Shocking

By E.J. Keene

Filed Under POTUS on Nov 6 

Wow, I am not sure how to parse this one. Apparently, news is coming out that hours after hearing about the Ft Hood shootings, the president came out to address a crowd and press at the First Nations Conference. His purpose was to comment on the deaths of American troops. Instead, for the first 2 minutes, he rambles on about policy issues with the FNC, even giving a “shout out” to a particular member in the crowd. One report, from NBC Chicago (surprising source, I know), headlined it “frightening insensitivity”.

Presidents face enormous emotional challenges. Trying to feign interest in topics you could care less about, sound cheery over things that depress you, work with people who are on completely different pages, even within your own party. It’s a grinder at times.

That said, there are times where the solemnity of the moment should just ratchet up your attention and influence your emotional state. The importance of it should speak for itself. Having your own soldiers dying by the dozens is one of them. When it’s the other side of the world, it can be a challenge to imagine. When it’s in your backyard, you need to get a grip fast on how to respond with honor, sobriety, and a sadness over the loss of good people.

It’s moments like those that give a rare glimpse deeply into the character of a man. And in that moment, what I saw was a man in ‘campaign and politics’ mode instead of ‘commander of men and women’ mode. It revealed a shocking level of priority mis-management, where wonking with special interest groups takes front seat over a national tragedy (not to mention possible national security issues).

What degree of narcissism are we dealing with here? How many more people (especially loyal sycophants) will be thrown under the bus before people wake to the reality that this man truly only cares about himself, and as long as you are useful for his ends, you’re in good graces (read that with great trepidation, blue-dog dems). When your expediency is finished, you are as well.

Bush had his Katrina. Obama is going to have his Ft. Hood.

Bush was pounded for his response to the news of terrorists hitting the Twin towers. Liberals just gloated over how he kept reading to the class of kids for another half and hour before departing and confronting the situation. They labeled him as insensitive, out-of-touch, clueless, and completely off the page with what was supposedly needed at that moment.

So what will they say about Obama on this one??

Comments

  • kristen

    (Doh! Screwed up my tags.)

  • kristen

    I watched it later that night (since it interrupted my DVR’d Beck program) and was trying to piece together all the info. I kept thinking we had the wrong press conference. (How could the POTUS be so insensitive?) But no, it was the POTUS actually being insensitive.

    To answer your question–he’ll get a free pass….as he does 99% of the time.

  • Troy La Mana

    One of my hobbies is trying to restore my ’68 Mercury Cougar and this subject came up on the forum.
    I quote one of the responses from “Desert Dawg” with permission.

    “Scarey stuff, this….. but then again, I have a kid that wears ACU’s and a beret to work, so I’m probably more ‘sensitized’ to the subject.

    +1 million on the shoddy “reporting” that’s going on right now. I’ve given up on the news for a while; will give them a few days, maybe a week or more, before they get down to the discoverable facts and stop with the wild speculation.

    [soapbox mode= "ON"]
    Lord, save me from the journalistic opinions.
    “This is an indicator of the stress these soldiers are feeling about going to war, just like Storm 1″
    Hellll-OOOOoooo! When this guy or anybody signed up to wear a military uniform, did they not see the pictures of the weaponry???? A ’16A2 is not designed for deer hunting; the M4 even less so. Some people are meant to be lawyers or garbagemen or even car salesmen. I’m very proud that my kid looked at all the facts and still signed up to “do something for our country”; knowing that it could very well mean ducking under live fire in some strange country.
    A Veterinary Tech, she volunteered once for a 6 month tour in the sandbox with one of her vets….. okay her logic was colored by the fact that her fiancee was already there; but she wouldn’t have put herself in that position without weighing the odds. I’m proud of her – and, being “Daddy”, I was relieved that she was passed over for the trip.

    Next I heard the theories about Post-Stress causing this guy to wig out.
    Uhhhhhhhhh, he hadn’t ever left the United States in a uniform! Must’ve been an extremely harrowing experience treading the floors of Walter Reed, huh?
    My now-son-in-law suffered a bit from PTSD after this last trip (he lost a few guys out of his squads); he handled it by not re-enlisting and instead opening up a “Performance Automotive” shop and making a decent living; even growing his business in this crappy economy. Maybe it’s just that instinctual Northern Irish pragmatism that seems to be lifting him far above the reported “teeming masses of fragile emotions”, I don’t know….

    I’ve obviously been fortunate enough to meet and be impressed by a bunch of serving soldiers through my daughter and son-in-law; by and large, they privately state that they justifiably feel more threatened by the esteemed citizens of Washington, DC than the ‘bad guys’ they may meet on the job!

    Don’t misunderstand, I can understand the pains of the wounded at Ft Hood; although I cannot adequately feel for the families of those who have fallen as I haven’t shared in their experience….. I look at their plight and can only thank God that this horror has passed me by, and ask that He comfort them in their strife.

    And I pray that the ‘reporters’ somehow gain the wisdom to just Sierra-Tango-Foxtrot-Uniform until they actually have some hard facts to report in this matter. Because I’m pretty doggone sure that there are a lot of other “Dad’s”, “Dad’s-in-law” and “new Grandpa’s” whose hearts missed a couple of beats when they heard initial reports about this; and we and our kids absolutely don’t need this sensationalist cr@p!

    [/soapbox]“

  • http://www.sotr.us Cordeiro

    Sigh. There are somethings about leadership you just can’t teach.

    • Troy La Mana

      You have to have led in order to have learned leadership.

  • Brian H

    …….and the 2012 Dem Power Rankings will be posted when?

  • Gil Rice

    After digesting what ‘potus’was talking about to start the press conference yesterday, I suppose now we will owe the Indians money for taking their land away and causing the massive alcohol problem so many of them have. Just remember, they are really the ones that started this whole immigration problem so many years ago.

  • http://twitter.com/theatomicmom East of Eden

    Where is Emily Post when you need her? Some one needs to teach him about priorities!!

  • Troy La Mana

    I heard he was going to speak on the Ft Hood incident and then after a couple of minutes I thought, “I think they got their info wrong, he’s just talking about the Indians.”

    When he did talk about Ft Hood I didn’t hear any honest interest in his voice about what his teleprompter was telling him to say.