Great piece from Fox News detailing at least ‘9 times the Obama administration was blindsided’ – or allegedly blindsided, anyway. Here’s a sneak peek:
1. Islamist militants gaining in Iraq
The New Yorker [1] (1/27/2014): “In the 2012 campaign, Obama spoke not only of killing Osama bin Laden; he also said that Al Qaeda had been ‘decimated.’ I pointed out that the flag of Al Qaeda is now flying in Fallujah, in Iraq, and among various rebel factions in Syria; Al Qaeda has asserted a presence in parts of Africa, too.
‘The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a jayvee team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant,’ Obama said, resorting to an uncharacteristically flip analogy. ‘I think there is a distinction between the capacity and reach of a bin Laden and a network that is actively planning major terrorist plots against the homeland versus jihadists who are engaged in various local power struggles and disputes, often sectarian.'”
The Wall Street Journal [2] (6/11/2014): Iraq Drama Catches US Off Guard
[…]
8. Fast and Furious scandal
Jay Carney during a White House press briefing [3] (6/27/2012): “The president did not know about this tactic until he heard about it through the media; the attorney general did not know about it.”
Read the whole thing and – not to be a downer this weekend – think about it when you’re out and about today that we’ve got a year and a half more to go of this executive office seeming cluelessness on major hot button issues – most of which have significant impact beyond how it plays out here in the United States. The White House’s dangerous feigned ignorance on these issues and more (including Benghazi [4] and the emerging border crisis involving children [5]) has not just caused PR headaches for them but – in some cases – has cost innocent lives, the deaths of which many were preventable. If that level of willful HISS (Head In Sand Syndrome) doesn’t chill you to the bone, I don’t know what will.