Tag Archives: Barack Obama

International news, national news, political news

Trump, Pence ignore a key element in ISIS’s creation

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Did I hear this correctly?

That Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are responsible for the horror that the Islamic State is bringing to the world? Did Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump assert such a thing today? And did I hear his vice-presidential running mate, Mike Pence, echo such rubbish?

I believe that’s the case.

So, I think it’s time to set the record straight. Wish me luck.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-pence-vp-225652

The responsibility for ISIS belongs primarily with former President George W. Bush, who in March 2003 decided to topple Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq. We invaded Iraq with phony “evidence” that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction. We got him and his Sunni government tossed out.

Oh, and what happened then?

A whole lot of Sunni Muslims became angry with our invasion and decided to strike back at the Iraqi government.

The Islamic State then came into being.

For Trump and Pence and other vocal critics of President Obama and Hillary Clinton to suggest that their policies have given rise to ISIS is a malicious lie.

The president inherited the troubles brought about by the Iraq War. They didn’t create them.

What can we expect, though. A presidential campaign is going to produce vastly overheated rhetoric from both sides.

Trump, with his penchant for attaching epithets such as “Lyin’ Ted” on his foes, is sure to hurl far more than his fair share of lies at Hillary Clinton.

He and his running mate did so again today.

national news, State news

President makes point about his support of cops

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Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick went to the White House to take part in a town hall meeting with President Barack Obama.

The subject: police relations with communities that might not always believe police officers are their friends.

Patrick stood up and asked Obama to express his support for the police in a way that conveys such support for the men and women who protect us.

I believe the president answered Patrick appropriately by telling him that he — Obama — has been “unequivocal” in his stated support of law enforcement.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/15/brief-july-15-2016/?mc_cid=398044d66b&mc_eid=c01508274f

Lt. Gov. Patrick did not distinguish himself — or the state — when he derided the Black Lives Matter marchers as “hypocrites” when they fled the gunfire that erupted in Dallas the other evening. They were marching to protest police activities in other communities but then sought protection when the gunman opened fire. Thus, according to Patrick, they behaved hypocritically.

As the Texas Tribune reported: “In response to Patrick’s question at the discussion on Thursday, Obama countered that he had ‘been unequivocal in condemning any rhetoric directed at police officers’ and offered to send Patrick examples of him expressing the sentiment ‘in case you missed it.’”

Indeed, I have heard our head of state say repeatedly that he condemns those who have struck out against police officers. I am not sure what Lt. Gov. Patrick actually wants the president to say that he hasn’t said already.

Perhaps it’s that President Obama has talked openly about the incidents in which the police at times have treated African-Americans and other racial minorities differently than they way they react to others.

Obama also said that “data shows there are disparities in how police treated people of different races, and that pointing out those disparities should not be viewed as anti-police.”

We all know the police have difficult and profoundly stressful jobs. Barack Obama knows it as well as does Dan Patrick.

The president said so — yet again! — at the White House town hall.

International news, military news

Newt proposes going to war against Islam

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President George W. Bush stood firm and resolute in the days after 9/11 and declared — without equivocation — that America would not go to war “against Islam.”

Our enemy, he told a grief-stricken nation, are the religious perverts who acted in the name of a mainstream religion.

Then we went to war against terrorists.

President Barack Obama came into office eight years later and said the same thing. He has followed through on President Bush’s declaration. Yet those who condemn Barack Obama’s strategy choose to ignore the war policies enacted by his immediate predecessor in the White House.

So, what does a one-time congressional leader and former candidate for president of the United States want to do? He wants to go to war against Islam. Newt Gingrich said last night the nation needs to apply “tests” to Muslims to determine if they believe in Sharia law, which he said is incompatible with “western civilization.”

The former speaker of the House has given the radical Islamists a lead-pipe-cinch recruitment tool. He has just delivered to them all the evidence many of the terrorists need to justify their jihad against the United States and our many allies around the world.

Two presidents — one Republican and one Democrat — who’ve been up to their armpits in this on-going war against radical Islamic terrorists have laid down an important marker that Newt Gingrich has declared no longer matters.

Suffice to say, at least, that Newt no longer is in a position to turn his shrill rhetoric into public policy.

Thank goodness, at least, for that reality.

local news, national news, political news

This is what you call ‘outreach’

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I hereby crown Barack Obama as the King of Political Outreach.

The president is convening a town hall meeting at the White House to discuss racism in the nation.

Who do you think he’s invited to take part? None other than Texas Lt. Gov. Dan “They Are Hypocrites!” Patrick.

