Obama is No Leader

American presidents used to be referred to as the "leader of the free world", but I haven't heard that term used in a while.  It is no surprise considering that President Obama has utterly failed to lead when the issue of freedom is at stake.  Consider the disastrous manner in which the White House responded to the Iranian protests after it's most recent presidential election.  Obama was virtually silent and voiced almost no support for the protesters who were dying in the streets at the hands of theocratic thugs.

Similarly in the "Arab Spring", the administration has been completely behind the ball in supporting movements for freedom.  And after weeks of "rebels" dying in the effort to oust Qaddafi, Obama has done nothing to lead the world closer to a no-fly zone, intervention, supplying the rebels with arms or support, or even offering consistent moral support from the bully pulpit.

Meanwhile, Obama has not let his golf game go unattended.  In just over two years, Obama has already played more golf than President George W. Bush played in 8 years!  But I've yet to hear the mainstream media complain about Obama's golf habit.  The Nation reports: "Mr Obama played 28 rounds in 2009, 30 rounds in 2010, and two this year." 

I would have thought a president, considering the demands and requirements of his job, would have far less time than the average Joe to play golf, but not Obama. 

And while one of America's closest allies, Japan, struggles amid chaos, Obama will be traveling to Rio in Brazil to "take in the sights" with his family.

So while the world burns, Obama talks about the NCAA march madness tournament, golfs, and sidesteps his duties as president.  This is nothing short of a dereliction of duty and an embarrassment for the United States of America.

John Podhoretz writes:

Obama is defining himself in a way that will destroy him.


It is not merely that he isn't rising to the challenge. He is avoiding the challenge. He is Bartleby the President. He would prefer not to.

He has access to a microphone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If he tells the broadcast networks in the middle of the day that he has a major address to deliver on an unprecedented world situation, they will cancel their programming for him.

And yet, since Friday and a press conference in which he managed to leave the American position on Libya more muddled than it was before, we have not heard his voice. Except in a radio address -- he talked about education legislation.

And he appeared at a fund-raiser in DC. And sat down with ESPN to reveal his NCAA picks.

If the media were not shills for the president and in the tank for his socialist agenda, the President would be rightfully exposed for the disgrace that is unfolding at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Obama's refusal to do his job will have long term repercussions in the world in regards to freedom, democracy, and America's standing in the world.  The consequences of Obama's failures will be felt for years to come.