Obama Should Devote More Time to National Security and Less to Planning Beer Bashes

OK, WE'RE RIGHT! ^ | July 30, 2009 | Oscar De Los Santos

[OK Right]

We’ve heard a lot about Henry Louis Gates, Jr’s, arrest in Cambridge last week. Why? Because President Obama wedged his way into the incident. Michelle Malkin asserts that Obama weighed in on Gatesgate because he’s a “racial opportunist” (“Today Show,” July 29, 2009). The president will soon be playing bartender to fix his gaffe – but the truth is that even after the Obama-Gates-Sgt. Crowley summit, Gatesgate will continue to draw attention from more pressing matters.

Let’s not forget that an American soldier is still being held hostage in Afghanistan and seven men were recently arrested in North Carolina for conspiring to commit terrorism. These events and several others should remind our government and the American people not to shirk matters of national security.

Even as he orders our defense budget trimmed, cancels orders for military equipment and ignores the need to implement U.S. missile defense systems abroad, Obama is trying to sell socialized medicine to America and planning a White House beer bust.

Obama’s need for Oktoberfest in July is also security related – but it deals with a local matter into which the president should not have stepped. But he did, and as a result, he’s had to devote considerable time to cleaning up the mess.

The last question of his Obamacare press conference last week focused on Gates’ arrest. After admitting he didn’t have all the facts, Obama forged ahead with a cavalier opinion. In so doing, he scrubbed any progress he made on his health-care obsession.

If you’re concerned about Obamacare, there’s a positive side to Gatesgate. The president’s Bidenesque faux pau – saying, “The Cambridge police acted stupidly” when they arrested Gates – completely de-railed his push for so-called universal health care.

But ultimately, Gatesgate joins the health-care debate in pulling America’s attention away from pressing matters of national security. That’s dangerous. The worst thing we can do right now is to be complacent about our safety. If we lull ourselves into a false belief that things are looking more positive overseas; if we let ourselves believe that we can pull out of Afghanistan prematurely; if we allow ourselves to obsess on Obama’s three-ring self-promotion circus, then we’re in big trouble.

The current administration needs constant watchdogging. Otherwise, its questionable actions go unchecked. To wit, shouldn’t we be concerned:

* that the Obama administration is so hell-bent on helping ousted Honduran despot Zelaya regain power that it’s virtually lobbying for Zelaya’s reinstatement even as it cuts U.S. aid to the country? (Don’t we have enough on our plate without getting involved in this chaos?)

* that American and British military authorities are pursuing dialogue with allegedly moderate members of al-Qaeda? (Who but brainwashed pacifists believe that there are mild-mannered al-Qaida among the bad?)

* that Obama & Co. continue to throw Israel under the bus in its troubles with Hamas and Iran?

* that Russia has declared it won’t exert any pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions?

* that North Korea continues to violate sanctions – and advertise what it has for sale to interested parties – with each missile test?

These points illustrate major flaws in the current administration’s thinking. Gatesgate has led to a forthcoming meeting that’s more about helping Obama do damage control to his image than getting into a fruitful discussion of racism. Let’s not let the preoccupations of a narcissistic president and a publicity-seeking scholar steer attention away from more pressing matters that involve keeping America safe.

[taxtruth]

The WH is just in the damage control mode using Gates and the officer for a PR stunt just to save face.The damage is already done in my book.

[Revelation 911]

Id be interested in hearing MADD's take on the beer blast reconciliation.

It seems odd that given the pc nature of things, that a gathering, grog in hand is an acceptable means of PUBLIC action by elected politicians, Harvard snobs, and Police .....Had Bush done this, theyd have howled about it

[Bowtie52]

I think he, the Professor and the Cop should do more of this. While he’s soaking up the suds, he’s not causing further damage to the country.