Obama's Foreign Policy In Disarray, Understanding Orlando, Kudos To Cruz, Closing Thoughts

by Gary Bauer, Contributing Author:  Obama's Foreign Policy In Disarray
In the wake of the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11, President Obama had the audacity to tell the nation on Tuesday that his efforts against ISIS were making "significant progress."

Forty-eight hours later, CIA Director John Brennan told Congress something quite different. Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday, Director Brennan warned, ". . .our efforts have not reduced the group's terrorism capability and global reach," adding that in the days and weeks ahead ISIS "will intensify its global terror campaign."

And, as I noted in yesterday's report, Brennan was also clear that ISIS was attempting to smuggle terrorists into western countries disguised as refugees.

Obama says we're winning. His CIA director says not so much. Given that the first of 49 funerals took place yesterday in Orlando, I think the evidence is clearly on Brennan's side. Perhaps someone could schedule a CIA briefing for the president.

Here's another point that deserves mentioning: If George W. Bush's CIA director had so publicly and directly contradicted him, that would have been THE headline on the evening news. NBC News did mention Brennan's testimony, but it was the fifth of eight stories last night, while Disney's potential liability for the alligators lurking on its property was third.

But that's not the only foreign policy headache the administration has. It appears there is an open rebellion taking place within the ranks at the State Department. More than 50 State Department officials and career diplomats signed a formal "dissent channel cable" expressing their embarrassment and frustration with Obama's failure to aggressively confront the Assad regime in Syria.

You may recall that President Obama erased his own "red line" on Assad's use of chemical weapons. After Obama retreated, Russia and Iran stepped in and took over.

Understanding Orlando
I read a disturbing Gallup poll that asked Americans how they understood the Orlando attacks. According to Gallup, just 48% of Americans described the atrocity at the Pulse nightclub as "Islamic terrorism," while 41% thought it was "domestic gun violence."

Perhaps as much as any other issue, this shows the tremendous battle raging for the heart and soul of America, and it shows the power of the left-wing media to drive a narrative.

On the other hand, maybe it is not as bad as it looks. The Gallup poll was conducted among adults, meaning we're not even talking about "low information voters." Many may be low information non-voters. Their opinions reflect the prevailing narrative of the media, which is the president's narrative, which is that Orlando was the result of gun violence -- as if guns just go off all by themselves.

That is why Democrats are so fixated on gun control as the solution and refuse to do anything to address radical Islam or immigration. As one commentator put it, the Democrats' solution to the Orlando Islamic terrorist attack is "More Muslims and less guns."

But it also highlights another problem we are facing. The left is united and our side is divided. What did the left do in response to Orlando? It went on the attack!

Obama, incredibly, declared he was winning. Senate Democrats launched a filibuster to hijack the Senate and force votes on their agenda. Meanwhile, too many of our leaders are afraid to attack the left or even fight back. And when someone on our side comes along who offers strong solutions and punches back, party leaders trash him.

Kudos To Cruz
I do want to commend Senator Ted Cruz for having the courage to fight back. Sen. Cruz went to the Senate floor yesterday and blasted the left's lunacy.

Cruz stated the obvious: Our country is at war against radical Islamic terrorism but Obama and the Democrats are in denial, and they are exploiting the attack to attack the rights of law abiding citizens, making us less safe.

That is what every Republican leader should be saying right now!

Watch his remarks here.

Closing Thoughts
As we are coming to the end of this horrible week, let me just summarize some salient points here for your use if you happen to run into someone among the 41% of the country who is confused about what happened in Orlando.

• The shooter, Omar Mateen, was inspired by radical Islam. He had been inspired by radical Islam his entire life. From the morning of 9/11 when he celebrated the attack to the day he died in Orlando pledging his loyalty to ISIS.
• Mateen told us he was waging jihad in fulfillment of his Islamic beliefs before the attack and he repeatedly phoned it in and texted it during the attack.
• Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton don't want to call him a radical Islamist. Days later, the left-wing media continued to say that it wasn't clear who he was. Yet, as several observers have noted, if a man says he is a woman, the president and the left immediately accept this and call him "her." But when a jihadist says he is a jihadist, the left's response is "Let's not jump to any conclusions."
• Just so you know, he was a registered Democrat. If he had been a registered Republican, you would already know that. 

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Gary Bauer is a conservative family values advocate and serves as president of American Values and chairman of the Campaign for Working Families

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