Two days ago, the White House explained to the New York Times why president Obama did not and will not change his schedule in view of the crisis in Ukraine where Russians shot down a civilian airliner and in Gaza where Israel is fighting to end missile attacks from Hamas. Here is what the Times was told:
"Abrupt changes in the presidential schedule could unduly alarm the American people."
That's right. A Malaysian Airlines jet is shot down by a SA-11 anti-aircraft missile and Obama goes to two fund raisers rather than respond to the event. Thousands of missiles are launched at Israel from Gaza with hundreds of planes and thousands of soldiers counterattacking against Hamas and Obama goes to get a burger at some bar in Delaware in his planned photo op. And this is done so as not to "unduly alarm the American people." Are they kidding?
Do you remember what happened on September 11, 2001, when al Qaeda attacked us? President Bush was in a classroom with 6 or 7 year olds reading to them when an aide walked in an whispered to Bush that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Bush did not know at that point that this was an attack, but thought, like everyone else, that this was a tragic accident. He did not get up and rush from the room, but spent 4 or 5 minutes finishing his visit with the kids and exiting from the class. How many times in the next years did we hear that Bush did not respond immediately to the 9-11 disaster? How many times were we told that it was a travesty and a major error by Bush that he did not immediately leave that classroom once he learned of the plane hitting the Trade Center? Bush waited at most five minutes in response to what appeared at the time to have been a terrible accident. Obama, on the other hand, knew within minutes that the Malaysian plane had been downed by an anti-aircraft missile. After all, the USA has satellites in geosynchronous orbits over that area which are designed to detect missile launches on the ground. These satellites are part of the American warning system in the event of an attack by ICBMs fired from the territory of the old Soviet Union. They still monitor Russia and the relevant part of Ukraine today. That means that the US knew that a missile had been launched at the airliner before that missile even hit and destroyed the plane. It also means that Obama just went on with his fund raisers while knowing that 300 people on that plane had just been murdered by Russia or its agents. But hey, the did not want to unduly alarm the American people.
Well here's new for the White House. The American people are already alarmed. We are extremely alarmed. We are watching our country drift from crisis to crisis with no one seemingly trying to control events for our benefit. We are alarmed because no one is performing the job of president. Next time, Mr. President, try actually doing your job. It won't alarm us. It's what we want and expect you to do.
"Abrupt changes in the presidential schedule could unduly alarm the American people."
That's right. A Malaysian Airlines jet is shot down by a SA-11 anti-aircraft missile and Obama goes to two fund raisers rather than respond to the event. Thousands of missiles are launched at Israel from Gaza with hundreds of planes and thousands of soldiers counterattacking against Hamas and Obama goes to get a burger at some bar in Delaware in his planned photo op. And this is done so as not to "unduly alarm the American people." Are they kidding?
Do you remember what happened on September 11, 2001, when al Qaeda attacked us? President Bush was in a classroom with 6 or 7 year olds reading to them when an aide walked in an whispered to Bush that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Bush did not know at that point that this was an attack, but thought, like everyone else, that this was a tragic accident. He did not get up and rush from the room, but spent 4 or 5 minutes finishing his visit with the kids and exiting from the class. How many times in the next years did we hear that Bush did not respond immediately to the 9-11 disaster? How many times were we told that it was a travesty and a major error by Bush that he did not immediately leave that classroom once he learned of the plane hitting the Trade Center? Bush waited at most five minutes in response to what appeared at the time to have been a terrible accident. Obama, on the other hand, knew within minutes that the Malaysian plane had been downed by an anti-aircraft missile. After all, the USA has satellites in geosynchronous orbits over that area which are designed to detect missile launches on the ground. These satellites are part of the American warning system in the event of an attack by ICBMs fired from the territory of the old Soviet Union. They still monitor Russia and the relevant part of Ukraine today. That means that the US knew that a missile had been launched at the airliner before that missile even hit and destroyed the plane. It also means that Obama just went on with his fund raisers while knowing that 300 people on that plane had just been murdered by Russia or its agents. But hey, the did not want to unduly alarm the American people.
Well here's new for the White House. The American people are already alarmed. We are extremely alarmed. We are watching our country drift from crisis to crisis with no one seemingly trying to control events for our benefit. We are alarmed because no one is performing the job of president. Next time, Mr. President, try actually doing your job. It won't alarm us. It's what we want and expect you to do.
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