Friday, November 06, 2009

BARACK OBAMA

Hoping Obama Rises to the Occasion in a Crisis

Like Robert George, I was a little thrown when I saw President Obama giving a "shout-out" to somebody in the audience, moments before he discussed the Fort Hood shooting. Like Jonah, I'm not sure this is something worth making too much fuss about; Obama will do worse things during his presidency than make some off-key remarks right before offering his first comments on a national outrage.

But I'll note something mildly troubling about this, and it relates to something I've discussed with a few other righties lately. Back during the campaign, Joe Biden had said that Obama was going to be tested early in his presidency. Some might see the Iranian protests as his first test, or North Korea's increasingly regular missile launches, or the looming and seemingly ever-delayed decision on Afghanistan.Yet all of these events have seemed far away and fairly distant from the day-to-day life of average Americans.

Yesterday's horrific shooting, with the ever-rising number of dead and wounded, was one of the few days this year where you felt the need to get to a television and stay updated on a rapidly developing crisis. Inevitably, life will offer more of these moments, and next time it may be more than one individual with murder on their mind.

When the next crisis greets President Obama, I don't want him to drop the ball. Our friends on the left keep telling us about his great temperament, and feel certain he'll rise to the occasion in the face of hard calls, where time is of the essence, that would leave many men whimpering. I hope they're right.

But right now the early indicators are a bit ominous. We're two months past the request for more troops in Afghanistan, and still waiting for a decision. The next decision might be, "Mr. President, that unresponsive passenger jet is two minutes away from a heavily-populated area. But we can't confirm a hijacking, it might just be some unresponsive equipment. The National Guard pilots are awaiting your order to shoot it down."

11/06 09:49 AMShare