Obama, You Nearly Blew It with Somali Pirates
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on April 13, 2009
By Vicki McClure Davidson * Frugal Café Blog Zone
Captain Richard Phillips, safe at last
It’s about our president.
The mainstream media has been singing the praises of Pres. Obama, about his “military victory” in the freeing of the captain. But I don’t see any of the glory rightfully going to him. None.
The horrible standoff could have ended much worse, much later. Had Captain Phillips not jumped into the ocean, and our SEAL snipers not taken immediate action, who knows how the brave captain would have fared against these seafaring thugs?
I’m deeply worried about how Obama handled, or more accurately, didn’t handle this.
Because despite all his lofty talk about a utopia attained by overtaxing our nation, he never talks about our strength. He is more willing to bash Americans for their “arrogance” while traveling through Europe than to decry the heinous act of kidnapping of a US citizen by murderous pirates. It’s the same old record all the time… we’re not so good and our enemies aren’t so bad. We need to be putting more “skin in the game” and must tolerate and be patient with our enemies, otherwise we’ll be perceived as arrogant or aggressive. I say, so what?
Obama’s slowness to defend the life of an endangered American against pirates spoke volumes about how we’re now being perceived by our enemies.
We aren’t the strong, “don’t dare mess with us” nation we were under so many previous presidents. We’re now looking soft, primarily because of us having a soft, naive leader. A man who is more concerned about his image as a nice guy who will sit down and chat amicably with our radical, bloodthirsty enemies, with no preconditions, than that of a determined, stalwart leader who can make tough decisions quickly when necessary to defend the people of America. A man who CANNOT LEAD. Our nation is looking like easy pickin’s to the bad guys.
No, our POTUS was too busy with housing and who knows what else to make any kind of decision or to grant our well-trained military permission to take aggressive action until Saturday. Captain Phillips was a distraction to Obama, a monkey wrench thrown into his grand plan to change America as quickly as possible.
He is our PRESIDENT. He needs to ACT like it. Not like some dewy-eyed, self-proclaimed architect of the “tinkering and tearing down” and remaking of our banking system, health system, or free market system… our education system, welfare system, or soon-to-be forced volunteer system… our energy-production system or any thing else under former Pres. Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush that he hates about this country. He is suppose to defend Americans and our Constitution. That is his REAL job description.
The playing with his “toys” of all the machinery of America needed to stop. Being our Commander in Chief had to kick in with all his focus, but Obama just couldn’t do it. Not like he actually meant it. It was like he was still campaigning. Like he wanted to be seen as a “nice guy” to the global community. Protecting his precious legacy by working with lawyers. Lawyers? And that is heart-stoppingly scary. What will an attack on our nation, in far graver proportions, bring about from our POTUS?
He needed to take his time to react and in that reaction, a pseudo-kumbaya, biding-his-time order was issued to our military. I thank God for our quick and precise Navy SEALS and the bravery of Captain Phillips to further risk his life in order to survive. I don’t thank Obama, because he nearly blew it.
Bravo to Captain Phillips. Americans fight back. I only wish Obama did the same.
Below is a portion of a blog that expresses my thoughts well; go to the site to read the entire post. Beldar Blog, Surviving Somali pirate captured by U.S. Navy should face death sentence under U.S. hostage-taking law (once you visit the site, be sure to scroll down and read the subtle rewrites/revisions of Obama’s action that the New York Times is implementing, painting him in a stronger light now that the crisis is over):
UPDATE (Sun Apr 12 @ 8:45pm):
If you’re wondering why I’ve been so churlish in not extending even a nod of appreciation to our Commander in Chief, read this paragraph tucked away near the end of the New York Times’ account of the rescue:The Defense Department twice asked Mr. Obama for permission to use military force to rescue Captain Phillips, most recently late on Friday night, senior defense officials said. On Saturday morning, the president agreed to permit action, they said, but only if it appeared that the captain’s life was in imminent danger.
