The embarrassment of Obama’s convictions His failures are on painful display abroad and at home Five years ago, candidate Barack Obama pranced out with an arrogant swagger to take the stage before hundreds of thousands in Berlin. Last week, President Barack Obama, walked before a crowd of less than 5,000 Germans and, with feigned arrogance, strenuously attempted to be convincing as he discussed reduction of his own country’s nuclear-deterrent capacity. The audacity of hope has been overwhelmed by the reality of failure, faults, despair, and scandal – basically the manifestation of incompetence and ineptness. We are witnessing the embodiment of someone possessing a complete lack of conviction – a state senator, a U.S. senator, a president who is still voting “present.” Obama’s conviction exists but not for the exceptionalism and strength of America. Instead, his conviction is for advancing an agenda not of peace through strength but rather appeasement through egalitarianism. His conviction believes America’s image improves by being liked, not respected, or, in the case of our enemies, feared. Obama’s conviction believes the U.S. military exists not to uphold its stated mission “to fight and win the nation’s wars” but rather to become a tool for an ill-conceived and misguided vision of social justice. He believes it is better to lift the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy against gays in the military than to have naval vessels that can depart port. He believes it is more important to open “job positions” in the military in close-combat special operation units, Army Rangers and Navy SEALS than to keep Air Force combat squadrons flying. Obama’s conviction believes Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an oxymoronic title, must be allowed to castigate as seditious and treasonous the Christians in the military who profess their faith and to condemn them of categorically enacting “spiritual rape.” It is all an embarrassment. A weak international stage presence Last week we watched the audacity of Obama trying to be liked while on stage with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s abject disdain for the “leader of the free world” was evident in the look on his face, and he followed the meeting by allowing U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to fly from Hong Kong to Russia and then to South America. We witnessed Obama stand before the German people, who still remember the Stasi secret police, and try to defend the NSA’s PRISM surveillance program. Obama found himself quietly being reprimanded by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the subject during the press conference. It was an embarrassment. Obama told us in May during a National Defense University address that our current war must end. We all know he has never been comfortable with the idea of a war on terror; he prefers the term “overseas contingency operations.” And then Obama decided in Ireland it was up to him to redefine who the Taliban must be, in essence telling the Taliban not to be Taliban, in order to promote peace negotiations. The Taliban responded by opening a political office in Doha, Qatar, and, as they always do, by attacking and killing four American troops at Bagram Air Base. As Russell Crowe’s character Maximus stated in the opening scene of “Gladiator” when the headless body of his peace envoy returned upon a horse, “They say no.” Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail further said the group wants five top former Taliban leaders repatriated to them for Army Soldier Bowe Bergdahl. It was an embarrassment. Israel’s nightmare in the Middle East Obama said America would pivot away from the Middle East and just like turning the lights off in a home, the bugs came out. These bugs we know as radical Islamists, and they are populating the region from Nigeria to the Maghreb, to Egypt, across the Levant, through the Middle East and over into Pakistan. Within that incredible restoration of the Islamic caliphate and the drive toward a unified Sharia state is that small beacon of liberty, freedom and democracy – our strongest ally, Israel. Thanks to the past five years of Obama foreign policy, Israel now finds itself in the most dangerous situation and neighborhood it has faced in quite some time: Against congressional dictate, Secretary of State John Kerry gave the Muslim Brotherhood government of Egypt $1.3 billion taxpayer dollars. Hezbollah is engaged along with Iran in supporting Syrian madman Bashar al-Assad. Al Qaeda in Iraq has joined forces with the Al Nusra Front in Syria and formed the Islamic Force of Syria and Iraq. In Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is driving toward an authoritarian Islamist state, against the intent of Kemal Ataturk, and supporting arms flow to the Islamist rebel forces in Syria. Obama has said “Assad must go” from Syria and drawn red lines but it all comes down to one thing: We intervened in Libya and set up radical Islamists to take power; we dithered in Syria. Talk is cheap, sounds nice and makes folks think you are in charge, but in the end you are just a bystander to deplorable global events. What an embarrassment. Domestic tranquility? What’s that? The embarrassment is evident at home, too. This past week, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said the policy of quantitative easing is going to end. That means America will not be printing $85 billion per month to prop up the economy, and the markets reacted. The Senate and the Congressional Budget Office are trying to make us believe that “legalizing” some 11 million illegal immigrants – this is their guess – will boost our economy. Shame on anyone trying to sell this lie to the American people! It is summertime and since January 2009, the average price of gasoline has increased by 98 percent, from $1.84 a gallon to $3.64. I am sure Americans will be taking lots more “staycations” this year as a result, yet the president is still chatting us up about climate change. The U.S. debt, meanwhile, continues to grow and is estimated to hit $17 trillion by the end of this fiscal year, an almost $7 trillion increase since Obama came to power. He certainly is not governing. Oh, and the welfare state continues to grow. When Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan spoke at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, their speeches were about liberty and freedom, not adoration and capitulation. They spoke as inspired American leaders who reflected the strength, greatness and promise of America. They energized generations. I know some people are enthralled with President Barack Obama, but his misguided conviction is not working – not for this generation and certainly not for the next generation. And Americans do not like being embarrassed. Steadfast and Loyal, Allen B. West
Posted on: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 18:15:54 +0000
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