The other day, I awoke, sipped coffee and in my drowsy state, checked Twitter and saw the initial news reports of the terrorist attack in Brussels. I padded downstairs to retrieve the morning paper, unfolded it and saw this photo of Barack and Raul splashed across the front page.
Similarly, another photo of Obama standing at attention directly under a wall mural of Che Guevara was circulating. As I noted in my earlier post "Words and Symbols," symbols matter greatly, in my view. Symbolism was not lost on Obama when Nikki Haley and the rest of the country after the church shooting in South Carolina as we went into hysteria over the Confederate. Amidst great fanfare, the Confederate flag was removed from the state capitol and schools municipalities removed statues of Confederate generals and war heroes. Yet somehow, the symbol of the leader of the Free World standing under Che eluded Team Obama.
I wish I could find a word to describe, "Way Beyond Tone Deaf."
But he was not finished. Later, as the body count in Brussels rose, and we learned that Americans were among the injured and missing, did Obama cut short his visit and meet with his national security team and confer with European allies? Nope. We later saw him doing the wave at a baseball game with Communist thug, Raul Castro, unaffected by events that sent Europe reeling, breezily laughing and joking with the leader of the regime that almost started a nuclear holocaust, and just hours earlier jailed dissidents and forcibly removed the courageous "Ladies in White."
And another juxtaposition that caught my attention was the scene of the nuns of the Little Sisters of the Poor at the Supreme Court steps fighting for religious liberty as they took the Obama Administration to court over the birth control mandate of the ACA. With fines totaling $70 million hanging over the charity's head, it is clear that the Obama administration may not have a clear strategy to fight ISIS, but it does have one to fight the Little Sisters of the Poor.
Of course, not to be outdone, the Republican candidates had their own overlays. The day before the Brussels attacks, Donald Trump announced that we should get out NATO and that we should consider using tactical nuclear weapons against ISIS. It's hard to imagine two worse options to exercise. Nukes are not terribly effective at defeating surreptitious guerrilla wars. And we should be leading and strengthening NATO, not pulling out. Ted Cruz was not doing much better a few weeks ago, advocating carpet bombing to defeat ISIS. Meanwhile, the leading Republican candidates were making unseemly and nasty comments about each other's wives in an exchange more appropriate to the Jerry Springer Show than a contest for the leadership of the free world.
While reports surfaced that 400 ISIS fighters have been dispatched to Europe, Obama was smiling and doing the tango in Argentina. In ordinary times, the photos of a U.S. president would be of him looking pensively across the table at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, peppering him with questions about his ISIS Action Plan. Not this president. Instead, he casually announced that, "ISIS was on the top of his priority list (details to follow)," but then followed up quickly with his statement that "ISIS is not an existential threat" to the U.S. Apparently, Cuba has been removed from the "state sponsors of terrorism," list and the entire European continent has been removed from the "vital to Western Civilization" list. The President promptly returned to cha-cha-cha-ing and telling the Argentinians that Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism are basically co-equals and that they should "chose what works." Oh, and he didn't fail to issue the obligatory apology for America's past sins toward Argentina.
While reports surfaced that 400 ISIS fighters have been dispatched to Europe, Obama was smiling and doing the tango in Argentina. In ordinary times, the photos of a U.S. president would be of him looking pensively across the table at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, peppering him with questions about his ISIS Action Plan. Not this president. Instead, he casually announced that, "ISIS was on the top of his priority list (details to follow)," but then followed up quickly with his statement that "ISIS is not an existential threat" to the U.S. Apparently, Cuba has been removed from the "state sponsors of terrorism," list and the entire European continent has been removed from the "vital to Western Civilization" list. The President promptly returned to cha-cha-cha-ing and telling the Argentinians that Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism are basically co-equals and that they should "chose what works." Oh, and he didn't fail to issue the obligatory apology for America's past sins toward Argentina.
But, wait, there's more. Today, it was announced that 7 Iranians were indicted for hacking into U.S. banks, only a day after it was reported that the Obama administration is in secret negotiations with Iran for the release of another $2 billion to them. The Iranians haven't yet caught on to the fact that with this administration, you don't have to do computer espionage to get money--just make them a lot of false promises of things you say you will do in the future and they will GIVE it to you.
In summary, with the world in chaos, the Obama administration's reaction was to make a perfunctory statement about the attack and on the West tell the world that "if people's lives get interrupted, the terrorists win." He evidently missed the nuance that HIS life is SUPPOSED to be interrupted so that the rest of us can feel safe enough to go on with ours. The Republicans, on the other hand, expressed a desire to either nuke or carpet bomb them, which is sure to win the hearts and minds of moderate Muslims world over.
John Kerry chimed in, too, this week, stating that the "presidential campaign has been an embarrassment for the U.S." This is the same John Kerry who, when informed that a former Gitmo prisoner was engaged in terrorist activity, said, "He's not supposed to be doing that." And the same John Kerry that thanked Iran for returning our captured sailors that they held at gunpoint and videotaped for worldwide propaganda distribution. John Kerry is somewhat an authority on embarrassing the U.S.
And if that isn't enough, while Obama was cavorting with one Communist dictator, the other one was vying for his attention as Kim Jong-un spent the week firing off missiles, showing off a miniature warhead and threatening to launch a first strike against the U.S. This is the other regime that a Democrat negotiated a nonproliferation agreement with, as you will recall. So, if we follow Obama logic---that 60 years of isolation isn't working and we should unilaterally change course, we would expect a delegation from the U.S. to visit Pyongyang, profusely apologize for the imperialist aggression of General MacArthur, drop the embargo, and bring Dennis Rodman with to accompany Dear Leader to a basketball game. After all, whatever we are doing isn't working.
This was probably the worst week in foreign affairs that I remember in the past 40 years. The once proud and strong America of Ronald Reagan and George Shultz has turned into the Keystone Kops. I recall the tensions over the shootdown of KAL 007 by the Soviets. If that had occurred with this team in charge, you can bet Obama would not have canceled his tee time and Kerry would have mumbled meekly, "They're not supposed to do that."
John Kerry chimed in, too, this week, stating that the "presidential campaign has been an embarrassment for the U.S." This is the same John Kerry who, when informed that a former Gitmo prisoner was engaged in terrorist activity, said, "He's not supposed to be doing that." And the same John Kerry that thanked Iran for returning our captured sailors that they held at gunpoint and videotaped for worldwide propaganda distribution. John Kerry is somewhat an authority on embarrassing the U.S.
And if that isn't enough, while Obama was cavorting with one Communist dictator, the other one was vying for his attention as Kim Jong-un spent the week firing off missiles, showing off a miniature warhead and threatening to launch a first strike against the U.S. This is the other regime that a Democrat negotiated a nonproliferation agreement with, as you will recall. So, if we follow Obama logic---that 60 years of isolation isn't working and we should unilaterally change course, we would expect a delegation from the U.S. to visit Pyongyang, profusely apologize for the imperialist aggression of General MacArthur, drop the embargo, and bring Dennis Rodman with to accompany Dear Leader to a basketball game. After all, whatever we are doing isn't working.
This was probably the worst week in foreign affairs that I remember in the past 40 years. The once proud and strong America of Ronald Reagan and George Shultz has turned into the Keystone Kops. I recall the tensions over the shootdown of KAL 007 by the Soviets. If that had occurred with this team in charge, you can bet Obama would not have canceled his tee time and Kerry would have mumbled meekly, "They're not supposed to do that."
These are dark days for the West and I do not see anyone in the field of candidates right now that I am confident will put us on a saner path.
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