Liberals are obsessed with symbolism. For instance, during the Iranian hostage crisis, our hapless president, Jimmy Carter, appealed to the World Court to tell Iran that it was wrong for them to hold our embassy workers against their will. Surely someone told Carter that the Islamo-supremacist running Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini, believed in sharia, not "man-made-law." But Carter pursued the symbolic victory anyway.
What happened? The World Court of course sided with Carter, but Khomeini ignored the ruling.
Thirty-five years later we have another weak president who is chasing symbols against another Middle Eastern foe, this time it's the Islamic State. A few days after two jihadis murdered 14 Americans in San Bernardino, Obama gave what was touted as a rare Oval Office speech, his third from there. Big deal. Dear Leader is always giving speeches, does it really make a difference where he makes them?
Today Obama made what was touted as a rare visit to the Pentagon, where he talked tough about ISIS. But if we were defeating them, Obama wouldn't need to tell us about it, would he? But the Pentagon trip provided some great photo ops for Obama, who was standing next to top military brass during his press briefing there.
But symbols don't win wars.
No comments:
Post a Comment