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

[EyeRag]

Now that Kissinger has in effect endorsed Obama's foreign policy, can we expect to see fewer "Change We Can Believe In" bumper stickers?

Is it possible that the large number of civilian deaths in the AfPak "good war" might have a similar effect?

One can only dream..

[americanalien]

President Obama is easily the smartest President we've ever had. We have a genius in the White House. He continue to outwit his enemies. He is so good, he makes them look less than fools.

[RustyGranite]

Yet, as adversaries fall one by one...people just don't seem to grasp this.

[jinjinpinti]

Obama 1. Sarah Moosestew 0.

[RuinedSaint]

"He continue to outwit his enemies."

Foreign and domestic.

[meritocracy]

I love Obama, but trying to hierachically categorize the presidents by intellect is a fool's errand. We have had many brilliant men hold the office, and others perhaps less gifted intellectually. We should be thankful now that we once again have a leader who values thoughtfulness and restraint where it is prudent.

[KLordsha]

Much better than his predecessor who would have been playing Go Fish....wait that's too hard. Connect 1. Bush would have been playing Connect 1.

[JT16682]

Are you sure? Probably LEGO...?

[OceanSize]

Hey , don't dis LEGO. LEGO requires you to understand somewhat technical manuals. As soon as Bush realizes there's some concentration required, he loses interest.

[mathme]

Connect 1 but the release door at the bottom has been broken off.

[Collielady]

And he keeps trying to fill the rows.

[dc2nm]

52 pick-up (but left before the game was over)

[Collielady]

He said, "I hire people to pick things up."

[OceanSize]

You guys are all being too generous. Tic Tac Toe.

[Ouroboros]

This perverse walrus again? Aren't there any other bloated war criminals out there with an opinion worth sharing?

[Chace Haynes]

Obama continues to play chess on a checkerboard. Over strategizing when he should just take the jumps in front of him...and it is almost too lat for him

[Chace Haynes]

ofcourse lat=late

[Ouroboros]

Maybe he should act more like it's dodge ball or perhaps water polo or connect four.

[Chace Haynes]

I just wish he would connect-the-dots!

[RustyGranite]

Name one world issue that's "checkers" in 2009?

[Chace Haynes]

you must have missed my point, because your question makes no sense. Sorry, for I would have answered.

[labman57]

If it were McCain/Palin calling the shots, they would have kicked over the chessboard in a fit of anger, put a bullet between the eyes of their opponent, and then sheepishly noted, "Oops....was it my move?"

[Steve Magruder]

Can you give us an example of an issue where taking an obvious forward step would be the best political move?

[Chace Haynes]

Ending All wars...Suspending DODT.. Ending mountaintop removal.. Breaking up the criminal banking industry. Spending $$$on mass transit...education...Single-payer healthcare (to name a few)

[mummbleswers]

It's true, even throughout the campaign everybody second guessed him until they could see the results play out. Obama himself told reporters he understands they are on a 24 hr. news cycle while he's not - the man is playing chess while the commentators are playing checkers. That goes for the liberals who still aren't happy after 6 months also.

[flamflurm]

Uh, that would be f00l's mate...

[gemswinc]

I've noticed that too, what tends to be seen as Obama not being agressive or assertive enough, is really quiet gamesmanship..I think he is more. Machiavellian than we realize..

[OceanSize]

I agree 100%. Americans have always been much better at football than chess; I'm glad we've got a chess player in charge of foreign policy instead of a linebacker. We need someone who is capable of calm, sober analysis...not someone who just runs at the enemy and tries to knock them over while grunting.

[SantaFeConservative]

Obama is playing 3 card monte ... and the Russians are the dealer.

[nolocontendre]

So...as we draw down to something between 1650 and 1500 warheads apiece, you're worried about what...exactly?

And the Russkies sure got over on us when they allowed US military equipment to be transported over and across their territory...that really stung.

[ciarequital]

Well I agree with you, but in a way, the Russians are only too happy to watch us getting more deeply mired in Afghanistan. They've been there and done that and know what the outcome will be.

[in4success]

and you are not playing with a full deck.

[IntelligenceQuantifier]

Well put.

[RustyGranite]

lol

[mtracy9]

Many still try to portray Kissinger as some kind of foreign policy genius. In fact, looking at Kissinger's biography, one can see mostly failure. Kissinger persuaded Nixon to bomb Cambodia, which ended in failure and the rise of the Khmer Rouge. Kissinger cozied-up to the Shah of Iran, ignoring the police-state repression of the Iranian people, which lead directly to the Iranian revolution and the sorry state of affairs in Iran today.

[nolocontendre]

...and you could go on and on, but that's a good start.

[alabaman]

I guess you know that "Dr Strangelove" was supposed to be based on Kissinger, or so I've heard..

[noen]

You are assuming Kissinger wanted to win in Vietnam. You're assuming rise of the Khmer Rouge wasn't exactly what the CIA wanted. And you're assuming Kissinger gave a crap about the police-state repression of the Iranian people.

If you don't know what his real objectives were how do you know he failed to achieve them?

[mtracy9]

The fact that the U.S. lost the war in Vietnam has caused many embittered vets of the war to come up with their own pet conspiracy theories.

[BCLance]

thank you. So true. even judging him using his own immoral agenda, Kissinger falls far short of success.

[WindySailor]

And President Obama's critics haven't learned to play checkers yet. He has them tied in knots.

[hulagirrrl]

ha ha ha very funny

[in4success]

i'll say it again: smartest person in the room...ALWAYS -- and ten moves ahead of everyone.

[sloreader]

HE'S GOT GAME... you said it.

[doublethink]

Picture America as a Huge corporation. The president is the "boss" but there is a Board member committee who pulls the strings. Henry Kissinger is on the board with a few others and they no how to control the puppet well. I wish we could vote or change the board but that would just be fantasy. It couldn't be soon enough for the likes of HK takes a trip south to meet his maker.

[plages]

Well then, "Check, and Mate!"

[RJII]

I think people on the left and right still aren't use to Obama's style of politics. He said he wanted the change the way politics runs in DC, not blue, not red, but purple. I'm a liberal indie who is happy so far, patient and watching with fascination. Too bad we will be cleaning up Bush mess for years.

[nolocontendre]

...he's been in office six months...I've seen things that trouble me and things I applaud...but I'm more than willing to let him get his feet under him before I start complaining.

It's a big job made nearly impossible by the irresponsibility of his predecessor...never understood why anyone ran for the office in '08.

[1088]

Spot on! But I do thank G od that it's Obama we have in the White House, and not McFool and Quitter Palin. Can you imagine?

[3rdCitizen]

I totally agree. Despite some of my disappointments & concerns thus far, I'm willing to give him at least a year before I try to take a measure of his presidency. Meanwhile, this past weekend, I was surprised by how moved I was watching an Independence Day celebration &, for the first time in years, not being ashamed of my country's president!

[Mugzi]

Same here! I know he kept us from going over the cliff and for that I am eternally grateful!

[Chace Haynes]

What are you talking about? WE ARE OFF THE CLIFF! Are you really watching? American imperialism is expanding. Unemployment is over 10%, and he has reversed course on virtually every policy he campaigned on.

[IDIOTA]

Excellent questions and answers. Obama is no Woodrow Wilson, and thank God for that! The chess metaphor was mixed with card-playing, so it failed.

[NYC80]

No he is not woodrow Wilson, but he works for the International bankers Rotschilds, rockefellers). Now he wants to give more power to the federal reserve which is a private bank owned by the people mentioned above.

[anothervoice]

Got sources for that little pearl of enlightenment?