Bumble of the Day

Yesterday at the National Prayer Breakfast, our President bumbled it again when he said the following about religion:

“Unless we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

How very relevant (sarcasm intended) to reach back 1100 years to support today’s threat from Islamic terrorism. And, worse yet, to say it to a group comprised primarily of Evangelical Protestants – Priceless.

It’s going to be a long two years.

Denial and Obfuscation

We are in a war against Islamic terror. Yet, our Commander-in-Chief will not even say the words, “Islamic Terror.” We are told by our leader that the U.S. is doing strategic bombing of ISIS. Yet the sum total of this bombing amounts to less than a pinprick. Jordan is begging the U.S. for help in bombing ISIS, and we are not told that the UAE pulled out of ISIS bombing campaign in December. Worse yet, the UAE is referenced a month later as being actively involved in the bombing – which was not true. Yesterday the President had a gathering at the White House for Muslim leaders – all of which the White House staff refused to name. The President can meet with Muslim leaders, but he has already refused to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu when he addresses Congress next month. Iran’s leader has been quoted as saying that the U.S. is “begging” for an agreement on nuclear weapons.

Does anyone see a pattern here?

More Threats from ISIS

In a new video that has emerged from ISIS, President Obama is directly threatened as follows:

“Know, oh Obama, that will reach America,” says one of the fighters, clad in black and wearing a balaclava, in a translation from Arabic provided by MEMRI. “Know also that we will cut off your head in the White House, and transform America into a Muslim Province.”

The video also pledges to kill Japanese and Jordanian hostages if a hostage is not freed by Jordan. And they didn’t stop with all of these threats.

ISIS also makes the following threats against Europe:

“And this is my message to France and to its sister, Belgium,” he said. “We advise you that we will come to you with car bombs and explosive charges, and will cut off your heads.”

There was an online message issued today warning that a Jordanian pilot and a Japanese hostage had less than “24 hours to live.” They demanded that a woman held by Jordan, Sajida al-Rishawi, be freed in exchange for the Jordanian and Japanese hostages. Ms. Al-Rishawi previously admitted a role in the Amman hotels attack that killed 57 people and who is referred to by the Islamic State as a “sister of the Caliphate.”

ISIS released this message of Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto Jogo:

"I've been told [by ISIS] that this is my last message," the Japanese hostage says, adding that the only obstacle remaining for his release is the Jordanian government and that "time is now running very short!"

No immediate response has been made by the White House.

Shadow of Crisis

In President Obama’s State of the Union Speech, he said, “The shadow of crisis has passed” largely due to his “leading from behind” diplomacy. If that is so, then why is Syria in the middle of a coup? Wasn’t Yemen one of Obama’s great “successes?” Is this the caliber of judgment we want determining whether or not to sanction Iran? President Obama's policies are responsible for creating the power vacuum in Iraq and now in Afghanistan that has spawned the rapid growth of ISIS in those regions.

I think that  the shadow of crisis is still quite prominent.

Missed the Mark

The president missed the mark last night in his State of the Union address. He failed to talk about balancing the budget and securing entitlements for the next generation. He promised to veto Keystone, to veto changes to Obamacare and his most recent immigration executive orders, and he will veto any changes to his recent financial regulations. So much for working across the aisle.

We are teetering on the brink of a nuclear Iran, and Obama pressed in his speech to hold off on sanctions. Seemingly the leader of the free world is more than willing to trust the flower child negotiations of John Kerry, rather than back up the recommendations of Israel – a country far more experienced in dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions and clandestine nuclear growth.

During the State of the Union address, I felt like we were being seduced in an alternate reality of a utopian universe where archenemies are willing to put aside hundreds of years of ill will, where economics were as simple as taking from the rich and sprinkling the plunders over the poor, and where climate change was a bellwether of the death of the universe.

My “favorite” part of the speech was when Obama promised to close Gitmo, and apparently this is one promise that he plans to make good on – notwithstanding the 9/11 terrorist attacks, terror in Australia, Canada, Bali, France, Iraq and Afghanistan by the Taliban, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, etcetera.  

Fortunately Obama cannot run again.

Presidential Protocol

We want a president who knows – or is at least willing to learn protocol. I’m talking about knowing not to salute U.S. Marines while holding a coffee cup in his saluting hand, not to bow to the Saudi king and not to play golf immediately after announcing that an American has been beheaded by Islamic terrorists. Who can forget Obama’s "selfie" with British Prime Minister David Cameron and the ever-attractive Denmark Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt as Michelle Obama scowls in the background? Where is Wisdom?

President Obama’s other faux pas and breaches of protocol have consistently painted a picture of an inexperienced, petulant, out-of-touch president who simply doesn’t care whom he offends or how he breaks with presidential decorum and long-established protocols that have been put in place for good reason. There is no honor in being the first president to appear on The Tonight Show. Indeed.

There is so much wrong with this president’s grasp on presidential protocol that it would take volumes to articulate it all. My favorite faux pas is when, at a dinner in the U.K. with British Royalty, President Obama begins speaking during “God Save the Queen”:

Camilla nearly laid an egg.

Click to view video.

More of the Same -- Keeping My Fingers Crossed

Although President Obama implied after the most recent election that he may be inclined work with the entire Congress, his words of late are illustrating the opposite. With a new proposed tax hike and a list of more government freebies (free Junior College tuition, et al.) and the president’s most current promise to go on the “offensive” during his last two years in office, it is clear that he has not taken heed to the pounding he received in November. Really, why should he since he still has his “pen” and his “phone?” He is going to go down as the most polarizing president in U.S. history with his antagonistic inability to engage cooperation from both sides. Any president can govern by fiat. It takes a real leader to work with both sides of the aisle.

Two more years to go, and hopefully the damage won’t be terribly egregious or long lasting. But “hopefully” is the operative word here. . .