"It profits me but little that a vigilant authority always protects the tranquillity of my pleasures and constantly averts all dangers from my path, without my care or concern, if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life."

--Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

Saturday, November 3, 2012

All Jacket. No Bombers.

Mark Steyn kills it this morning on NRO:

In the days after Sandy hit, Barack Obama was generally agreed to have performed well. He had himself photographed in the White House Situation Room nodding thoughtfully to bureaucrats and tweeted it to his 3.2 million followers. He appeared in New Jersey wearing a bomber jacket rather than a suit to demonstrate that when the going gets tough the tough get out a monogrammed Air Force One bomber jacket. He announced that he’d instructed his officials to answer all calls within 15 minutes because in America “we leave nobody behind.” By doing all this, the president “shows” he “cares” — which is true in the sense that in Benghazi he was willing to leave the entire consulate staff behind, and nobody had their calls answered within seven hours, because presumably he didn’t care....

Back in Benghazi, the president who looks so cool in a bomber jacket declined to answer his beleaguered diplomats’ calls for help — even though he had aircraft and special forces in the region. Too bad. He’s all jacket and no bombers.

Photo ops are easy.   To decide to put on a costume -- and that's what his "bomber jacket" was -- is easy.   To affect a look of "concern" is easy.   To fly over devastation is easy... you just look out the window and not thoughtfully.   There is no downside from your "decisions" to do those things... you can count on the mainstream media dutifully reporting the image you are trying to project.

To actually do your job is hard.   To make a decision where the outcome is uncertain is hard.  

President Photo-op has three more days.   And then the real job starts.

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