Dereliction of Duty

It's been six weeks since the attack on the consulate at Benghazi and the president has still not held a press conference to answer questions.  

The "dereliction of duty" from the title of this post refers not to the president (although I do believe he's not doing his duty), but to the press.  It's a journalist's job to ask tough questions and get to the bottom of things.  Yet, when Brian Williams interviewed President Obama, he didn't ask any hard questions or follow-up queries.  Why?

It's obvious that we no longer have a press corps interested in doing anything other than getting Obama re-elected.  I just heard Geraldo Rivera on The O'Reilly Factor asking why Mitt Romney hasn't asked the president questions about Benghazi.  The answer to that, Geraldo, is that it isn't his job to do so!!  It IS the job of "journalists" to do it and clearly they either don't understand their job description or they have their heads so far up Obama's butt that they can't see daylight. Either way, the American people are the losers here.  

Obama the Bloodless

The violence in Egypt and Libya the last few days that resulted in the death of ambassador Christopher Stevens and others is spreading like a cancer, not only in the Middle East, but also to London and to American college campuses today. Hillary Clinton has continued to try to mollify the fanatics, to no avail.  I wish the administration would get a clue and realize that these guys only understand and respect force. They view tolerance and appeasement as weakness, not virtues. Why does the Secretary of State keep referring to the video that allegedly spawned this situation?  It wasn't the video, Mrs. Clinton.  It's the mindset of the eternally aggrieved that's the problem. The video is merely an excuse.  

As the chaos spreads, the president is out campaigning and fund-raising as if everything were wonderful.  He has always seemed aloof to me, but he now appears to be completely detached from the real danger confronting us.  The day after the ambassador's death, he made a brief, cold announcement that was utterly devoid of passion or anger, then took off for Las Vegas to campaign.  Then came the big announcement yesterday that Obama raised more money than Romney in August, as if that were the most important news of the day. Could he be any less caring?

This country is hungry for real leadership and strength. In these dangerous times, we need a serious, responsible person in the oval office, and I feel that we don't even have a president; we have a campaigner-in-chief.  The United States needs and deserves better.

Weakness = No Respect

Obama's tepid response to the killing of American citizens in Libya and Egypt is shameful.  Is he still nursing this ridiculous fantasy that we can use diplomacy and sanctions to bring order to this part of the world?

Our response to this outrage should be swift and decisive. We need to make it abundantly clear that we will not tolerate this and these murders will be punished.  

Last night, Juan Williams defended the president's weak response, in effect saying we shouldn't do anything to further anger the Muslims.  I have a news flash for you, Juan: fanatic Muslims are perpetually pissed off regardless of what we do or don't do.  The only thing they understand is force and strength, both of which are notably absent from this administration.