Barack Obama's Islamophilia

No one should have been surprised to see that Barack Obama failed to show up at the rally against Islamic terrorism in Paris.

They should have known that, suffering from chronic Islamophilia, he was too ill to fly.

And no one should have been surprised to see that the American administration could not even send the vice president or the secretary of state, or even the attorney general.

The administration whose policy toward radical Islam can best be summarized in Obama’s words: “The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” could not rally against terrorists who massacred a group of cartoonists and innocent Jews because they (the terrorists) want to ensure that: “The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”

While the leaders of the Western world were standing up to radical Islam, the American attorney general, representing the administration, was on the Sunday talk shows refusing to say that radical Islam was the enemy. His quarrel was only with those who had corrupted Islam.

At the same time the administration decided to convene a conference against "extremism." Anything but calling the thing by its name.

At a time when French leaders, from the president to prime minister have both denounced radical Islam, the Obama administration continues to treat Islam with reverence.

Since Islamic terrorism seeks to extort respect for Islam, the Obama administration has been fueling the fire.

Even Bill Maher has figured out that when there are that many bad apples, something is wrong with the orchard.

Better yet, while millions were marching against radical Islam our attorney general was discussing the possible prosecution of Gen. David Petraeus. As one wag pointed out on Twitter, the administration that lost Iraq was getting ready to prosecute the general who had won (or at least stabilized) it.

Which side are they on?

January 11, 2015 marks the day when Western leaders discovered that America, in the person of its president, had abdicated leadership in the war on Islamist terrorism. If they had been holding out hope that Barack Obama would step up and lead the fight against Islamic terrorism, 1/11/15 was the day they were forced to face the dire reality. In the fight against Islamist terror, Obama was AWOL.

Barack Obama believed that he had solved the world’s terrorism problem by killing Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki. Well, al Qaeda is not on the run. It is running wild. And ISIS arose and invaded vast territories in Syria and Iraq on Obama’s watch.

The success of ISIS did not merely attract aspiring jihadis. It did not merely give them the chance to train in the dark arts of mass murder. It gave them confidence in the righteousness of their cause. It convinced them that America and the West were too weak, too cowardly and too decadent to sustain a long struggle.

If anything, the Obama presidency proves that terrorism works. It has convinced aspiring jihadis that great nations, led by weak men will cower under the threat of fierce Muslim fighters. Rather than stand tall and proud beside other Western leaders Barack Obama was relaxing comfortably in front of the television screen, watching a football game.

Better yet, while Western leaders were rallying in Paris against Islamic terrorism, our secretary of state, John Kerry was in India railing against… global climate change.

This week Charlie Hebdo is going to print a million copies, filled with caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

Of course, it’s exercising its right to free expression. But the newspaper is also striking a blow in the culture wars. The best reaction to those Muslims who believe that ridicule of their religion is a capital offense is not to throw a filmmaker in jail. It’s to double down on the ridicule.

It’s the only way to show that we will not be cowed.

[Addendum: compare the remarks of Democratic political consultant Douglas Schoen:

Sunday, President Obama morally abdicated his place as the leader of the free world.

His decision to stay home instead of standing side by side with French President Hollande as millions marched in Paris in solidarity with the slain journalists of Charlie Hebdo in opposition to radical Islam – an enemy fiercer than we have seen in decades – sent a clear message to the world: Obama just doesn’t care.

His words about the horrendous terrorist attack this week were not enough. They came off as inauthentic at best and offensive at worst.]