If published reports are accurate, Barack Obama’s presidency is effectively over. Strong words? Ask yourself this: what other president of the United States would have spent almost three minutes speaking at the Dept. of Interior before getting around to mentioning the fact that twelve soldiers had been killed, and thirty one wounded in a massacre at Fort Hood in Texas?
This kind of insensitivity is both infuriating and disturbing. Infuriating because reinforces the notion that we have a president whose narcissistic self-involvement borders on pathological. What in the world could have been more important than mentioning an American tragedy prior to the business at hand? Disturbing because it demonstrates a cluelessness one would think was impossible for the Commander-in-Chief of the United States military.
Doubtless his supporters and a comatose media will attempt to give him a free pass–or try to find an equally feckless mistake committed by George W. Bush to “balance the scales.”
It won’t fly.
Last week, president Obama posed for a picture with the caskets of 18 dead soldiers and DEA agents returning from Afghanistan–ostensibly to honor the ultimate sacrifice these Americans made to keep us all safe from terror. I say ostensibly, because one week later, taken in context with this monumental gaffe, one could be forgiven for concluding that Obama’s real motive then had far less to do with those honoring those Americans than burnishing his own image as a president who “truly cares” about the troops.
What a difference a week makes.
America has had other presidents whose relationship with our fighting forces has been less than stellar. But I don’t believe we’ve ever had a president for whom common decency, and a basic, even if grudging, respect for the military has proved utterly elusive.
His support among Americans has been slowly eroding. If this story gets the media coverage it deserves–a fifty-fifty chance at best–it will implode.
Ironically, in keeping with his narcissistic nature, he’s got no one but himself to blame.
atahlert@comcast.net
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