OBAMA: PUTTING THE “BULLY” BACK IN BULLY PULPIT. Chris Stirewalt comments from an email list: “Obama ratcheted up his aloof, icy thing to levels seen only with Israelis and Republicans, making a point of saying nothing nice about Karzai in his brief remarks. The protocol would have been to give a compliment sandwich – ‘While we are glad to see ongoing agricultural reforms, we continue to have concerns about you stealing our money and being incompetent. But again, good going on the pomegranates.’”