Obama's Foreign Policy Alternate Universe

Denial - a psychological defense mechanism in which confrontation with a personal problem or with reality is avoided by denying the existence of the problem or reality.  (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/denial)
 
In the context of world events and the wake of the Paris terror attacks, it seems self-evident to an objective observer that until President Obama comes to a place where he is actually willing to utter the words “Radical Islamic extremism”, he doesn't completely understand the problem.  And until Obama is willing to name the problem, we won’t as a nation come up with an effective a solution.  If our Commander-in-Chief is unwilling to identify the enemy (and by that I mean someone other than George W. Bush, the NRA, or the Congressional Republicans), how will we possibly be able to confront and defeat them?
 
But therein lies the problem: His worldview is demonstrably in conflict with reality and he is pitifully unwilling to abandon his faulty worldview.
 
It is increasingly obvious that our president is ill-equipped to deal with the ever-more-complex international situations that we are facing as a country.  He seemingly cannot force himself to admit the fact that – whether we like it or not - we have had war declared on us.  Sadly, it appears he is too proud, he has too much invested, he is simply too much of an ideologue to admit when he is wrong.  And thus we have the current chaos.
 
Known to be thin-skinned and defensive, he has chosen to surround himself with people who agree with him to avoid being challenged.  Throughout his life - at law school, as a community organizer, as a Senator, and as Commander in Chief  his mentors and advisors have consistently been radical ideological leftists (Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Jeremiah Wright, David Axelrod, Eric Holder, etc.) holding a consistently Marxist outlook on life that says that the United States is the foci of most of the evil in this world.
 
No doubt this explains at least in part, why he reserves his harshest critiques not for Vladimir Putin, but for Congressional Republicans.  This explains why he will negotiate with the radical leadership of Iran, but refuses to talk with the House Budget Committee.  This accounts for why he condemns the NRA louder than he does Islamic terrorists.
 
Recall that it wasn’t all that long ago that Obama called ISIS  Al Qaeda’s “JV team” and that just the day before the Paris massacres he was hailing ISIS as “contained”.  He was clearly wrong on both counts.  This refusal to accept facts that contradict the White House’s crumbling narrative was profoundly illustrated by his noticeably testy responses to Journalist’s queries questioning the effectiveness of his strategy (if it can be called that) at the G20 conference on Monday.
 
He was impassionate in his statements.  What the French President called "an Act of War”, Obama referred to as a “setback”.  He was defensive.  And predictably, he reserved the brunt of his wrath, not for the terrorists, but for Republican critics who have suggested a halt to importing into our country 10,000 Syrian refugees that Arab states won’t touch – despite the fact that at least one of the Paris terrorists held a Syrian passport.
 
Our President is in utter denial. The world as it is and the world as he wishes it to be are diametrically opposed.  His worldview and the reality this country finds itself in are in direct conflict.  And sadly, he has chosen to stick with the faulty worldview.
 
Of course this makes him look extremely silly, but it also makes this country look weak – and more dangerously, emboldens our adversaries and enemies such as China, Putin, and ISIS.  Evil does exist in this world, and if not called out and resisted, it tends to move quickly to fill the vacuum of power.
 
Because our President is unwilling to face this reality, we have no coherent Middle East foreign policy; and his successor - and our children – face a much more dangerous world.




11/18/15 Addendum - Perhaps some of you caught Bill O'Reillys interview with Gov. Chris Christie last night on The O'Reilly Factor.  Christie said of the President's policies, "This is a guy who lives in a fantasy world... He sees the world as he likes to see it, as fantasy."


11/23/15 Addendum - A CBS News poll released today reports the following:  "Just over a week after the terrorist attacks in Paris, only 23 percent of Americans think President Barack Obama has a clear plan for dealing with the militant group ISIS, the lowest number yet recorded in the CBS News Poll.  Sixty-six percent do not think he has a clear plan - a new high."  While Republicans and Democrats differ sharply on whether they should be allowed in at this time, "there is widespread agreement on a stricter screening process for Syrian refugees.  Nearly eight in 10 Americans (78 percent) - including majorities of all partisan stripes - say it is necessary for Syrian refugees to go through a stricter security process than they do now."(http://www.cbsnews.com/news/what-do-americans-think-of-isis-syrian-refugees-terrorism/)

The FOX Business Debate

Some quotes I picked up from tonight's presidential debate, hosted by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal.

"If you put more money in people's pockets they will in fact be more generous, not less generous." Dr. Ben Carson

"Washington is fundamentally corrupt. There are more words in the tax code than there are in the Bible - and not a one of them is as good." Sen. Ted Cruz

"We can't have an economy if we're not safe... I know that the world is a safer and better place when the United States is the strongest military power in the world." Sen. Marco Rubio

"We have to make our military, bigger, better, stronger, so that nobody messes with us." Donald Trump

On Islamic extremism "...our goal is not to contain them, but to destroy them before they destroy us." Dr. Ben Carson

"It is not compassionate to say 'we will not enforce the law' and drive down the wages of millions of hard-working Americans." Sen. Ted Cruz

"If the family breaks down, the nation breaks down." Sen. Marco Rubio

"A Clinton Presidency will corrode the character of this nation. Why? Because of the 'Clinton way': Say whatever you have to, Lie as long as you can get away with it. We must beat Hillary Clinton." Carly Fiorina

  

For those of you who were watching tonight's debate, some questions.  Feel free to weigh in with your comments:

• Who did you think were the 'winners' and who were the 'losers'?
• Did you like the questions and moderators style better than the previous MSNBC debate?
• What quotes from tonight's debate resonated the most with you?