President Barack Obama is getting hammered for his strange, prolonged absence from the presidential bully pulpit during one of the worst crisis periods since 9/11.John Podhoretz writes in the New York Post:
The moment demands that (Obama) rise to the challenge of showing America and the world that he is taking the reins. He has access to a microphone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
And yet, since Friday and a press conference in which he managed to leave the American position on Libya more muddled than it was before, we have not heard his voice. Except in a radio address -- he talked about education legislation.
Roll Call’s Keith Koffler wrote Tuesday:
The Middle East is afire with rebellion, Japan is imploding from an earthquake, and the battle of the budget is on in the United States, but none of this seems to be deterring President Obama from a heavy schedule of childish distractions.
This morning, as Japan’s nuclear crisis enters a potentially catastrophic phase, we are told that Obama is videotaping his NCAA tournament picks and that we’ll be able to tune into ESPN Wednesday to find out who he likes
Saturday, he made his 61st outing to the golf course as president, and got back to the White House with just enough time for a quick shower before heading out to party with Washington’s elite journalists at the annual Gridiron Dinner.
Newsweek’s Niall Ferguson compares Obama’s mixture of paralysis and failure to Jimmy Carter. On Obama's handling of the revolution in the Middle East, he writes,
"The result has been a foreign-policy debacle. The president has alienated everybody: not only Mubarak’s cronies in the military, but also the youthful crowds in the streets of Cairo. Whoever ultimately wins, Obama loses. And the alienation doesn’t end there. America’s two closest friends in the region—Israel and Saudi Arabia—are both disgusted. The Saudis, who dread all manifestations of revolution, are appalled at Washington’s failure to resolutely prop up Mubarak. The Israelis, meanwhile, are dismayed by the administration’s apparent cluelessness.
This failure was not the result of bad luck. It was the predictable consequence of the Obama administration’s lack of any kind of coherent grand strategy…”
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is comparing the Obama presidency to a sting or trick foisted on the American people by an imposter. The fictional piece postulates that Obama’s presidential campaign was a hoax. The article reads.
"Reaction from abroad yesterday was swift.
"I'm not surprised," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
"Well, that explains everything, doesn't it?" said British Prime Minister David Cameron. "I mean, really now."
Just 22 percent of Americans now say the nation is on the right track. That’s the lowest of Obama’s presidency.
Koffler adds this about the president’s “busy” schedule:
"But the fun stuff won’t end anytime soon. On Thursday, the Taoiseach of Ireland will be in town to help the president celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. And then Friday, it’s off to Brazil for the start of a three-country Latin American tour."(vacation)