Chad53916]

Aluminum foil cap a litle tight?

[ruddie]

LOL

[dadd]

...who's playing checkers.

[LetMeUnderstandThis]

The Rethuglicans!

[ctman47]

And the GOP are marbles players who have lost all their marbles.

[biabouman41]

I have got to say Kissinger is right. How many times have I said: 'he has lost, can't win this" and then he comes out the winner. That is the nature of a chess player. Not a one play bluff. But a multi play strategy.

[cannondaddy]

Bush was like a chess player. A really bad chess player.

[lvdragonlady]

More like checkers or tic tac toe.

[Waubay]

Chutes and Ladders is more his level.

[larstein]

Rock, paper, scissors.

[exmate]

In fact, Obama is quite a good poker player. He reads his opponents well. He rarely bluffs himself. Knows when to hold, knows when to fold, knows when to walk away, knows when to run. He usually ends up the winner at the end of the evening.

Thank God that we did not end up with a compusive crap shooter like McCain who spends 14 vhours at a time at craps table sometimes needing his wife to pay off his gambling debts.

[cozen]

since when, dosen't he only know to fold?

[johnr49]

Simple answer to your question: No.

[PCMinistry]

Simple answer to your question without really citing any examples or really putting any thought into it whatsoever other than the inner need to defend my "side" of the political divide: No.

[jesselee26]

i believe you're thinking of palin

[aOsO]

Looks like Kissinger's been reading the blogs. I've been calling Obama a chess player for three years now.

[ICanHasDemocracy]

He's a player all right. Bush was a checkers fan- always wanting to go for the "King me" move. Obama knows the value of his pieces.