So, what does President Obama think about our military? We have an answer — “not much.”
And that is not a euphemism for “he has a low opinion of them.” It means “he doesn’t think about them much at all.”
Yesterday, President Obama gave a stirring speech at the memorial service for those killed and wounded at Fort Hood last week. Assuming the occasional presidential duty as Mourner In Chief, he did quite well.
Which should have come as no great surprise. After all, he had plenty of time to prepare his speech and have it loaded into his TelePrompter.
Far, far more revealing was his initial reaction to the shooting.
President Obama was getting ready to address the Tribal Nations Conference when he was given word of the shooting. Traditionally, when events of this magnitude happen, the president mentions them first — often including a request for a moment of silence or prayer — and then they go on with their prepared remarks.
Not this time. No, President Obama first had to give a “shout out” to the attendees, followed by a remarkably careless insult to the entire military. In attendance was Dr. Joe Medicine Crow. Earlier this year, President Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the nation’s highest civilian award. Instead, Obama referred to Crow holding the Congressional Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military award, given in recognition for only the highest acts of valor. (It’s become almost mandatory that it be posthumous.) For all Dr. Medicine Crow has done, it was all done as a civilian.
And then President Obama spoke on behalf of those shot in Fort Hood.
Over the weekend, Obama’s proxies continued the insults. His National Security Advisor went to the Middle East to assure folks there that our top priority would not be in identifying the causes of the rampage or preventing future ones, but in making sure that other Muslims or Islam itself would not be held to blame for the shooting. Meanwhile, the Army Chief of Staff spoke out about the shooting, saying that the worst possible consequence would not be the deaths of more Americans, or the loss of cohesiveness as troops find they cannot bring themselves to trust and rely upon each other, but the danger to “diversity” within the armed services.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, President Obama skipped off to Camp David. Instead, it fell to former President George W. Bush and his wife to visit with the wounded (in what was supposed to have been a secret visit)
That all served as icing on the cake to how President Obama is handling the situation in Afghanistan. He’s dithered for months on whether or not to implement the strategy crafted by his hand-picked commander in the field, even avoiding meetings with General McChrystal, while finding plenty of time to campaign for candidates around the nation. The troops there know one of the fundamental truths of warfare is that a decision made now — even a wrong one — is almost always better than the perfect decision made too late. And they are the ones who are fighting and dying while Obama dithers, trying to find the perfect political decision.
Mr. President, it’s time to — as my mother used to say — “shit or get off the pot.”
You wanted the job, sir. You fought for it. Being Commander In Chief might not be your cup of tea (you’d rather be Community Organizer In Chief, which has no real, defined responsibilities), but you accepted it as part and parcel of the duties you swore an oath to uphold. Show them the respect they are due. Honor them when they suffer. Respect their traditions and customs. Do not denigrate their awards and their deeds.
Our military is among the most loyal in the world — partly because their loyalty isn’t to the government or the leadership, but the Constitution. And that Constitution (with the ideals it embodies) commands them to give that loyalty to those who have also sworn oaths to it and rightfully taken office to defend it.
Loyalty is a two-way street, Mr. President. Their loyalty to you — as president and commander in chief — is absolute. You owe them the same.
And god knows they deserve it.
On this day — the eleventh day of the eleventh month — above all others.