This is awesome, man!

Patrick popped off right after the shooting erupted in Dallas that killed five police officers. He appeared on “Fox and Friends” to criticize the Black Lives Matter protesters for fleeing the gunfire and seeking help from the very police whose conduct they were protesting.

Thus, came the “hypocrites!” charge.

https://www.texastribune.org/2016/07/13/patrick-attend-town-hall-obama/

It’s good that Lt. Gov. Patrick will attend this event. It will be televised on ESPN and ABC. The White House is seeking to assemble a diverse group of participants to get as many different points of view as possible.

This, I submit, is the real beauty of town hall meetings, which shouldn’t be used as political echo chambers where everyone applauds the views of everyone else.

As the Texas Tribune reports, quoting White House press secretary Josh Earnest: “I think the president is hopeful that those kinds of interactions will both illuminate a variety of perspectives for the American people to see,” Earnest said, according to a transcript of his daily briefing with reporters. “I also think he’s hopeful that it will illustrate what can happen when people open up their hearts to a different perspective.”

The catalyst for all this, of course, is the shooting of the two young men in Baton Rouge and suburban St. Paul, as well as the Dallas march and the shooting that erupted there. Two young black men died after being shot by white police officers and the shooter — another young black man — opened fire in Dallas in an act of revenge against white police officers.

It’s good that the White House is playing host to this town hall.

It’s even better that the president of the United States has invited an outspoken critic — Dan Patrick — to take part.

You want outreach? This is it.

national news

Not a perfect speech, but still pretty darn good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5IcMdwV6Hg

This video is 30-something minutes long.

It is President Barack Obama paying tribute to the five slain Dallas police officers, the men who were gunned down in that spasm of violence at the end of the Black Lives Matter march through downtown Dallas.

If he had asked me what he should say, I would have counseled him to keep the politics out of it. He didn’t ask.

It isn’t the perfect speech, but it is still heartfelt and sincere and I am quite certain the president — as did former President Bush — delivered some measure of comfort to the men’s grieving families and to the heartbroken community they all served.

It was a damn good one nevertheless.

Thank you, Mr. President, for honoring these men’s service.

national news, political news

President speaks eloquently at memorial

memorial

President Barack Obama delivered a touching tribute today to slain Dallas police officers.

The president, along with Vice President Joe Biden and former President George W. Bush, was among the dignitaries lined up on the stage paying tribute to the men who were gunned down by the shooter this past Thursday.

He spoke of their dedication to duty, of their families’ bravery and of the officers’ devotion to protecting the very people who were protesting activities of their fellow brothers and sisters in uniform.

But then he veered briefly into a realm where I wish he hadn’t gone.

He talked about the ease of buying a Glock pistol.

Sigh …

I have noted in a couple of earlier blog posts that a memorial service paying tribute to the five brave police officers was not the place to politicize a message. I guess the president didn’t read my blog, let alone take my advice.

Did it diminish his tribute to the men who died in the line of duty?

Not to my ears — although I am absolutely certain more critical observers will say quite the opposite.

I get that Barack Obama has done this kind of speech-making too many times already during his presidency. I believe in the sincerity of his expression of grief over the victims of this kind of violence.

I also am glad he went to Dallas to hug the victims’ families, and to offer support for the beleaguered and grief-stricken city.

The healing of the city’s wounds, though, is just beginning.

Let it continue to restore a great American city’s sense of self.

national news, political news

Welcome aboard, Sen. Cruz

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz speaks during the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum at the National Rifle Association's 142 Annual Meetings and Exhibits in the George R. Brown Convention Center Friday, May 3, 2013, in Houston. The 2013 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits runs from Friday, May 3, through Sunday, May 5. More than 70,000 are expected to attend the event with more than 500 exhibitors represented. The convention will features training and education demos, the Antiques Guns and Gold Showcase, book signings, speakers including Glenn Beck, Ted Nugent and Sarah Palin as well as NRA Youth Day on Sunday ( Johnny Hanson / Houston Chronicle )

Ted Cruz is now aboard Air Force One.

Right there — that sentence — tells me a lot.

Air Force One is the plane that carries the president of the United States. It could be a two-seat prop plane; when it carries the Big Man, it becomes Air Force One.

Sen. Cruz, the junior Texas Republican, has been a harsh critic of the current president, Barack Obama.

The two of them, though, are flying to Dallas to attend an interfaith memorial service later today in honor of the five policemen shot to death this past week in the hideous rampage at the end of a peaceful march protesting two police-involved shootings earlier in the week.

