Obama: Whose Side Is He On?

Mona Charen

The president has a pattern of downplaying Islamist motivations and dismissing Americans’ fears.

"Whole doctoral dissertations could be devoted to the question of what makes President Obama angry and what does not. His Tuesday broadside against Donald Trump stood in marked contrast to Sunday’s somewhat cold response to the Orlando massacre. This is a pattern. 

Mr. Obama did not name Trump, referring to him only as a “politician who tweets and appears on cable-news shows.” I’m not inclined to defend Trump, and will not do so now — his notion that we bar all Muslims from traveling to the United States is laden with unintended consequences. But President Obama’s studied refusal to acknowledge the reality of Islamic-inspired violence has helped to create the Trump phenomenon. In fact, it may well be the greatest contribution to Trump’s success. Some say that presidential elections are often referenda on the last guy: Carter was the anti-Nixon, Reagan was the anti-Carter, Clinton was the anti-Bush, and Obama was the anti-Bush. Thus, Trump is the anti-Obama." . . .

. . . He never tires of slaying straw men. It’s not a matter of intoning magic words. The critique of Obama is that he has so often projected the image of Islam’s defense counsel instead of America’s commander-in-chief.

. . .  

 . . . When ISIS-linked terrorists decapitated their American captive James Foley, and released the video on the Internet, Obama went golfing. He later said he regretted this, but that couldn’t erase the signal of indifference.

. . .

 After Muslim terrorists turned the Brussels airport into an abattoir in March, Mr. Obama attended a baseball game in Cuba. Before the bodies had all been buried, he danced the tango in Argentina.

. . .  

Comically Incorrect

By steadfastly refusing to make distinctions among Muslims based upon ideology and conduct — by insisting that Muslims are no more plagued by violent extremism than, say, Presbyterians — he has opened the door to Trump, who also makes no distinctions.

Christians Didn’t Commit the Orlando Massacre

David French at National Review  "We are now fully through the looking glass. A Muslim man walked into a gay nightclub and gunned down 49 men and women, most of them gay or lesbian. He paused in the middle of his massacre to call 911 and a local television station, making clear that he wanted the world to know he had pledged allegiance to ISIS. There are no dog whistles here. This is a textbook example of jihadism in action, plain and simple. 

"Yet somehow, Omar Mateen’s massacre has put American Christians on the defensive. 

"Yesterday, Anderson Cooper grilled Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, accusing her of hypocrisy for expressions of support for slain Floridians. Why was she hypocritical? Because she opposed same-sex marriage:" . . .

DID ANYONE TALKING ABOUT TRUMP'S SPEECH ACTUALLY HEAR IT?

Fournier repeated the fake fact currently sweeping the nation about Trump thinking he deserves congratulations, writing, "Donald Trump wants a pat on the back." But then Fournier made the fatal mistake of quoting Trump's tweet allegedly saying this: "Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don't want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!" 

How's this for smart, tough and vigilant?

Ann Coulter  "The media have lost their minds after Trump's magnificent speech on Monday. It's all hands on deck, no attack is too extreme. Their main point is: DO NOT LOOK AT THAT SPEECH. It has "words that wound." Much too dangerous even to read it. 

"Instead of reporting what Trump said, the media give us the "gist" of it (in the sense of an unrecognizable distortion). It was awful, Hitlerian, beneath our dignity as a nation. They lie about what he said and then attack their own lies as if they're attacking Trump. 

"The Washington Post's headline, which got their reporters banned from Trump's press briefings, was: "Donald Trump Seems to Connect President Obama to the Orlando Shooting." 

"I guess OK, You're Right, didn't sound professional, so the Post pretended not to understand Trump's speech, at all. We can't makes heads or tails of it, but he seems to be saying ... 

"One thing Trump is not, is unclear. 

"Contrary to the Post's headline suggesting that Trump had posited some crazy theory about Obama secretly meeting with Omar Mateen to plot the attack -- No, this gun is much better for a mass shooting, Omar -- Trump criticized the Obama administration policies that are not keeping us safe. (It's completely unprecedented to respond to a mass murder by criticizing the policies that allowed it to happen!) 

"After San Bernardino and Orlando -- also, the Boston Marathon, Fort Hood, Little Rock, Chattanooga and Times Square -- quite obviously, Trump is right. " . . .

George H.W. Bush’s Letter Left For Bill Clinton Upon Entering White House

Weasel Zippers

"What a beautiful classy letter, right? What was the Clinton team’s response upon leaving to George W.? They stole and trashed various items, including removing/impairing all the ‘W’s on typewriters in the White House."

Truth or Fiction   . . . "In response, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer outlined the details of the damage, most of which was in the Eisenhower Execitive Office Building adjacent to the White House.  On June 3, 2001 The Washington Post quoted Fleischer as saying that the damage included the removal of the letter “W” from 100 computer keyboards, five missing brass nameplates with the presidential seal on them, 75 telephones with cover plates missing or apparently intentionally plugged into the  wrong wall outlets, six fax machines relocated in the same way, ten cut phone lines, two historic door knobs missing, overturned desks and furniture in about 20 percent of the offices, obscene graffiti in six offices, and eight 14-foot loads of usable office supplies recovered from the trash.  According to Fleischer, there was one incident in the White House itself, a photocopy machine that had copies of naked people hidden in the paper tray so they would come out from time to time with other copies. " . . . 

Petulant juvenile: Obama’s tantrum a striking display of failed leadership

"It is understandable that Americans do not want to hear in such an outrageous act of war that is the Orlando massacre that they are the enemy.  Leading an entire nation, rather than a political party, is much more difficult than the more ideological task of a campaign. Ben Voth

Michael Goodwin

"If it is true that the best defense is a good offense, President Obama should be celebrating in the end zone now. Obviously furious over criticism that his anti-terror policies are weak and that the Orlando slaughter proves it, he went on a televised tirade to let America know he’s mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

"He laid waste to a field of straw men, cable-TV pundits and the always-evil “partisan rhetoric,” by which he means anyone who disagrees with him. It was a striking display of personal anger and pent-up grievances — and a total failure of leadership during a national crisis." . . .

On Islamic Terror, Words Do Matter  . . . "It is understandable that Americans do not want to hear in such an outrageous act of war that is the Orlando massacre that they are the enemy.  Leading an entire nation, rather than a political party, is much more difficult than the more ideological task of a campaign.  In a world of 24-hour campaigning, even once elected, that patriotic duty may be easy to forget." . . .


Florida governor (a Republican): Obama 'has not called' after Orlando terrorist attack   . . . "It's typically commonplace for the president to call the governor of a state after such catastrophic events. 
"Scott said that he received a call from former President George W. Bush, who said that he and former first lady Laura Bush "were praying for us."

"Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, also phoned him, Scott said." . . .

Trump: 'He was more angry at me than he was at the shooter!'