OPINION:
Rome burns as Nero fiddles. Afghanistan churns as President Biden vacations.
But what to expect from a man who campaigned for the highest office in the land from the safety and security of his man-cave basement?
Rep. Jim Jordan on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox nailed it when he asked: “Well, I think the first thing is, why is Joe Biden on vacation?”
Sen. Tom Cotton asked similarly on Twitter: “Why is Joe Biden in hiding? He should immediately address the nation and answer for the catastrophic situation in Afghanistan.”
He should. But he won’t.
Maybe it’s kind of a Democrat thing to run during times of crises. After all, former President Barack Obama did it.
“White House defends Obama’s golf outings during crises,” Reuters wrote in August, 2014.
“A Terrorist Horror, Then Golf,” The New York Times wrote, that same month and year.
And CNN explained the problem, in a piece the following month: “President Obama said he should have known better than to go golfing immediately after speaking about the beheading of an American journalist,” the cable news outlet wrote.
Yes. Yes, Obama should have. But not simply because of the bad optics of such; rather, because of the glimpse of truth of that president’s soul it revealed. Obama was clueless; Obama was carefree and cavalier in the face of national U.S. tragedy; Obama was hardly compassionate; but more than that — Obama’s powers of denial were great. The journalist who was beheaded, after all, was a stumbling block in the political message the Obama administration wanted to convey — the one that said ISIS had been magically turned into America’s bestie. Obama’s diplomatic touch at work.
It was all a lie, of course.
ISIS took advantage of a weak White House to murder and plunder and murder and kill. Then Obama took advantage of an overly friendly media to carry his basket full of deniability and help him cover his own complicity in the spread of ISIS. He wasn’t just tone-deaf. He actively skirted accountability; he tried to skirt accountability. His powers of duck and dodge were tremendous.
Now we have the feckless Biden administration that’s exerting its similarly sad-but-great powers of denial about Afghanistan.
“I don’t think [Biden’s] taken one question from the press this entire weekend,” Jordan continued. “[T]his is a frightening situation. It’s an embarrassing situation for the United States. But I think, frankly, it’s not surprising.”
Nope. Not even a little bit.
This Biden administration will go down in history as the time of bungling — which makes Biden the man the “Great Bungler-In-Chief.” He’s messed up the border. He’s messed up individual freedoms. He’s messed up inflation rates. He’s messed up foreign policy. And now, instead of standing tall and speaking strong to help solve the crises his own administration — out of glaring weakness — ushered in, he’s take a few days off. He’s stepped back for some much-needed rest and relaxation. He’s going on vacation.
He’s exited, stage left, and left the rest of us to deal with his mess. And what a mess that’s come, and coming: China is oh-so-pleased and so is Russia. Let’s not forget North Korea and Iran, either.
“That just would not happen when you project strength and confidence from the White House,” Jordan said. “But unfortunately, we don’t have that today.”
No, we don’t.
“Does Joe Biden even want to be president any more?” Rep. Jim Banks tweeted.
If only. It’s not nice to tease.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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