OPINION:
Every week President Obama delivers some new experience that makes me wonder how the entire nation got dropped down Alice’s rabbit hole all at once. Yet, in these first few weeks of Mr. Obama’s last two years in office, he’s made sure the United States won’t turn into a collective Sally Field, exclaiming, “You like us! You really, really, like us!” Because, simply, he really, really, doesn’t.
Instead of using his bully pulpit and considerable power as the president of the United States to bring us together and defend the nation, he chooses instead to elevate tyrannical nations (Iran, Cuba, Sudan) while abandoning allies (Yemen, Ukraine, Israel), while managing the regular punch in the nose to the United States.
Mr. Obama’s behavior at the National Prayer Breakfast generated a lot of discussion and is a perfect illustration of where Mr. Obama’s priorities lie: not in governing and inspiring this great nation when beasts are at the gate, but condemning her, and Western civilization, to boot. On the topic of the Islamic State, or ISIS, and Islamic terrorism (which he still refuses to name), he declared:
“Lest 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.”
As the United Nations reported this week that ISIS is selling, crucifying, and burying children alive in Iraq, the American president was drawing moral equivalence between these barbaric acts undertaken by an army of sociopathic terrorists and the history of our own country.
It was an obscene, disgusting statement. I’m sure it also gave a certain amount of aid and comfort to the enemy.
Aren’t we supposed to be discouraging lunatics on our own soil who sympathize with ISIS and Islamic terrorism in general? Isn’t the president supposed to refrain from repeating what the enemy claims, which is they’re just reacting to the crusades, and western decadence and crimes?
What goes through the mind of a disaffected 17-year-old Muslim-American boy watching terror videos in his mother’s basement, deciding whether to heed ISIS’ call to kill, when he listens to Mr. Obama’s condemnation of this country?
Presidential remarks have power, and the actions (or the lack thereof) of the U.S. government have even more. This week Secretary of State John F. Kerry visited Kiev and told the Ukrainians that we still would not be providing any defensive arms. We are giving them $16.4 million in “aid.” Sounds like a lot more Meals-Ready-To-Eat. The conflict is escalating, as NBC reports, “NATO says Russia has sent weapons, funds and troops on the ground to assist the rebel advance. Moscow denies involvement in fighting for territory the Kremlin now calls “New Russia”… . More than 5,000 people have died in the conflict.”
We abandoned the government of Yemen to Islamist rebels answerable to Iran. The president and Democrats remain fixated on helping Iran achieve its nuclear goals. They’re livid that the prime minister of Israel, one of our staunchest allies, was invited to speak to Congress — a speech the president’s party has openly discussed boycotting.
Yet, the same prayer breakfast where Mr. Obama compared U.S. history to an Islamist terrorist army was attended by a Sudanese official accused of genocide. The Washington Free Beacon reports: “Activists also say the presence of the foreign minister, Ali Ahmed Karti, at the breakfast as well as reports of meetings with administration officials could signal that Washington is considering normalizing relations with Sudan. The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan in 2009 for war crimes and genocide in the southern region of Darfur, where the United Nations says government forces have killed as many as 300,000 people in non-Arab rebel tribes.”
Democratic Rep. James McGovern of Massachusetts and Republican Rep. Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania released a statement prior to the breakfast about Mr. Obama’s special guests: “We are deeply alarmed by reports that two alleged perpetrators of genocide in Sudan, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti and Dr. Ibrahim Ghandour of the ruling National Congress Party, have been invited to the National Prayer Breakfast. Quite simply, these officials should not have been invited to attend an event held in the name of the U.S. Congress, which has passed legislation denouncing the Sudanese government for acts of genocide and crimes against humanity.”
That’s right — Islamist Sudan, the regime most famous for its genocide of Christians in Darfur, was attending the National Prayer Breakfast, of all things, at the invitation of the State Department and the president.
Mr. Obama has elevated and embraced Iran and Cuba, refuses to help Ukraine defend herself, and somehow manages to do nothing to stop ISIS from expanding its territory and becoming even more savage. Now, it looks like Mr. Obama’s next trick is to bring the genocidal Islamist Sudanese government into his bosom.
Through all of this, there are two countries he regularly speaks ill of — the United States and Israel. How much longer will people of good will and clear thought in Washington (and there are a few more after the 2014 midterms) allow this to continue without calling it out for what it is and doing everything they can to stop this madness?
• Tammy Bruce is a radio talk-show host, author and Fox News contributor.
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