Forget and Regret

By William L. Garvin

Never have so many done so little against foes so formidable.  By all metrics, this so-called coalition is doing little more than irritating ISIS.  When a bombing sortie returns and reports that it has destroyed a total of three trucks, it can be characterized as nothing short of pathetic.  That miniscule return on investment doesn’t even cover the cost of fuel, let alone time and munitions.  Military minds are still scratching their heads over why the enemy “headquarters” was bombed in the middle of the night when no one was there.  Equally puzzling is why the enemy convoys were never attacked while on the move and out in the open.  It’s equally perplexing as to why when a few endangered Arab states put a few planes in the air on a totally infrequent and inconsequential basis that it’s portrayed as a tremendous political and military achievement.  It’s not.  It’s merely more sound and fury, (more accurately “smoke and mirrors”) signifying nothing of substance.

When an enemy force says they will fly their black flag over the White House, when they publically decapitate Americans and others, when they take over caches of WMD (both biological and chemical which of course never existed—remember “Bush lied; people died”), when they mercilessly slaughter thousands of Christians, Yezidis, and less blood thirsty Muslims, then it doesn’t matter whether or not we are at war with Islam.  They are at war with us.  The enemy cannot be managed.  It cannot be degraded.  It must be destroyed.  There has not been a single retired general or admiral come forward to applaud the military strategy currently being employed.  Bringing a knife to a gun fight is no more effective than naming the campaign “Inherent Resolve” is in inspiring the troops!

Why did anyone think that a state senator with a tawdry history of voting “present” rather than taking a stand could suddenly become decisive in times of crisis?  There is nothing in Barack Hussein Obama’s history that would prepare him for the role of commander-in-chief or even chief executive officer.  He has never led, never managed, and never had ultimate responsibility for anything.  If you ask him today, he still has no responsibility for “Fast and Furious,” spying on reporters, NSA, the IRS Gestapo, and on and on and on.  He is quick to blame the intelligence community for his characterization of ISIS as “jayvee.”  Maybe if he had played a few less rounds of golf and attended a few more intelligence briefings, he might have avoided his “deer in the headlights” reaction to the Middle East conflagration.  Maybe if he’d been in the Situation Room while Benghazi was going up in flames and Americans were being murdered, maybe if he and Hillary had told the truth instead of conjuring up some cockamamie story about a video, maybe if he would have been a leader instead of a political operative, things would have been different.

He can’t fire people who are incompetent because that would require a decision.  So they hang around until their pensions vest and then retire.  He’d rather hire a political hack for another overlapping layer of government apparatus to deal with the Ebola crisis than a proven health care administrator.  Of course, the “Ebola Czar” won’t be reporting to the President because that would again put him in a position of accountability and responsibility.  That is to be avoided at all cost.  It’s better to smile another smile.  It’s better to play another round of golf.  It’s better to attend another union or Wall Street fundraiser.  It’s better to deny reality and claim it is “indisputable” that the economy is better by every measurement.  Forget the 92 million Americans who are out of the labor force.  Forget that we have the lowest labor participation rate in nearly forty years.  Forget the record number of people on food stamps.  Forget the $17.9 trillion national debt.  Forget that household income has declined—unless you’re a member of congress!  Forget that you didn’t save $2,500 in health care premiums, that medical care is more expensive and less available.  Forget that many more policies will be canceled after the first of the year.  Forget that our borders aren’t secure and that 70,000 “children” and untold others have poured across this year alone.  Forget that the Obama/Reid/Pelosi combine will continue if you vote the same old political hacks back into office.  Forget this time and you’ll have two more years for remorse.