Obama has no shame

Obama has no shame
By Ed Rogers May 26

In the age of President Trump, liberals love nothing more than to pine
for the glory days of President Barack Obama. But Obama was always
better in theory than he was in reality. His recent trip to Europe
reminded us all of that phenomenon. Still, liberals would have you
believe that today's problems began on Jan. 20, 2017, with Donald
Trump's inauguration — as if the plague of Obama's foreign policy
blunders and failed economic initiatives had never occurred. And so the
story goes, with Obama retired from the White House, the liberals and
their allies in the media are trying to recapture the near-godlike
status he had attained during the summer of 2008.

But some things never change. Obama continues to hold himself in high
regard. He still loves the sound of his own voice, and his
self-congratulatory ramblings mirror the inescapably pretentious tone of
his campaign and presidency. Perhaps unsurprisingly, therefore, Obama's
supporters continue to swoon behind him — seemingly blind to the chaos
caused by the past eight years of mishaps, inaction and distorted truths.

Former president Obama has no shame. After all, it was Obama's
arrogance, inexperience and misguided worldview that fractured our
relationship with key allies. It was Obama who retreated from the world
stage at a time of increasing conflict and uncertainty. As Israeli
President Reuven Rivlin asserted this week, under President Trump's
leadership, "America is back again." For Obama and his supporters, that
has got to hurt.

And it was Obama who capitulated to Iran, saluted Cuba, and walked back
on the American promise to retaliate against the Assad regime's barbaric
use of chemical weapons in Syria. It was Obama who undermined U.S.
leadership and signaled to our allies that America was not the reliable
actor they previously knew. But even with the benefit of hindsight,
Obama has not come to terms with the impact of his foreign policy
blunders. Rather than remain silent and humbly accept the consequences
of his misguided actions, Obama incredibly announced in a recent
interview, "the issue that required the most political courage was the
decision not to bomb Syria after the chemical weapons use had been
publicized." In his mind, reneging on a commitment made to the world
should be glorified as an act of political courage. And perhaps most
chillingly, the truth is neither Assad's refusal to turn over his entire
supply of chemical weapons nor the fact that he took a green light from
Obama to continue slaughtering his own people seem to have made any
impression on the former president.

And here at home, Obama has contrived notions of reality that serve to
build only the facade he desperately wants us to see. Rather than remain
on the sidelines for a gracious period of time like most other former
presidents, Obama is taking shots at his political opponents. While
cozying up with a host of euro-elites in Berlin yesterday, Obama
pronounced in a pompous and self-righteous fashion, "We can't hide
behind a wall." Thankfully, the homeland security secretary, retired
Gen. John F. Kelly, pushed back against Obama's childish jab, arguing,
"We're not hiding behind a wall, and you can't defend anything by hiding
behind something."

With a flock of unquestioning liberal enablers cheering on his every
word, Obama can continue to obfuscate reality and advance the narrative
that all was good and well under his reign in the White House. But Obama
invited mayhem around the world, fostered a depressed, crippled economy
at home, created racial divisions, and imposed a PC culture that hangs
like a dark cloud over Middle America. Remember, Obama did more to make
the conditions ripe for a Trump presidency than anything Hillary Clinton
did.

Regardless of what happens at home or abroad, our former president can
hop on his private jet and escape the unfortunate realities of today's
crises. Obama can bask in self-delusion and embrace the collective
amnesia of his pious followers while living the life of a .01 percenter,
but feeding his own ego does not help solve any of today's problems.
Obama can afford to walk away from his blunders, but the rest of us can
only hope that today's leaders do a better job than he did.

Source: Obama has no shame - The Washington Post -
https://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/05/26/obama-has-no-shame/?outputType=accessibility&nid=menu_nav_accessibilityforscreenreader