The president will speak at the memorial, as will former President George W. Bush. That, too, symbolizes a remarkable coming together during this troubling time.

I wonder if the president and the senator are going to schmooze, talk nice to each other. Or will they — to use the diplomatic parlance — have one of those “frank” discussions about the issues that divide them.

Whatever. My hunch is that we well might hear a bit less of the harshness from Sen. Cruz whenever he speaks in the near future of the commander in chief.

national news, political news

Shooter committed a ‘hate crime’

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The lunatic who opened fire on Dallas police officers this past week committed a “hate crime.”

So said President Barack Obama in a meeting today with police officials. He added that if the shooter had survived the rampage — in which he killed five policemen — he would have been prosecuted for committing a crime on the basis of his hatred for white police officers.

The thought occurs to me: Why do Obama critics keep insisting in light of this tragic event that he’s somehow “anti-police”?

I am having trouble processing this particular criticism. The president has spoken about the “vicious, despicable and calculated” act of violence against the officers. He has said such attacks on law enforcement is never justified. He has offered words of condolence to family members of the fallen officers and to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

But the criticism persists.

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/obama-dallas-police-shooting-hate-225390

Now he has referred to the shooter’s crime as of being of the “hate” variety. He compared the Dallas gunman’s act to the dastardly deed committed by the individual who killed those nine Charleston church members; those victims were black, the young man accused of that crime is white.

Sure, the president had his well-publicized “beer summit” after police wrongly accused an African-American academic of trying to burglarize his own home. Obama did accuse the police of acting “stupidly.” Those remarks seem to have stuck far more than the repeated statements in support of law enforcement that the president has made.

Well, the president will get another chance Tuesday to restate his support of the many thousands of police officers who perform their sworn duties with honor and distinction. He’ll speak in Dallas at an interfaith memorial service to honor the slain police officers.

Will those remarks quell the unfounded criticism? Hardly. He still needs to make them.

national news, political news

Partisan political debate will wait just a bit longer

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I don’t know about you, but I’m still trying to process the gravity of the events that took place last week.

Which means that I’m not yet ready to rejoin the political debate.

The “Main Event,” if you want to call it that, was the shooting in Dallas that killed five police officers, stunned a great American city and the nation and has — for the most part — brought many Americans together in the search for national healing.

The gunman is dead as the result of a totally justifiable use of force by the Dallas Police Department. Demonstrators in two other cities — where two young black men died in police-related shootings — have continued to march.

They’re all connected.

In precisely one week, Republicans will gather in Cleveland to nominate their presidential candidate. It’s likely going to be Donald J. Trump. I’ll have plenty to say about him and about his certain Democratic Party foe, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But as this week begins, I intend to focus instead on the interfaith memorial service set for Tuesday in Dallas. There will be some luminaries present to pay tribute to the fallen men.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are two of them. A third one is former President George W. Bush.

I haven’t heard as of this very moment whether either Clinton or Trump will attend. Wouldn’t it be a remarkable sight to see the two nominees sitting side by side, heads bowed in prayer, perhaps holding hands in the spirit of unity?

I won’t hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

We’ll get the political stuff fired up in due course.

For now, though, let’s simply honor the men who died while upholding their solemn oath to protect and serve their community.

national news, political news, State news

Welcome, Mr. President, but please … no politics

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President Barack Obama isn’t likely to get the message I’m about to deliver — but I’m going to deliver it anyway.

The president is coming to Dallas on Tuesday to attend an interfaith memorial service in honor of the five law enforcement officers who were slain this past week by the gunman who opened fire at the end of a Black Lives Matter-sponsored march downtown.

I want him to steer away from politics. By that I mean I hope the president speaks exclusively about the officers’ lives, their heroism, their dedication to duty and to their community and to the love of their grieving families.

He might be tempted to veer — if only briefly — into the realm of gun violence and the lethality of the weapon used by the shooter. He might be drawn to say something about the need to tighten rules and laws that allow people to obtain these weapons.

My wish is for the president to save that speech for another time, another venue, another context.

Dallas is hurting. The nation is hurting over the senseless loss of life.

A memorial service by definition is designed to pay tribute to the fallen and, if possible, to celebrate the contributions they brought to this earthly world.

I share the desire to welcome the president to Texas. I’m glad he cut short his NATO summit to come here.

Barack Obama is a wise man who will be guided by his conscience — not to mention by his team of political advisers. I hope they tell him: Mr. President, stick to the matter at hand, which as we see it is to help this community heal its grievous emotional wounds.