On today’s radio program Glenn Beck commented on President Obama’s first address to the nation after the Fort Hood attacks. If you live in New York city, or get satellite radio you may have heard Andrew Wilkow making similar comments.
Fort Hood was a terrible tragedy and I would not ordinarily nitpick about some-one’s initial reaction. I prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt and examine their actions over the course of time. Initial reactions are telling, but we don’t know what a President is being told, or how they are being advised. I thought the lampooning of President George W. Bush over his reading of “My Pet Goat” was a stretch. President Bush acted rather reasonably and rationally based on the information he was given, the timing of when he was given the information, and what his advisers were telling him about the situation.
President Obama’s first remarks about the Fort Hood massacre were made at the conclusion of a conference on Indian Affairs. At that point the President had been rather well briefed on the Fort Hood murders. He is Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces and he was already aware that this was one of the worst assaults on soldiers and civilians on a U.S. military base. The worst to occur on a landlocked base in the contiguous 48 states. I have written this before, but when you are President the first bullet point in your job description is “Commander in Chief.” One would expect that to always be first and foremost in any President’s mind.
When you listen to the President’s remarks… well, I can think of no other word than “bizarre.” One could excuse some mumbling, fumbling, maybe even a little bit of confusion. But there is none of that in there. He just completely misses the significance of the event, and, frankly, his speech is ridiculously inappropriate to the matter at hand. It’s almost an afterthought.
Imagine you are the head of an organization and you learn that someone has murdered 12 innocent members of that organization and injured over 30 more. These are your employees; your charges. You are their leader and someone has compromised their safety (safety you are responsible for) and murdered them in their place of employment. How would you react? I don’t always agree with our President, but this speech goes way beyond disagreement. I cannot find common ground with his humanity. His response does not seem human. It’s almost as if the event is something he feels he has to check off, on a list;
“Let’s see, I’ve got to thank the organizers, give a ’shout out’ to a buddy, make some points about how America has mis-treated Indians and ensure native Americans that I’ve got their backs, and then, oh yeah, 12 people that work for me were murdered in cold blood this afternoon, I ought to work in something about that.”
Imagine Bill Clinton in this situation. Jimmy Carter. Either Bush. Reagan. FDR. Nixon. Kennedy. Ford… All of them would have handled this much, much differently.
This is more than odd. It’s frightening.
I’ve never understood how they thought GW should have reacted in front of a bunch of kindergartners. Should he have jumped up crying and told them all to run for their lives that people were dying? He did the best he could in one of the worst situations I can think of. He finished what he was doing in a calm manner, so as not to cause any panic to our children, and then got to work.
As for O, that speech bit. No president should ever use the words “shout out” and Ft Hood should have been first. It was a punk thing to do. Apparently though his memorial service speech wasn’t as bad.
I don’t think the president gave a moment’s thought to his responsibilities as Commander in Chief when he approached the job. He has always taken it on faith that the power of his personal charm and mystical understanding would make military decisions entirely unnecessary in the new era.
For 9 years the Libs have nurtured this fantasy that the WOT is a hoax created by Darth Cheney and Halliburton, that bin Laden and his ilk are freedom fighters struggling against corporate imperialism. It’s more than a political plank – they really do believe it. They believe the UN should take care of things in their star chambers in the Hague. They truly believe we are the problem.
And now we have a president who is one of these believers. Now reality is tearing up their fantasy. His fellow travelers in the media are desperately telling us what to think of the situation. And the POTUS – the CIC, is now standing before his own soldiers and peddling this crap to them. He doesn’t care – he is convinced the real culprit here is capitalism, that it is greedy corporate interests who have brought this about, and more Hasans are waiting in the wings, cracking under the strain of having to lie to their consciences to make this rotten deal work.
After one year we’ve learned so much of Obama, more than on the campaign trail. He and his czars, and his indifference to actually making the meaty decisions his office calls for. He’s more like the HR manager than the CEO.
“…I ought to work in something about that.” The month of seethes and sighs continues.
I can’t say anything because if I do it will be full of deep seated anger and fursteration that we can’t unelect this creature who has been forced down our throats.
C’mon, Steph. I double dog dare ya … triple dog!!!
Nah……some things need to be left unsaid…you know how I feel.
The response (or lack thereof) of Barack Obama is unsurprising; it is the response Aristos have always had to the deaths of peasants. Never forget that the country is not divided between Democrats and Republicans, nor between Socialists and Capitalists — it is divided between Aristo-worshippers and those who truly see all men as created equal.
Obama has little knowledge of the military. He has no personal knowledge of it. It should be a requirement to become President to have served in the military, since one of the duties is Commander In Chief. You don’t expect someone who has never watched a football game to be a great quarterback when suddenly issued a uniform. Well, this POTUS will never be a great military leader. It’s not even possible. He’s too far behind the power curve. The best we can hope for is the generals he selects as advisors in the future are more like McChrystal and Petraeus than Casey.
I really gave a lot of thought about Obama’s speech and reaction, you know, just to be sure I was being fair and not just reacting from my own dislike of the man and his policies. Upon further review I concluded that his reaction and statement were woefully inadequate and heartless. I think the man has no empathy for other people. There is no warmth in Obama’s personality. This isn’t a surprise to us but more a confirmation of what we already know. I think the animated presidents at Disney’s Hall of Presidents have more human emotion than Obama.
I miss George W.
The College Widow,
I gave it the same, unbiased viewing. I wanted it to be a good speech. It was not only inadequate, it was outright bizarre. As I wrote, I cannot even relate to a man who is thinking in that manner, and with those priorities in a situation like that. I could forgive poor word choices since it had happened rather recently, but a lack of empathy or understanding for what this means for the families involved, the forces he commands and us citizens? Abnormal.
College,
Obama is a pathological narcissist. One of the biggest signs of deep seated narcissism is no empathy for other people. Unlike Clinton, Obama’s narcissism is so deep seated he cannot even fake it.
Great point, Stephanie. How many speeches has O given that are loaded with “I” and “me”?
Please extend my best to your hubby today. Did I see on a comment that he’s a Marine? If so tell him a belated “Happy Birthday” from yesterday. If not, he’ll be insulted and don’t mention it.
Stephanie,
That is a possible explanation. No question Clinton was a master at faking empathy. The footage of him walking from the funeral, laughing, smiling and joking, then instantly turning on the water works the second he spots a television camera is amazing.
I’ll add my thanks to the Mr. Stephanie.
He is sitting here eating dessert right now. And he says you are welcome. THanks you for the support.
SEMPER FI!
One more thing about Obama’s decision about Afghanistan. Apparently, he’ll be given 4 choices by his advisors. The measure of his commitment is the measure of his spine. We’ll see.
Is his spine made of confetti?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091112/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_afghanistan
Yes. He doesn’t care, he doesn’t want to win and he doesn’t care about Americans being killed. We are cannon fodder.
Well, color me disgusted and horrified.
Guys, this is going to get a LOT worse before it gets better. It will get better, in a couple of years, I think, but we’re going to have to really bear down to get through the next few years. Hoo boy…