Then tell me: When, exactly, during this entire episode was Captain Phillips’ life not in imminent danger? Why did Barack Obama have to sleep on the decision whether to permit our military commanders on the scene to use their own judgment as to whether to kill pirates who had attacked an American vessel and were holding its captain hostage? If this paragraph from the NYT is correct, then even if our forces had clear shots at all of the pirates simultaneously prior to Saturday morning, they lacked Obama’s permission to take them. And that is outrageous and, on the part of our nominal Commander in Chief, pathetic.
Yes, I suppose Obama could have been more pathetic — he could have refused permission altogether. But Obama obviously thinks he’s our Defense Lawyer in Chief, maybe Defense Lawyer for the World. And that’s not the job he’s in — that’s emphatically not the oath he took last January, and there are times, including this one, when it could be inconsistent with the oath he took last January. Obama’s operating under a delusion that is very dangerous for America and the rest of the free world. Color me unsurprised but still disappointed.
Bloodthirsty Liberal: Quick Draw Obama
Patterico’s Pontifications, Harangues that Just Make Sense: Beldar: Surviving Pirate Should Face Death; Also, Why Obama’s Handling of the Pirate Situation Does Not Necessarily Reassure
Michelle Malkin: Free: Captain Richard Phillips, hero; Update: “They were pointing the AK-47s at the captain” and What’s missing from Obama’s statement and A tribute to our Navy SEAL snipers
BitsBlog: Phillips Rescue: Not So Fast, Leftie Spinners
Another Rovian Conspiracy: More Distractions for the Obama Administration
The Astute Bloggers: Back to the Future
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: Let this be a lesson to the rest of the world – DONT F**K WITH America! Captain Richard Phillips freed, Navy Seal snipers put bullets into 3 Somali pirates, 1 captured
American Thinker: Captain reportedly freed, 3 pirates dead and one captured (updated)
Vets On The Watch: Woo Hoo!!
Jeff Emanuel, RedState: The Story of a Successful Rescue (and a Democratic Administration’s Attempt to Claim Credit)
American Heartland Bar and Grill: Heartland Morning Front Page: In a Late Game Last Night- U.S. Navy Seals 3, Somali Pirates 0
Peace and Freedom Global Future: U.S. Navy Kills Pirates; Frees Captain
Obi’s Sister: Why Do You Look for the Living Among the Dead?
AMERICAS WATCH DOGS: Happy Easter All Military: A tribute to our Navy SEAL snipers
The Tizona Group: When the only good pirate is a dead one
Exurban League: Obama Reaches Out to ‘Moderate’ Pirate Community
Gerald Warner, Telegraph.uk: Barack Obama: President Pantywaist – new surrender monkey on the block
The Loud Talker: Pirate Trouble
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The liberals must be going nuts with this and the lib newspapers are trying to change their spin now for Dear Leader. Bottom line is Obama procrastinated and balked at making any kind of real decision and of using force, and when he finally DID authorize force, he used a politician’s “escape clause” so that if something went wrong, he’d be in the clear. He could deflect the blame down to the commander on the scene or the SEALS or poor leadership. I don’t trust the man to do ANYTHING for America without making sure first that he and his cronies are protected. That legacy of his is most important.
I completely disagree with your assessment of Obama’s performance.
This was the only successful anti-pirate operation in years. The French operation resulted in the death of a hostage. The Indian operation was a fiasco.
The seals were not on site until Saturday. The commanders were given a free hand to do their duties. Give credit where credit is due. Feel free to criticize Obama but if you attack him no matter what, it becomes tedious. And you lose credibility in the process.
Good article. really glad the cpatain is safe. our special forces rock!!!! glad it’s over we can be proud of the men and women involved in the rescue. Im glad Barrak Obama finally made some attempt, even though I think it was really weak. maybe he’s figuring out being prez is harder than it looks from the outside. I hope hes trying to do the right thing for the right reasons but you know he has brought up his legacy before so I wonder about that. yeah something to think about. does he think about that beofre acting? good question. le’ts hope we don’t find out the hard way that he really is as bad as some people think. I want to give him a chance but sometimes that is the wrong thing to do. and when you realize it its too late. Yah for our seals!!!!
