"If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” George Washington
February 18, 2015
By: Linda Case Gibbons
What a kerfuffle!
Mayor Rudy Giuliani expressed an opinion this week that was critical of the president! What was the man thinking?
Obviously he doesn’t know the Obama Rules of Engagement. You don’t go around saying bad things about the president!
And to say the president doesn’t love America? Nonsense!
Doesn’t every one of his speeches ring with praise for the exceptionalism of our great country? Doesn’t he always put us first?
Obama may have said, "I will stand with the Muslims if political winds shift in an ugly direction,” but what American president wouldn’t?
I know it may not look like it, and may not always sound like it, but he’s there for us.
Remember when he told us what needed to be done to make America great? It was a bunch of stuff. He cares and knows what’s good for us.
He told us our immigration system was broken and needed fixin’.
That our healthcare system was broken and needed fixin’.
That Americans and Christians were on their "high horses” and needed fixin’.
That America was always broken and needed fixin’.
And now the Internet is broken. Yeah, it needs fixin’ too.
Okay, okay. I know you’re probably thinking that whatever the president does isn’t always perfect, in fact it usually isn’t. But you have to admit, that man does something about whatever he wants to do something about, darn it!
No, not "Islamic terrorists.” But just you wait and see. He’ll fix the Internet so you won’t even recognize it!
The fact is it’s not easy to tell the truth these days no matter who you are, is it? Some people don’t even bother trying, but those who do risk becoming a target.
Some say that truth is overrated. Some that the truth will set you free.
I like the old chestnut that says, "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
This week Mayor Rudy Giuliani said what people were thinking, but were afraid to say.
It was after the three-day Summit on Extremism. The president came out and summed up the whole kit and caboodle for us in a way that was a little strange for a world in which there even is an ISIS.
And the mayor had an opinion about it.
As always, in his speech, the president never said the words "Islamic terrorists” after what was, after all, a conference on terrorism, but had lots of praise for Muslims, who, apparently, have been given short shrift on many levels.
Who knew?
The end result of the Summit? Whatever the terrorists do is really our fault. What to do.
We need to walk a mile in their shoes;
As a rich nation, we should give ‘til it hurts to help the poor youth of impoverished countries so they won’t be despondent;
We can nip terrorism in the bud by turning potential ISIS recruits away from picking up that machete or that missile launcher.
And who wouldn’t want to "save” a quality person like that, someone who after YouTubing a gruesome beheading in an ISIS recruitment video says, "Hey! I want to join that club.”
But what it all boiled down to was "Right Wing Extremists” were seen as a bigger threat to the world than ISIS! Even Global Warming!
Who are these Right Wingers? Well, part of this group was pinpointed years ago in a memo issued by old Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. It had a warning about these extremists -- returning vets. The rest are probably in the Tea Party;
Best of all, terrorists like ISIS were said to have "legitimate grievances” that America must address.
You might ask how a three day White House Summit on Terrorism could turn into a Tribute to the Goodness and Accomplishments of Muslims?
But it did.
And we should have known it would.
Last week the Commander in Chief chose a media outlet that understood his take on things, VOX.com, and the president opened up.
He dismissed media coverage of the ISIS threat as simply a good media tool: "If it bleeds, it leads," and said the media was hyping the threat posed by terrorism.
Dealing with ISIS (he calls it ISIL) certainly calls for vigilance and aggression, the president said, but in the "same way a big city mayor’s got to cut the crime rate down if he wants that city to thrive.”
Jayvee.
Now I don’t think Giuliani was the "mayor” that Obama was referring to. You know what kind of a leader Giuliani is! You saw him on 9/11. He was here and there, always poking his nose into something!
But some might see that as a man possessing "leadership qualities,” even being "presidential material,” although I doubt that Obama would agree. He’s more a Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel type of guy.
The Summit was originally scheduled for last October, you know, but when it all shook out, it trended better in February. That was after we got all the slaughtering out of the way, after some "folks” were beheaded, some burned alive, and some randomly murdered in a Paris deli.
But after a Summit that waded in and tackled terrorism head on, to doubt that Barack Obama loves his country? Not to bring religion into it, but God forbid.
No, when Obama says terrorists have legitimate grievances that have to be addressed, read between the lines and you’ll see what he really was trying to say.
He wants to help us, too, not just Muslims! He wants to address our grievances, not just terrorists!
So I tell you what. Before the president shuts down the Internet, let’s send him our grievances. All of us! All of them!
Can’t find a job? Tell him! Lost a job you loved? He’d like to hear about it! Hate your mother, can’t pay your healthcare premiums, didn’t get enough chocolate chip cookies when you were a kid? Share that with him!
Friend him on Facebook, Twitter him on Twitter, text him or send an e-mail. I know the president is dying to hear from you!
Because no matter what that Rudy Giuliani says, you know Obama loves you.
Just the way he loves America.
Hold the line, America.