Look, on one hand, I do not want to totally slam Obama: despite his talking points and apparent lack of interest in fighting Islamic terrorism, he has done an OK job. Heck, he personally picks targets for drone strikes, and has expanded the areas in the Middle East and Africa in which we go after Islamic terrorists. The problem occurs in that we do not really know what he thinks about it, and whether he really cares. Surely, a lot goes on behind the scenes that we do not know about, much like with the Bush 43 administration. Obama, though, gives the appearance that this whole danger is inconvenient, and that he isn’t really interested. He sounds the same way I sound when people get me in a discussion of basketball, or their favorite college football team. I really do not care about either. But, basketball is quite a bit less important than anti-jihad (via Twitchy)
https://twitter.com/charlescwcooke/status/677830086247243776
Read that again
Acknowledging privately that he flubbed his initial response to the Paris attacks, Obama’s aides are hoping to add more theater to his counterterrorism response. The actual strategy isn’t changing much. But with White House aides saying they feel that Americans are more worried about the immediate threat of terrorism in the wake of Paris and San Bernadino than at any point since 9/11, there will be more events like Obama’s visits to the Pentagon and the National Counterterrorism Center this week — meetings that would likely be happening anyway, but that will be deliberately pushed into public view, with the president making sure to speak more passionately himself.
Another problem is that we’ve seen and heard Obama all these years, and he really doesn’t seem to care that much. But, this is his job.
“Look, on one hand, I do not want to totally slam Obama: despite his talking points and apparent lack of interest in fighting Islamic terrorism, he has done an OK job. ”
Alright! Who are you and what have you done with our esteemed host?
Public theater was the primary political tool of many of the strongest leaders in modern world history. Stalin, Mao, Castro, Kim, and Chavez were all masters of play-acting pure fictional absurdity to their subjects and, with a loyal press, getting them to accept it as reality.
And don’t forget Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. They were masters of political theater as well.
Alright! Who are you and what have you done with our esteemed host?
It’s rarely news, but, at least in areas not called Syria and Libya, Obama has gone after jihadis, in Afghanistan, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, and a few other nations. He seems to love using drone strikes and special forces. Wacking pirates off the coast of Africa. I wish he would do it more.
So, although his actions are effective, or at least OK, the problem is he needs more to be more demonstrative, that is, more theater.