A Responsibility To Lead

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
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This what you get with a bunch of amateur Progressive/Socialists in the White House.  I am referring to Egypt, Syria, Libya, and, well, you name an area of the world, outside the western sphere of influence, and you can quickly see what happens when the US either withdraws, as in "leading from behind," or interferes by taking sides, especially when the side the US takes is the side against the people of a particular country.

As I write these few words, Syria and Egypt are both in flames. And worse -- they bracket Israel.  A regional conflict is just one misstep away.

Our jet set, playboy, President and his entourage are, well, where the heck ARE they this week?  Huh?  Our illustrious Secretary of State was off yachting somewhere last week while all hell was breaking loose.

I have seen a lot, I mean A LOT, of presidential administrations come and go, and this one is, by far, the most disconnected from the people of the US of any administration prior to, at least,  FDR.  Hell, the Obama Administration isn't even good at PRETENDING to be paying attention to the people of the country.

Look.  I am an isolationist by nature.  I would be the most happy if I could withdraw and go live in the woods someplace -- quite alone.  See, I understand what drove the old "mountain men," and "frontiersmen" of the early days of this country.  I share their yearning for peace and quiet and room for a man to breath. I'm convinced some of us come wired that way.  As then, nowadays we are considered "a breed apart" even weird.

It has never particularly troubled me, one iota, what other people think of my attitude, or my predilections toward keeping my own counsel.

I am sharing all this to say that while individuals can seek -- and even enjoy -- isolation, nations cannot. If you require evidence as to the "rightness" of this statement, we direct your attention toward the DPRK (the Democratic People's Republic of  Korea) -- especially at night.  That's when the impact of their self imposed isolation is most evident when seen from space.  While the remainder of the world, away from the sun, is lit and bustling with activity, North Korea is blacked out, sitting in a deep despairing darkness their leaders have created just to control the citizens of that hapless country.

America, on the other hand, has never known anything but the glare of the spotlight.

When a tiny little group of American colonists revolted and went to war, deliberately, against a world super power, Great Britain, there was no way the remainder of the world WOULD NOT sit up and pay attention.  They've been sitting up and paying attention for over 237 years now and continue to be surprised time and time again at the audacity and, at times, the utter stupidity of the Americans.

This is one of those times when their unrelenting surveillance of America is rewarded with a show of world class stupidity.America has in charge (at the moment) quite likely the least qualified man to ever sit behind the desk of the Oval Office in the White House -- in the history of the United States.  WE elected him!  How dare we actually expect him to do the right thing for America.  After all, he has told us plainly that he is a "citizen of the world."

See, this is a "brave new world."  One in which a president puts his country second to his fellow citizens of the world.    The wants, needs, and desires of the people who elected him simply have to wait.  We Americans will just have to get over our angst ignited by the progressive/socialists when they side-lined the constitution as if it no longer applies.

We will just have to content ourselves with whatever degree of attention our "paternalistic ruling elite" allows us during those infrequent periods between vacations and golfing trips. 

Over the past four-and-a-half years Obama's fellow "citizens of the world" have learned that they, too, are victims of the President's narcissism.  Unable to focus for long on anything, or anyone, other than himself, Obama's Caliph-in-Chief image has proven a false facade and has left his Muslim followers stymied and, as in Egypt, up that "proverbial creek" without a paddle -- and as Egypt's former President Morsi is discovering, likely without so much as a canoe, either.

The mess in Libya -- Benghazi, to be exact  -- is still unresolved and is not likely to be resolved until after Ms. Clinton's first or second term.
In Syria, well, the war there is already lost.  US troops who die there will be dying in the name of politics only.  But, HEY!  Obama is a politician!  That's what he does!

Mr. Obama is a lot of things. Sadly, being a leader is not among them. 

Ask the common, every day, American and he will tell you, a nation must pick its battles and its wars.  A wise nation only chooses to initiate or join in a fight in which its interests are at stake.

A "responsibility to protect" is one of those "citizen of the world" philosophies that "feels" good.  Never mind that it perpetuates war(s). And never mind that it does not inquire as to America's interest in any given situation that includes gunfire, loud explosions, and mangled body parts. 

A true leader assesses a situation and decides "yes" or "no" on his nation's involvement based upon that simple test mentioned above:  Are there American interests involved?  If there is not, then America should not get involved -- at any level.  That is when a President is called upon, indeed, has the awesome responsibility to say, loudly and clearly, NO!  He must mean it -- and he must convince the remainder of the world that he means it -- by not backing down, or surreptitiously running guns to one side or the other.

So this is what America gets, heck, what THE WORLD gets, when America chooses a person to lead and that person is incapable of leading. 

Buckle up.. It's a long way to January 20th 2017. Rest assured -- things WILL get worse.

© J. D. Longstreet