Legend has it Emperor Nero fiddled while Rome burned. True or not, the story serves as a fitting analogy for current events.
The world is on fire. Meanwhile, President Obama dithers and fiddles. From the Middle East to the American Midwest, people are angry and up in arms.
In the Middle East, one country – Egypt – has already experienced regime change at the hands of street protesters, and another is embroiled in a civil war. Unrest has broken out in almost all of the Arab countries in the region.
In the United States, Democrats, progressives, socialists and other far-left wing agitators joined forces with union protesters in an effort to undermine the duly elected government of Wisconsin. Now, they are working to spread unrest across America.
But where is President Obama?
The world used to look to the President of the United States for strength and leadership. Unfortunately, this President is too busy to deal with minor inconveniences like insurrection and civil war.
Unfortunately, America did not elect a leader in 2008, but an agitator with no executive experience and no idea of what true leadership means.
Consider the situation in Libya, a nation in the midst of a brutal civil war.
It took the President nine days to even speak out on the situation, and when he did, his response was tepid at best.
Hundreds of Americans were stuck in Libya, and despite being President of the most powerful country on earth, Obama did not send one single military aircraft or naval vessel out of fear someone might get the wrong idea.
Instead, the State Department chartered a ferry to evacuate Americans out of Libya.
A post at Atlas Shrugs compares the American response to that of other nations:
In the UK, PM David Cameron took control of the evacuation of British nationals from Libya and sent the navy frigate, the HMS Cumberland, to rescue Brit nationals, in addition to upwards of six special flights.
Germany has sent three warships with 600 soldiers on board to the sea area between Malta and Libya, reports the German magazine Spiegel.
China dispatched a navy ship to support the evacuation of its citizens.
The Italian military ship San Giorgio left the Libyan coast Friday with about 245 people,half of them Italians, said the ship's captain Enrico Giurelli. More than 1,000 Italians have been airlifted and shipped back from Libya over the last two days, and Italy hopes to bring back a further 200 Friday, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Friday, according to ANSA news agency. Italy has two ships off Misrata to evacuate 150 Italians, although heavy seas are reported to be hampering the ships' entry to port.
But Obama sends a chartered ferry.
Ken Allard, of ABC News, wonders what the Obama Doctrine is, or worse yet, wonders if a doctrine exists.
Allard points out what many are now beginning to understand about this President:
The serious point -- from the Gulf oil disaster to just about five minutes ago -- is that we have a continuing failure of presidential leadership.
Apparently, even the rebels in Libya understand this better than some Americans. According to an earlier Reuters report, one rebel asked for help from George Bush:
Rebels called on Thursday for a no-fly zone, echoing a demand by Libya's deputy U.N. envoy, who now opposes Gaddafi.
"Bring Bush! Make a no fly zone, bomb the planes," shouted soldier-turned-rebel Nasr Ali, referring to a no-fly zone imposed on Iraq in 1991 by then U.S. President George Bush
Since then, the story has been scrubbed of any reference to George Bush.
What, exactly, is this President doing when he’s not meeting or talking with union bosses or trashing Fox News?
An article at The Hill says the President will go down in history as the first to brew his own beer in the White House – for all those beer summits he’s certain to have with union bosses.
There are always “date nights” and vacations because any married man knows that when the First Lady isn’t happy, no one is happy.
And if that isn’t enough to keep him busy, there’s always a Republican Governor he can either sue, or undermine through his political campaign arm.
Imagine the media response if George W. Bush had waited days only to charter a rickety ferry to evacuate American citizens from a foreign nation.
But Obama has plenty of cover.
Sounding more like an evangelist leading a chorus of “How Great Thou Art” than a serious news analyst, MSNBC’s Chris Matthews made the laughable claim that everything Obama has done since being elected has been good and wonderful. By the way, you’re a racist dog if you disagree.
Not only is the President fiddling while the world burns, he has the mainstream media covering for him.
At some point, his incompetence and unwillingness to stand for America or make the tough decisions is going to cost American lives.
During the 2008 campaign, Americans were promised change, and we certainly got it. But is this the change we were expecting?
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