White House Sends Obama To A 3-Day Management Seminar At The Washington Marriott...The Onion
- In May of 2013, I wrote the following: "Over and over again, we watch this administration react to each crisis over and over again without any clear strategy." Not much has changed since I wrote that observation. In fact, just several weeks ago, Pres. Obama admitted that himself.
- At the time, the Obama administration was faced with the Syrian crisis. In response to Obama's erasing his "red line," I noted: "In Syria, it now appears the presidents leading from behind may lead to radical Islamist infiltrating the Syrian rebels." While I didn't know much about ISIS at the time, I didn't realize how prescient I was when I wrote that statement. In fact, several months later, we found out there was no "good" or "right" side in Syria.
- I'm not pointing those earlier statements out as evidence of my knowledge of geo-politics. It's quite limited. I'm referring to it to illustrate how disturbing it should be to every American that the administration plans on helping Syrian rebels again. This time to fend off ISIS. And while I'd support almost any action to destroy these homicidal maniacs, I have little faith in supporting any Syrian rebel group.
- At the time, it also became clear to me and many other Americans, the problem with leading from behind is that no one follows you. And that outcome is playing itself out today. For example, John F. Kerry recently proclaimed we have a coalition to help us destroy ISIS. Yet, many are asking: What coalition? We've seen evidence that many former coalition members (George W. Bush had approximately 46 coalition members referred to then as the Coalition of the Willing), no longer trust this administration. While it would be foolish to count on most of the Middle East countries & Turkey, even European allies have been hesitant to provide any direct support. Furthermore, relying on J. F. Kerry's rhetoric would be a mistake. He has a long history of tripping over his own rhetoric. In addition, contrary to the opinion of many Hillary Clinton supporters, she didn't leave him much to work with. Victor Davis Hanson noted last May: "Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left office with American foreign policy in shambles."