The bodies of slaughtered Parisians were still unburied when our president, the leader of the most powerful country in history, beclowned himself on the world stage. In Turkey Obama gave a speech that surpassed even his long record of narcissistic petulance and juvenile snark. What we are witnessing is a willful destruction of America’s prestige and authority unprecedented in our history. It’s a sad day when the President of the United States makes a milquetoast French socialist like François Hollande sound like George S. Patton.
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Like the Oakland Raiders’ Al Davis, the Russians and Iranians fight by the code of “just win, baby,” while our president dismisses as rhetoric any talk of “American leadership or America winning,” and sniffed that his critics “think that if I were just more bellicose in expressing what we’re doing, that that would make a difference” and that we need to “make America look tough or make me look tough.” Imagine Churchill taking that tact during the Battle of Britain. Churchill, of course, understood the age-old wisdom that, as Vergil put it, “They have power because they seem to have power,” that in a conflict prestige and morale are more important than material. The French get it–– French jets are blasting ISIS in vengeance, and Hollande swears to fight ISIS “without a respite, without a truce . . . It is not a question of containing but of destroying this organization.”
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Finally, Obama trotted out the tired “nothing to do with Islam” trope. “And so to the degree that anyone would equate the terrible actions that took place in Paris with the views of Islam,” he scolded, “those kinds of stereotypes are counterproductive. They’re wrong. They will lead, I think, to greater recruitment into terrorist organizations over time if this becomes somehow defined as a Muslim problem as opposed to a terrorist problem.”
This is the stale apologist argument that ignores 14 centuries of Islamic doctrine, scripture, and practice. It reminds me of Joseph de Maistre’s riposte to Rousseau’s “Man is born free but everywhere he is in chains”: “Sheep are born carnivores but everywhere eat grass.” Muslims are born peace-loving and tolerant, and everywhere invade, enslave, and slaughter. Until we face, and force Muslims to reform, the theologized violence, intolerance, and supremacy inherent in Islam, we will never be able to destroy jihadism.
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Obama’s speech in Paris has diminished his stature nearly to the point of invisibility. His arrogance, ignorance, and toxic self-regard have compromised the security of our country and seriously damaged our global prestige. It’s going to be a long 14 months before we can get the chance to change course.
Full article: The Incredible Shrinking President (Frontpage Mag)
Global Geopolitics 