The Narrative

We are a little more than a week away from a historic election-- one in which we will choose between a European social democracy or a more free market oriented system.

This blog has been critical of President Obama, mainly for his disdain for business, the capitalist system, and individual liberty.  No statement by Obama encapsulates that more than his infamous, "You didn't build that."  He consistently derides wealth creation with comments like, "After a certain point, you've made enough money."

But even more distressing is his penchant for creating narratives that don't fit the facts.  He did this early on in his presidency when he jumped to the conclusion that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly" when they dealt with Henry Louis Gates.  Gates had a hissy fit while the police officer ascertained his identification when he tried to gain entrance to his own home.  Obama jumped to the conclusion that the Cambridge police were engaged in racial profiling when in fact they were simply following protocol.  Obama cooled the matter with his silly "beer summit," but the damage had been done.  Obama had invented a story.

Likewise, during the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Obama ascribed its root causes to the vitriol of the political discourse.  The left wing media landed on this immediately and began to blame Sarah Palin for putting out ads with districts with bullseyes on them.  It turned out that the political discourse had nothing whatsoever to do with the shooting of Giffords.  It was simply a single mentally ill individual with no political motive.  Again, Obama takes facts and makes up a story to try to fit his agenda.

But now his yarn spinning has taken a deadly serious turn.  For weeks after the attack on our embassy in Libya, his administration tried to peddle the story that the murder of our ambassador and three other Americans was a consequence of a mob protesting an anti-Muslim film that got out of hand.  Susan Rice, Hillary Clinton, and Obama himself railed for weeks afterward that this film was disgusting and in concert, they clearly tried t o mislead the American people.  The facts now show that there was no "mob" and we knew early on that this was a terrorist attack.

Why did the administration falsely ascribe this attack to the film?  Because it fit the narrative.  The liberal script is that whenever there is aggression, it is America or Americans that are to blame.  It could not be that radical Islam is the aggressor.  We provoked them.  Is it any surprise that despite Obama's vows to bring the perpetrators to justice, the only person sitting in jail is the fool that made the film.

Taken together, these incidents tell us that Obama has a ready made view of the world that he attempts to mold facts to fit.   As we get closer to the election, I hope voters will taken these into account and decide that we want a commander in chief that deals with facts as they are, not as they would wish them to be.

The Questions I'd Like to Ask

Tomorrow night is the first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney.  The press won't do it, but here are the four questions I'd like to ask the President.

1.  President Obama,  our country's credit was downgraded for the first time in its history.  Your own bipartisan commission developed a very credible plan to put us on a healthier fiscal path.  Yet you elected to kick it to the curb and focus on health care instead during your first term.  Please explain.

2. We now know that Operation Fast and Furious resulted in the deaths of one border agent and 16 Mexican youths, yet Eric Holder is still employed by your administration.  Similarly, we now know that the Benghazi attack was a planned terrorist attack, and that was known at the time Susan Rice continued to assert that the assault was a spontaneous uprising caused by the film "Innocence of Muslims," yet she is still employed by your administration.  In each case, please explain your rationale for keeping them in their current positions.

3. Mr. President, you issued an executive order stopping the deportation of illegal immigrants under certain conditions.  You also have assured defense contractors that they will not be subject to WARN Act penalties due to failure to give required 60 day notices arising out of sequestration.  Similarly, hundreds of organizations have been given waivers from Obamacare.  Does this administration intend to enforce some laws and not others?  If so, which laws are to be enforced and what is the basis for distinguishing?

4. In light of the intelligence failure in Libya, do you intend to revisit your policy of killing terrorists from the air instead of capturing and interrogating them, since it is difficult to obtain actionable intelligence from a smoking hole in the ground?

I'm sure I could come up with a few more, but I'd love to hear the answers to these.