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Too Little, Too Late

If you tuned in last night to President Obama's Oval Office address expecting to hear something important, you were probably sorely disappointed. For those of you who missed it, here's my brief analysis.
 

• First of all, why was he standing, speaking from a podium, in the Oval Office? I was pondering that question and listening to his tone, which struck me as exasperated. He sounded like someone who just couldn't get the audience to calm down and listen to him. Then it occurred to me -- he sounded like a professor lecturing a class.
   
• The president reiterated a constant theme of his administration, saying that we should not give in to fear. He misses the point. We are not afraid of radical Islam. We are afraid of the continued weak response to it.

  Much of what Obama has said about ISIS -- comparing it to a junior varsity team, claiming it's contained, insisting that it can't attack us here -- has been wrong. We are afraid that politically correct policies are making the country more vulnerable.
   

• Obama acknowledged last night that we are in a war. But he still fails to understand what is going on. If ISIS were gone tomorrow, what about Hamas? Hezbollah? The Muslim Brotherhood? Boko Haram? Al Qaeda? We are not at war with just ISIS. We are at war with supremacist Islam.
   
• Obama again lectured Americans about our own alleged bigotry. As I thought about this last night, recalling the horrific morning of 9/11 and the long chain of events since that day -- the Fort Hood massacre, the beheading in Oklahoma, the attacks on recruiting offices in Little Rock and Chattanooga -- I cannot recall one case where a Muslim in America was killed out of anger against Islam. Maybe there is one, but the fact that I can't think of it tells me that what the president ought to be doing is congratulating us rather than lecturing us.
   
• Obama doubled down on the left's misguided agenda. He called for more "gun control," saying individuals on the no-fly list shouldn't be allowed to buy guns. His insinuation is that the San Bernardino jihadis were on the no-fly list. They were not. (By the way, more than 70 employees at the Department of Homeland Security are on the terrorist watch list. How does that happen?)

  Even though California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, that didn't make any difference last week. Obama declared that we were helping Turkey secure its border. Why aren't we securing ours?

  In short, the president's speech was too little, too late. He offered no new ideas, and I suspect the country has largely tuned him out.

  Can You Find The Radical?

  Remember the old shell game where someone tries to find a dried pea under one of three shells? But because of sleight of hand tricks, players usually miss it. I bring it up because we're going through a version of that regarding Tashfeen Malik, the San Bernardino jihadist bride.

  Some in the media are asking whether she was responsible for radicalizing her husband, Syed Farook. She was a dedicated Muslim supremacist, and was able to easily enter the country.

  But her father-in-law, Syed Farook's father, had this to say to an Italian newspaper:

  "My son said that he . . . supported the creation of the Islamic State. He was also obsessed with Israel. I told him he had to stay calm and be patient because in two years Israel will not exist anymore. Geopolitics is changing: Russia, China and America don't want Jews there anymore."

  Who in this mess is the Muslim we should think is okay? The son obsessed with ISIS? The Burka queen seething with hate? Or the father who told his son, "Don't worry, Israel won't exist in two years. The world is tired of the Jews"? I don't want anyone with such attitudes brought into America.

  Let me repeat once again: We should not be bringing people like Tashfeen Malik into the country who want to kill us. But how many of the 250,000 Muslims coming into the country every year hope that Israel will soon cease to exist? Why is it necessary for America to continue importing bigotry and Islamic supremacism into the country?

  Israel is the only nation in the Middle East representative of American values, and it is the tip of the spear in the war against radical Islam. America must stand with Israel.

  A Tale Of Two Shootings

  While the president and his left-wing media allies were quick to demand that we not jump to conclusions following the San Bernardino terrorist attack, many on the left were eager to smear the entire pro-life movement after the shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood facility.

  I am fighting back against this absurd attack on our pro-life values. Read more in my latest opinion piece at the Washington Examiner.

  Remembering Pearl Harbor

  Today marks the 74th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor -- the defining moment of my parents' lives. My father did what many red-blooded, patriotic men did -- he immediately volunteered for the Marines.

  As America was dragged reluctantly into the war, he drilled with broomsticks because at that time we didn't have enough money for weapons. But we mustered the courage to defeat imperial Japan and help liberate Europe from Nazism.

  As we remember "the day that will live in infamy," let's give thanks that we still raise patriots who will answer the call to serve God and country, and pray we can recapture the confidence of the Greatest Generation. They did not have a lot of physical treasures, but they had a rich understanding that Judeo-Christian civilization was something worth protecting.

  Happy Chanukah

  Carol and I extend our warmest wishes to all our Jewish friends and supporters celebrating Chanukah. As an evangelical Christian, I have tremendous respect and admiration for the Jewish faith and the state of Israel. As the celebration of the miracle of lights continues, I promise to continue fighting against the darkness of anti-Semitism and working for the safety and security of America's friend and ally Israel.