OPINION:
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks here at home, I got into the habit of checking my email immediately upon waking to check in on the condition of the world. For the first year after 9/11 we had no idea what to expect day to day; we certainly believed more attacks were on the way.
Unfortunately, every now and then for the past 15 years, the morning mail-check delivered news about another terror attack. Last week it was Belgium, and the immediate personal reaction is, what’s the plan? How are we helping?
During President Obama’s presidency, learning of another terror attack also brings up the question: Will this be the act that compels him to behave as though something of enough importance has happened? Will he adjust his schedule and at least pretend to act like the president of the United States?
Last week, we were again disappointed. The supposed Leader of the Free World essentially ignored several bombings in Brussels, the capital of the European Union. While in Cuba, Mr. Obama spent a full 51 seconds responding to the news of the Brussels attacks. He then went to a baseball game with one of Cuba’s communist dictators and did the spectator “wave.”
After leaving the adulation of Cuba, the Obamas headed to a state dinner in Argentina where Mr. and Mrs. Obama thought it would be swell to dance the tango.
We learned from our esteemed president that one does not need to fiddle as the world burns; one can choose to dance, instead. Mr. Obama was determined to make sure the inconvenience of dead people wouldn’t interfere with his recreation or imagined legacy.
Americans are embarrassed by this behavior as it signals to us a man who doesn’t care; a man we elected and elevated to the greatest office in the world and he thanks us by using our trust and money to degrade the office and depress the people.
But we did elect him and one could argue that we chose badly and must endure. Yet, Mr. Obama’s petulance, boredom and self-obsession during a time of war also has deadly consequences. While we get depressed and enraged at a president who spent more time attacking the dance floor than reflecting on another terrorist mass murder, the enemy sees surrender.
We may get depressed, Islamist terrorist become emboldened. Mr. Obama’s behavior after the Brussels attacks signaled, at best, ambivalence about the slaughter. What sort of message do you think that sends?
On Friday, with much fanfare, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter had a press conference announcing we had killed ISIS’ second in command in a Special Ops raid in Syria. This, you see, is supposed to show how committed we are to confronting and killing the terrorist menace.
So why just one guy? Oh sure, it’s nice to blow up their leaders, but ISIS is now implementing the al Qaeda strategy of unleashing autonomous groups abroad, who act on their own. The scum who perpetrated the Paris and Brussels massacres weren’t waiting for instruction from Syria, they operated independently.
Killing ISIS leadership means less every day as the cancer metastasizes. Leaders are replaced as hundreds, if not thousands, of fighters are allowed to live, train, and return bringing mass murder to the West.
But don’t worry — Mr. Obama does have an additional weapon to complement his “Kill a guy every now and then” strategy — he insists we must fight them with words. The Weekly Standard reports:
“President Obama has a new way to defeat the Islamic State: by telling the terror organization they are weak. Obama revealed his strategy at a press conference today in Argentina…
“[W]e defeat them in part by saying you are not strong, you are weak. We send a message to those who might be inspired by them to say you are not going to change our values of liberty and openness and the respect of all people. And I mentioned at the baseball game yesterday, one of my proudest moments as president was watching Boston respond after the Boston Marathon attack.”
“Proud” as he watched Boston cope with a terrorist attack? Barack Obama is bizarrely passive as innocents are slaughtered. Hold your head up (if you still have one) is his message; Don’t be afraid as the bombs go off. Impress me with your existential crisis management. Make me proud with how you deal with a 7-year-old getting blown up.
So what words should the Paris and Brussels victims have used? “Please don’t?” “Stop?” “I beg you, don’t murder me. I have two small children who need me?”
As Mr. Obama was doing the wave and dancing, Belgian authorities were still working to identify victims due to the carnage. The dead at the airport and in the subway did not have a chance to tell their murderers they thought them “weak” because they didn’t know what was coming.
You see, for Mr. Obama this is all theory about a horror that will never be visited upon him or his loved ones, because worrying about protecting yourself from terrorism is for the little people. He signed a bill in 2013 giving ex-presidents and their spouses Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives.
How nice for them. And on our dime.
• Tammy Bruce is a radio talk show host.
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