Leading From Behind

President Barack H. Obama has managed to cause Americans on the left and right to agree on one thing: He is usually consistent.

 So called “Progressives” think he’s often not far left enough, but he has plenty of time left in his seemingly endless second term to do their bidding. (This is a good time to remind ourselves to pray that no one bails from the US Supreme Court anytime soon… and for the Constitutionalists on the Court: Stay healthy my friends.)

Conservatives agree that the man known as The Leader of the Free World is consistent in retreat. Anything requiring courage and exceptional behavior is either ignored or given lip service, as the not-so-lethal and sporadic bombing of ISIS demonstrates.   A few hits from UAV’s in a given day doesn’t compare to shock-and-awe justice from the sky, often five times greater than current random targeting.

Meanwhile ISIS (or ISIL, as the White House prefers to call it even though ISIS calls themselves ISIS) takes what they want, now controlling half of Syria… including all those “red lines” drawn by Mr. Obama and friends over the last couple of years. This weekend, ISIS will be busy with a new de-construction project trashing architectural treasures in Palmyra.

Boko Haram is open for expanded business in Africa, and the #SaveOurGirls tweets seem like they happened decades ago.

This week, the President began by talking tough not about terrorists but about the Police in the USA, moving to “de-militarize” cops. This is necessary because, he says, “Sometimes it sends the wrong message” in communities. When he does such puzzling things, Mr. O. will usually add, “Because it’s the right thing to do”. In other words, we’re doing this just because he says so. Now local law enforcement departments across the nation are a step closer to more Federal meddling and control.

The message suggests that Police can’t be trusted with too much firepower, as if all men and women in uniform are going to go rogue.

Gangs and terrorists and ISIS-wanna-be’s got a clear message, too: It’s time to step up our game.

All while the Good Guys are pressed to retreat.

Meantime, Ramadi fell, after similar ISIS/ISIL triumphs in Mosul, Takrit and other Iraq cities.  Apparently the Americans who fought tyranny and died for liberty there don’t matter. No big deal. Even the White House Press Secretary said we can’t “set our hair on fire” every time there’s a defeat.

But this is all consistent. When America elects a faculty lounge theorist…a community organizer-in-chief, this is not a surprise.

As punctuation to this Retreat Week, Mr. Obama decided to pile on the rhetoric with his address to Coast Guard Cadets, warning that “climate change” is the biggest threat they will face in the future.

All of this is disturbing, sometimes humorous in its hubris and audacity and often dangerous. But during “Military Appreciation Month”, heading into Memorial Day, it’s tone-deaf, outrageous and reprehensible.