Saturday, October 20, 2012

The buck still hasn't stopped.




The more I learn about what happened in Benghazi, Libya, the more respect I have for U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens as a true American hero.

He was well aware of the score. He knew the stakes. Most importantly, he knew he would very well lose, and still he carried on the diplomatic mission on behalf of his nation…and his President.

Of all the rhetoric and punditry I’ve heard, “sobering” is undoubtedly the best description of the recently released State Department cables depicting Ambassador Stevens’ accurate assessment of the environment and his very real concerns for his team’s safety. As Ambassador Stevens’ insights are sobering, the State Department’s and the Obama Administration’s lack of awareness and ostensible disregard for that insight is sickening.

So, what next?

What action can President Obama and Secretary Clinton endeavor to take that would be worthy of the sacrifice that they have asked of Ambassador Stevens? What foreign policy or campaign was worth the careless risk and callous loss of life?

During the second Presidential debate, President Obama made an effort to appear to be a leader and stated, “Secretary Clinton has done an extraordinary job. But she works for me. I'm the president and I'm always responsible, and that's why nobody's more interested in finding out exactly what happened [than I].”

Secretary of State Clinton not only works for Obama, she was hand picked by Obama, and she undoubtedly worked closely with him to develop his foreign policy, as well as the plan to implement that policy.

Those grounds alone are sufficient for a reasonable citizen to hold Obama accountable for every aspect of what happened in Libya, even if…especially if…as Joe Biden testified, the White House “did not know they wanted more security there.”

I cannot fathom that President Obama had no awareness of the security situation at all.

If Clinton did an extraordinary job as Obama claims, why was he unaware of the situation on the ground in Libya? If Obama sent Clinton out into the world to do his bidding and she failed, as his handpicked envoy, her failure is his failure. If Obama simply failed to interface with Clinton, Obama has little choice but to own that as his failure, too.

This is what it means to be a leader. You ARE responsible. Now own it.

Bin Laden is dead, and so is Chris Stevens. When bin Ladin was killed Obama was quick to take responsibility. When Chris Stevens was killed…

…not so much.

2 comments:

Bike Bubba said...

One plausible explanation for why Obama "didn't know"; doesn't he skip most of his security briefings?

OK, not exactly a reason to vote for him, but....

The Father knows best. said...

Well, if national security is optional, why would the security briefings be mandatory?