A Presidency is a Terrible Thing to Waste

 

ObamaWOWhat President Obama’s speech today to the cadets at the United States Military Academy demonstrates is that he now lives in an alternate universe. He told the cadets that “by most measures the United States has rarely been stronger relative to the rest of the world,” when in fact we have never been weaker or less respected in world capitals. Not the since the 1970s have we seen a president weaker and more indecisive—with perilous consequences for the rest of the world.

He told them that the leadership of Al Qaeda has been “decimated,” when in fact it has not.

He told them that the war in Afghanistan was winding down, when in fact his thoughtless 2016 troop withdrawal deadline will ensure the war only heats up.

He told them “our ability to shape world opinion helped isolate Russia” after Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine, when the exact opposite has happened and Putin has never looked more powerful.

He told them we’re on the verge of a breakthrough in shutting down the Iranian nuclear program, when the chances of Iran building a  bomb—or at least being close enough to assemble one when needed — have never looked better.

He told them the US economy “remains the most dynamic on Earth,” when the only things that’ve been dynamic during his presidency have been the growth of federal regulations and the number of people on food stamps. 

He lashed out at his critics for being willing “to rush into military adventures without thinking through the consequences”—when he was the one who wanted to bomb Syria with no follow-up plan.

There was the usual empty promise to close Gitmo because its existence is contrary to “American values and legal traditions” — and, of course, the usual aspersions cast on his predecessor, George W. Bush. It’s hard to think of a president with less class than Barack Obama.

Still, the biggest disgrace was that — in a speech that devoted two entire paragraphs to how the US Army will help fight climate change — he did not once mention the scandalous state of the VA, let alone use the speech to propose some kind of reform.  

Not a word, even though these cadets are the very people who will have to put their heads in the noose that is the VA—and even though he had a West Point grad, Gavin White, who had lost a leg in Afghanistan, there in the audience as an applause magnet.

This isn’t leadership. It is a head-on flight from reality.

A presidency is a terrible thing to waste. Barack Obama has squandered six years of this one living in an alternate universe. We are the poorer for it. And the world is a more dangerous place.

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  1. raycon and lindacon Inactive
    raycon and lindacon
    @rayconandlindacon

    What has a traitor and fool to say to the future heroes of America?

    • #1
  2. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    ObamaLibraryBut the preliminary sketches of the Obama Presidential Library and Narcissistic Disorders Clinic look outstanding!

    The “Me Generation” writ large. It’s not his fault. It’s the world. If the other 6 Billion had just read their lines as scripted by himself, then all would be well.

    If the Republicans had just curled up in a ball and disappeared in 2008 as they were predicted… nay, as they were commanded to do, then all would be well.

    • #2
  3. Crabby Appleton Inactive
    Crabby Appleton
    @CrabbyAppleton

    Shame on you’ns.  Don’t you know that this man won (WON !!!) a Nobel Peace Prize ?

    • #3
  4. Sandy Member
    Sandy
    @Sandy

    “This isn’t leadership. It is a head-on flight from reality.”  

    Steve Hayes tonight called the speech “borderline delusional,” and I think he was being kind.  How depressing for the cadets and their families, and how  frightening for all of us.

    • #4
  5. user_82762 Inactive
    user_82762
    @JamesGawron

    Art,

    He is a misleader of men.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #5
  6. Nick Stuart Inactive
    Nick Stuart
    @NickStuart

    Malignant narcissist.

    • #6
  7. derek Inactive
    derek
    @user_82953

    I’d agree with Obama when he said that he decimated the Al Qaeda leadership. They are at 9/10th strength.

    As usual one doesn’t know if he is very smart or very ignorant. He could have been dissimulating by using the term knowing that it would be understood as destroyed, knowing that he hasn’t done that. Or he could be historically ignorant, not knowing the meaning of the term.

    I favor the second.

    • #7
  8. user_494465 Member
    user_494465
    @JoeBoyle

    Does a comparison of character and achievement between our first president and our current president say anything about our nation?

    • #8
  9. MLH Inactive
    MLH
    @MLH

    How will the US Army  help fight climate change?  My guess, with this president, by decreasing its carbon footprint by being drawn way down. Way.

    • #9
  10. user_82762 Inactive
    user_82762
    @JamesGawron

    Joe Boyle:

    Does a comparison of character and achievement between our first president and our current president say anything about our nation?

     hmmmm…let’s see….Current president > vicious parasitic cynical creature who has achieved nothing but chaos & discord….First president > risks all in a wildly dangerous unequal war against the World’s most powerful nation and is elected president almost by united acclimation and then chooses to self limit to only two terms.

    Nope there is no comparison.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #10
  11. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    The betrayal of our military by the election of this man… nothing enrages and disgusts me more. I can’t think about it too much, or it’ll induce health problems. Shameful on the part of American voters. To do it twice is unforgivable.

    • #11
  12. rico Inactive
    rico
    @rico

    James Gawron: He is a misleader of men.

    Yes, Dr. Herman’s post documents Mr. Obama’s dishonesty. Obama isn’t delusional; he is simply attempting to delude Americans. It is a large portion of the citizenry who are delusional.

    • #12
  13. rico Inactive
    rico
    @rico

    [comment withdrawn]

    • #13
  14. user_1065645 Member
    user_1065645
    @DaveSussman

    Head shaker today on @hughhewitt:

    Allied leaders asking Bill Kristol: “what are you guys doing? You’re retreating. You look so weak. This is very dangerous.”

    • #14
  15. virgil15marlow@yahoo.com Coolidge
    virgil15marlow@yahoo.com
    @Manny

    I can’t make up my mind if Obama is being delusional or trying to shape historian’s perception.  He lives in a Liberal academic mentality that by saying something is so it becomes the historical fact, whether true or not.  This man is the perfect Big Brother.

    • #15
  16. user_50776 Inactive
    user_50776
    @AlKennedy

    E J Hill said it best.

    • #16
  17. user_199279 Coolidge
    user_199279
    @ChrisCampion

    derek:

    I’d agree with Obama when he said that he decimated the Al Qaeda leadership. They are at 9/10th strength.

    As usual one doesn’t know if he is very smart or very ignorant. He could have been dissimulating by using the term knowing that it would be understood as destroyed, knowing that he hasn’t done that. Or he could be historically ignorant, not knowing the meaning of the term.

    I favor the second.

     This bothers me every time I hear Barry O’Milquetoast say it.  Inigo Montoya mocks him from the 1980’s.

    • #17
  18. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    What would the Obama administration be like, without a fawning Press?  What if they had been doing their real job since 2009?  Might things be different today?

    • #18
  19. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    Just look above at the look on his face, walking through a corridor lined with the true heroes of our society.  His expression is almost pained.  He is truly disgusting.

    • #19
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