Tested Leadership

You may remember the prophet Joe Biden, on October 20, 2008, predicting that if Obama were elected he "would be tested in the first six months by a foreign power." Considering that Obama had less executive experience than Sarah Palin, who by then had been the governor of Alaska for two years but was being trashed in the media for not having the necessary experience, Biden's gaffe prediction was a major argument against Obama's election. Many of us made that argument, but to no avail.

After his election Obama apparently tried to preempt any such testing by making an apology tour across Europe and the Middle East to placate Muslims world-wide. By bowing to foreign leaders and showing his good faith he was going to bring Iran to the negotiating table and end their nuclear ambitions. Two years ago when a popular uprising had a chance to bring Democratic reforms to Iran, Obama sat silent while the government brutally put down the protests.

In March of last year when the Arab Spring erupted across North Africa, Obama dumped a long time ally in Egypt, Hosni Mubarrak, for an unruly mob led by the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood. Then when the mobs rose up against Moammar Khaddafi, Obama stood by while several NATO nations began helping the rebels with a bombing campaign. Only when it became obvious that Khaddafi was losing did Obama enter the fray. Leading from behind, he praised the Arab Spring for bringing democracy to the Muslim nations.

Obama's foreign policy has been an abject failure. The Muslim world has not responded positively to his open armed apologies. Just the opposite. His apologies and rewriting of American history to suggest that Muslims helped build the United States, project an image of weakness, and has emboldened our terrorist enemies. America is still hated by Islamic governments, who take billions of foreign aid from the United States and curse us at the same time. Nicholas Sarkozi, France's former Prime Minister, publicly stated that Obama was not very influential, an observation that is becoming increasingly obvious.

Now Obama's leadership ability is being tested at a level he has not yet seen, and doesn't seem to yet understand. US embassies in Cairo, Egypt, in Sana'a, Yemen, and the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, have been overrun by mobs, and four Americans in Libya, including the US ambassador, have been killed. These are acts of war. These are acts that require a strong response if America is to be taken seriously anywhere in the world.

How did Obama react? He sat in silence saying nothing for hours. Then somebody in the US diplomatic mission in Egypt put out a statement apologizing for the Youtube video criticizing Mohammed, which supposedly sparked this uprising, even though hardly anybody has seen it. The statement stood for nine hours until criticism became so harsh that the administration had to "walk it back."

This is not administration policy, we are told. Some low level employee at the embassy in Cairo made the unauthorized statement, but just like the removal of God and Jerusalem from the Democrat platform, who made the statement or where it originated is unknown. The president himself, not realizing the urgency of the situation, finally made a comment at a Las Vegas, Nevada campaign stop. Taking a page from Clinton before him, he promised that those who had killed the Americans would be held accountable. Then after about ninety seconds of toothless threats, he went back to campaigning.

If there was ever an example of ineptitude and incompetence, this is it. American sovereignty is invaded, Americans are killed, and Obama apologizes and continues campaigning. Does anybody see what's wrong with this picture?

This is weakness ala Jimmy Carter and the Iranian takeover of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. Could it be that this will translate into another Reaganesque defeat of liberal incompetence in November? Let us hope so.