The
The follow-up question no one seems to be asking is "What if the administration's explanation is true?"
On the Sunday shows, Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the
What about the fact that many experts say the
Al Qaeda is taking credit for the Benghazi assault as revenge for the June killing of Al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Abu Yahya al Libi. What's your point? It was the video.
Now, I think this is absurd, like a Monty Python sketch gone awry — the parrot's not dead, he's just resting! But let's assume it's true and it really is all about the video.
How on Earth is that better?
According to the Obama administration, its policies in the Middle East are working. The
Progress that flimsy strikes me as no progress at all.
It is simply a fact that Islamist radicals, the Arab street and the Muslim world have been angry at America for decades, under Republican and Democratic administrations alike. It's also true that demagogues and other opportunists have used things like this video as an excuse to attack America and the West for generations. Obama isn't solely to blame for the current conflagrations, though his naivete about the transformational power of his presidency deserves ample scorn.
And let's not pretend that President
With Obama it's not so easy. Apparently you can't say Obama apologized for America in his Cairo speech, but he certainly did make it clear we wouldn't rub our values in anyone's face anymore. During the Iranian Green Revolution, he acted as if the people's yearning for freedom was really inconvenient. And, over the last week, this administration has talked about the 1st Amendment as if it's something it's stuck with.
"We do not stop individual citizens from expressing their views, no matter how distasteful they may be," Secretary of State
But our public officials now treat attacks on Islam as especially offensive — more offensive than unremarked-upon near-daily attacks on Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, atheism and just about every other faith and creed.
Why is Islam so special? The answer is, it's not. But Muslim rioters get special treatment. And that's nuts. If these people are going to hate us, even after President Obama has done such a fantastic job reaching out to the Muslim world, maybe we should just accept that fact and stand up for what we believe, without apology.