Gary M. Wisenbaker, Valdosta Today Editorial Director
VALDOSTA—A few hours after the bodies of the four marines murdered in a senseless attack in Chattanooga were flown to Dover, Delaware, in preparation for their full military honors burial—the fifth casualty, a sailor, who later died would soon follow—the White House held a press briefing.
The president couldn’t attend the briefing as he was busy packing for a political fundraiser in New York and a weekend with his daughters.
Being so caught up in his travel plans, Obama didn’t have time to honor the fallen by ordering the White House flag to half-mast; the order finally came five days later. By comparison, it only took two hours to bathe the White House with the GBLT colors following the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision.
Declaring the week “very interesting” and even “historic” for the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest exhibited an oddly imbulent mood, considering the recent horrific attacks against five unarmed servicemen.
In an effort to move through the murders as quickly as possible, Earnest called upon a reliable White House lap dog, AP reporter Darlene Superville, to open the session, a privilege for any reporter.
Superville’s first three questions were responsible and professional enough as they centered on the shootings. But then, just as any grateful puppy does after receiving a treat, Superville licked Earnest’s hand with a fourth question clearly designed to divert attention away from the Chattanooga massacre.
Noting that the president would spend Friday night in New York and enjoy some family time with his daughters, Superville ask Earnest to “flesh out the father-daughter weekend a little bit.”
Really?
Four marines and a sailor lay slain for no reason other than wearing the uniform of the American armed forces and an AP reporter wants to know what the president is doing with his daughters on holiday in New York? In keeping with the shamelessness of the White House’s refusal to honor the fallen, Earnest actually entertained the question.
The episode is instructive of the cavalier attitude this administration has regarding the seriousness of the radical Islamic threat both at home and abroad.
Reports indicate that the murderer, 24-year-old Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, had busied himself days before the attack researching “martyrdom”, in the radical Islamic sense, on the internet.
While Youssuf was gleaning the internet for ways to earn his 72 virgins, Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, was feverishly concluding a deal with the same Islamic radical mindset that rules Iran in an effort to arrest their plans to develop a nuclear arsenal.
And a deal was announced two days before Youssuf opened fire on the unarmed servicemen.
The agreement is a win/win for Iran and Obama.
Sanctions will be removed on Iran meaning the regime, an unapologetic supporter of terrorism and mortal enemy of Israel, will have access to over $100 billion in liquid assets. The franchises this money will fund are not likely to have anything to do with Persian rug outlets but everything to do with deadly jihadist organizations around the world. And Obama gets his legacy.
The agreement allows Iran to continue its industrial scale enrichment programs, production of an ICBM, and research and development on advanced centrifuges. And Obama gets his legacy.
The agreement allows for inspections but only after nearly a month’s notice and it ends the UN’s arms embargo, allowing Iran to buy and sell conventional weaponry, enhancing its ability to destabilize the region and support terrorism. And Obama gets his legacy.
In the end, the “Death to America” shouting mullahs in Iran (such chants acknowledged as “troubling” by Kerry), retain a path to develop a nuclear weapon, an appeasement in order for Obama to get his deal and, therefore, his legacy.
Gunnery Sgt. Thomas J. Sullivan, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, Sgt. Carson Holmquist, Lance Cpl. Squire “Skip” Wells, and Navy Petty Officer Randall Smith took an oath “to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic [and to] bear true faith and allegiance to the same . . .”
They died at the hands of an Islamic jihadist “wannabe” because of that commitment.
And that is their legacy.
Gary Wisenbaker, B.A., J.D. is a native of South Georgia where he practiced law in Valdosta and Savannah for 31 years. He has served as state chairman of the Georgia Young Republicans and Chairman of the Chatham County (Savannah) Republican Party. Gary is a past GOP nominee for State Senate, past delegate to the Republican National Convention and has consulted on numerous local Republican campaigns as well as chaired or co-chaired campaigns for President and US Senate on the county and district level. He is the principal and founder of Blackstone, LLC, a corporate communications and public relations concern as well as Wiregrass Mediation Services, LLC, a general civil litigation mediation firm.
Gary hosts his own blog at www.garywisenbaker.com and recently published his first fictional work, “How Great is His Mercy: The Plea”, on Amazon.com. His opinions are regularly published on ValdostaToday.com.
