As we honor two painful national anniversaries, the 45 percent of Americans who make up the president’s approval rating show how little they respect America. When Mr. Obama asked in last night’s speech what kind of a world it would be if we looked the other way, he should have done a little soul-searching. What kind of a country do we live in when our leader can have this many supporters even though he has referred to Islam, which brought death to thousands of our people on 9/11, as a “great, world religion”?¹
We don’t respect America when we approve of Obama’s actions.
Americans show their disrespect for their country when they support leaders who undermine us (see: Is America’s Role World Leader and Superpower, or Sucker?). The world shows its loss of respect with power plays. Here are a few things we have done since 2009 to help that process along:
NATO bombing of Libya and the Benghazi terror attack: we got the world community, but not Congress to buy into getting involved in Libya. We were rewarded with condemnation for civilian casualties and a terror attack on our embassy on the anniversary of 9/11. We are still waiting for America’s response to Benghazi and some truth from Washington about what really happened. Anyone?
Syria: the Arab League condemned chemical attacks while rejecting military action, a pointless gesture in the one part of the world where these types of weapons are still popular. The Arab League knows that this is how things work and our lack of a learning curve makes us look like idiots. Even worse, Putin seized the upper hand while America’s leaders took credit for a solution that will make us appear weak and ineffectual when Russia helps Syria play the inspection shell game.
Apologies to Pakistan: taxpayers paid for Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton’s televised apologies to a country that has reaped billions in foreign aid and sheltered Osama bin Laden. How could we sink so low as to take the blame when the Islamic world turned to business as usual, religious violence?
A few offenses on the homefront.
Park51: an inoffensive label for the Ground Zero mosque? We don’t hear much about this Islamic beachhead anymore and many Americans probably don’t know that it opened to the public shortly after the tenth anniversary of 9/11. Nothing speaks to Americans losing respect for America like not haranguing lawmakers and the White House to the ends of the earth for permitting this travesty to be built and backing the project on the grounds of religious freedom. If Kerry wants to run his mouth about a moral obscenity, the Ground Zero mosque is it.
Boston bombings: since we’re listening to what Russia tells us to do when it comes to Middle East affairs, why didn’t we listen when we were warned about Tsarnaev?
Security in the skies: were nearly 3,000 dead Americans not enough to teach federal agencies a lesson about what happens when we ignore who crosses our borders, or do religious freedom, tolerance, and fairness demand that we turn a blind eye? A 2012 GAO report continued to document problems screening flight school students for security threats and immigration status (see: Lawmakers Neglect This Deadly Immigration Issue). Meanwhile, our Congress is still debating ways to loosen up a visa system notorious for overstays.
Is this a record Americans can be proud of? On a day commemorating one of the worst events in our nation’s history and another yet to be accounted for, 45 percent say “yes”.
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