Mr. Obama must have missed the lesson that taught most of us that actions speak louder than words.
I have been bemoaning the lack of leadership quality resident in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave for quite some time. Mr. Obama, the “Speechifer in Chief”, can talk up a storm on virtually any topic at any time. Yet his actions just don’t quite live up to his words. He has a penchant to talk to talk, but when it comes time to walking the walk he is wholly lacking.
On Sunday almost 4 million people took to the streets of France including the top leaders of other countries. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas marched arm in arm with French President Francois Hollande. Conspicuous by their absence was American leadership. Our ambassador, Jane Hartley, was assigned the task of participating even though Attorney General Eric Holder was in Paris. He had flown there almost immediately after the Charlie Hebdo massacre, but deigned not to stay and flew back to the US skipping the rally. Now Secretary of State John Kerry will, after the fact, travel to Paris to show solidarity. A little late if you ask me and being seen as what it really is, a hollow gesture.
History will not be kind to this President or his administration for their behavior on the world stage. The innumerable speeches given by Mr. Obama will have very hollow reverberations down the corridors of time. When his actions mattered he has failed and failed repeatedly. His words have often been quite contrary to his actions.
Stature matters. Actions matter. Actions and also the lack of actions have consequences.
In this case what could have been a master stroke of global leadership went calling. Worldwide attention was coalesced on the streets of Paris and from there virtually everywhere. There could possibly have been no better place or time for Mr. Obama show his intention to be the champion of the fight against radical Islam terrorists.
Even the main street press has noticed this major blunder. Mr. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Eric Holder and the entire White House is being excoriated in newspapers in every corner of the civilized world.
More and more the world wants to look toward the United States for our leadership of old and have come up empty. Syria, Iraq, Israel, and Ukraine to mention only the most recent situations that required a strong hand from the President have been allowed to fester and become out of control because of inaction in Washington. Our past is no longer an indication of our willingness to be the leader of the free world either now or in the future.
Mr. Obama is an embarrassment.