I was thinking a lot about many of these points you bring up while watching the slow efforts all last week. I know that protocol and legalities were being considered, but I kept thinking, “what if they just up and shoot the man while you guys in DC are dickering around”? I think Obama took a an easy way to CYA. Happy ending, tho, so no worries now. But yes – good points brought up here about how our enemies view us and how Obama is weakening the perception of America. It bothers me that the military had to ask Obama twice to get him to agree to take decisive measures. Let’s hope when North Korea or another country decides to launch a missile at us, he won’t dink around thinking TWICE about it to shoot it down.
Me and my friends talk about that alot, but even though some are Obama supporters and others are McCain supporters, we all want Obama to start sounding like a president, our leader, not a campaigner or weak-kneed politician who has to “lawyer up.” Good post.
I respectfully disagree with NavySealRules. This was no attack post, but rather it pointed out many concerning elements that are backed by fact. It is a critical evaluation that is not very flattering to our Commander in Chief’s weak performance. Yes, this was one of the first military actions of it’s nature, but our country will be faced with many of these in the months/years to come. There is no room for practice and excuses when American lives are at stake. Right now, I’m not at all confident that he will do the right thing in a timely fashion if our American soils are attacked by terrorists.
There is a lot about this hijacking that is not being released by the mainstream media. After the pirates attacked, many crew members took matters in their own hands. They weren’t waiting for Obama to decide to act to save them. Thank God, since he had to sleep on it. These pirates had a deal cut and then they backed out of it. Obama shouldve known then that negotiations with pirates (they’re PIRATES!) was a losing situation. It took Obama several days to listen to reason and stop being caught up in his own image of himself and authorize the commanders on scene to take action. But even then, he had to couch it with friggin’ disclaimers and lawyers to keep himself out of the mess if it hadn’t gone well. Ridiculous.
I give him NO credit what so ever for this rescue. He didn’t earn it and I don’t respect him for taking such a bloody long time to do something about it. Our Navy was awesome – the SEALS are the best trained in the world and they successfully completed their mission. Comparing our world-class SEALS to the French is laughable.
If this means I’m attacking him, so be it. If Bush had done this, the press and liberals would be screaming their lungs out about his lack of leadership and indecisiveness.
Glad the Captain is safe and sound at home. Am not glad that our president had a chance to be decisive but dropped the ball on the big stage. It’s Jimmy Carter all over again… deja vu.
[...] troubling that Obama and his followers don’t understand the difference. Frugal Cafe has a nice piece on all of this you’ll want to [...]
[...] did the Navy do its job, the way they are trained to, while the Clueless-in-Chief vacillated? Frugal Cafe puts my concern into words (excuse me while I raise my voice a bit) [sic]: I’m deeply worried [...]
NavySealsRule, what are you talking about? This is a very fact-based critical essay, no attacks, just questions and deserved criticism. They were “given a free hand to do their duties”??? You mean like stand back and wait and watch until BO finally, finally, finally gave a bit of permission, with specific limits, on how to handle these murderous pirates? After BO was talking with HIS LAWYERS?
They were NOT given a free hand. That is a misguided falsehood.
Even now, there are probably questions from radical liberals about whether we should interrogate or prosecute the SEALS and if we should treat the surviving pirate like a wayward lawbreaking citizen. Give me a crying break.
HuffPo attacks conservatives and former Pres. Bush more in a single paragraph than this entire website does. You’re just upset that your beloved Obama isn’t being bowed to by us like he did to the Saudi king… or did he just LEAN really far? LOL
I agree with most of this article. The author is much more objective than most bloggers I’ve seen. And more credibility than I’ve seen you display.
[...] did the Navy do its job, the way they are trained to, while the Clueless-in-Chief vacillated? Frugal Cafe puts my concern into words (excuse me while I raise my voice a bit) [sic]: I’m deeply worried [...]