"The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
May 28, 2014
By: Linda Case Gibbons
Two babies and a dog.
We don’t know where they learned how to do it, but they knew what an emergency looked like and they called for help.
A three-year-old Massachusetts toddler did. A 2-year-old baby boy in Arizona did. And a Labrador Retriever named Major used his teeth to pry his owner’s cell phone out of his pocket, then tapped on the screen to activate the automatic 911to summon help.
They all knew an emergency when they saw one and took action. The babies saved their mothers’ lives, the canny canine his Afghanistan veteran’s. They acted quickly because they cared.
But not our president. He never dials 911.
Four Americans died in Benghazi and hours after the attack he flew to Nevada for a campaign event.
Forty veterans in Arizona died after seeking medical care at the VA. More than a thousand more languished on secret VA medical waiting lists, some committing suicide because of the delay and President Obama didn’t comment for three weeks.
Same as always.
But in the very same month he decided a White House Summit on Concussions was a pressing priority -- instead of visiting a VA hospital.
In the very same month he made time to call Michael Sam to congratulate him on being the first openly gay football player taken into the National Football League draft – instead of visiting a VA hospital.
Ironically his call gave us a good measuring stick for the president himself.
"From the playing field to the corporate boardroom,” he said, "LGBT Americans prove every day that you should be judged by what you do and not who you are.”
The president loves saying words.
Well, then. Benghazi. Sick and dying VA vets. These deaths occurred on this president’s watch and what did he do?
He waited. He said he "was madder than hell. He said he had to wait for further verification.
Same as always.
Eighteen reports by the VA Inspector General weren’t enough to verify. Forty deaths weren’t enough.
But after reading the latest report issued by the VA Inspector General, Press Secretary Jay Carney did report that the president was "extremely troubled” by the information.
He should have been. The report confirmed whistle blower allegations, the same allegations that caused the same whistle blowers to be laid off from their jobs because they came forward.
Just like Benghazi. Just like Fast and Furious.
But no 911 call.
Weak? Indecisive? The graduating class at West Point weren’t confused about that.
There was no standing ovation for the "Commander in Chief” at their commencement this week. And there was only spotty applause for the political/ defensive address he delivered defending himself.
And there was a lot to defend.
Weak? Indecisive?
President Obama took the West Point graduation ceremony as an opportunity to parade out all his failed policies, disguising them as successful, but there was no standing ovation for the "Commander in Chief.”
His audience knew you have to earn respect whatever your rank. They were devoting their lives to the military. They knew you have to actually do something, especially when bullets are flying.
Despite assurances to the contrary, the cadets knew that the president didn’t "have their backs.” They knew veterans weren’t his "highest priority.”
Like the rest of the world, they followed his actions while in office and they’d seen him back away every time.
They saw him make budgetary cuts to the military, reduce soldier’s benefits. They watched as older veterans were prevented from visiting their war memorial during the government shutdown.
And they remembered Benghazi.
They remembered the calls for help that went unheeded, the attack by terrorists that was covered up sheerly for political purposes and they knew all soldiers had been left behind.
Like "much-in-the-news" super star Gwyneth Paltrow, the president sees himself as a victim – and a super star.
Paltrow complains about how tough her job is, tougher than working moms, she says, and how tough it is when she reads unkind, online comments about herself. She says that is tougher than what our soldiers face on the battlefield.
As she put it, "It’s almost like how, in war, you go through this bloody, dehumanizing thing and then something is defined out of it.”
Huh? But I see her point. She and the president are in the same boat. Both feel unappreciated and unjustly maligned for the way they perform the tough jobs they have.
Because it’s always about them, Obama and Paltrow are their own best audiences. Don’t get me wrong. They’re not brats, they’re just misunderstood.
Unfortunately Paltrow doesn’t have a George Bush to blame. And thank God President Obama has State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki to "appreciate” "all he does.”
At a press conference this week, Psaki staunchly stood by her prez, boldly stating that Obama "doesn’t give himself enough credit for what he’s done around the world.”
That could be because he denies involvement or any knowledge of so much of it, unless the news is good and then he takes the credit.
Whatever. At least her comment got a good laugh from the Press Corps.
At last the rubber is meeting the road. Obama has walked back so many comments about his numerous scandals so many times, has backed away from responsibility so consistently that he is starting to meet himself leading from behind.
So, no. There was no standing ovation at West Point.
While the president did not hesitate to come forward and identify with Trayvon Martin as the boy he might have been, Obama does not relate to the four Americans who died in Benghazi or with the vets who died in this his latest scandal.
But then again, who can blame him? Would you want to identify with 71-year-old Navy veteran Thomas Breen?
Breen died from Stage 4 bladder cancer a few months after being unable to get an appointment at the VA, despite blood in his urine and a family history of cancer.
Would you want to identify with someone like that?
Of course not.
Or the California vet diagnosed with kidney cancer who had to wait eight months for his application to be processed because he filed the "wrong application” for the "wrong war,” which was the one he fought in?
Of course not.
And who could blame the president for not walking a mile in those veterans’ shoes?
Who could blame him for not "doing unto others?” After all, he’s only the Commander in Chief. No one could blame him, could they?
Of course not. And Gwyneth Paltrow certainly wouldn’t.
Hold the line, America.