OPINION: Paris is under attack, and only one GOP contender seems to know what to do

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

As Paris bleeds and burns this evening following at least seven separate terrorism attacks, Save Jerseyans, our prayers are obviously with the citizens of France. But this is war and there isn’t time for pause, reflection and rhetorical flummery. The country’s leftist president is moving to close France’s borders. His decision came far too late for 60+ (and counting) dead French citizens.

Not that our president is any better. Obama’s low-energy televised afternoon response – in which he appealed to “universal values we all share” and characteristically warned everyone to not “speculate” as to who is responsible (!) – is everything that’s wrong with western leadership in the 21st century. ISIS (who this guy called the jayvee team, you’ll recall) still exists because he squandered the gains of the War on Terror and failed to negotiate a new status of forces agreement with Iraq. The chickens have come home to roost.

He didn’t have any problem speculating when it came to the cases of Michael Brown or Trayvon Martin did he?

And how universal are these unexpressed “values” he’s talking about if a significant portion of the globe is clearly not honoring them?

He’s delusional. His entire party’s leaderships is crazy. Notorious moron Al Gore is preparing a climate telecast from the Eiffel Tower – no, this isn’t a joke – as Europe is under invasion.

Will Americans respond next year by moving in the opposite direction?

Hillary Clinton is the status quo. There’s no doubting that, and if Republicans fail to make that case then we don’t deserve to win.

The alternatives? I’m not 100% sure what Ben Carson believes. I’m not sure he’s sure! That doesn’t make him a bad man, but it also removes him from serious contention as my first (or second) choice for the 2016 GOP nomination.

Donald Trump is all over the board, too. He’s okay leaving Syria to Russia as Putin projects power into neighboring states, seemingly oblivious to the consensus that they’re NOT attacking ISIS targets, and he’s anti-Iraq War II, but he’s ready to bomb the oil fields… after he said we should take the oil for ourselves:

They laughed at me when I said to bomb the ISIS controlled oil fields. Now they are not laughing and doing what I said. #Trump2016

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2015

I wasn’t laughing, Donald. You’re not amusing, ’cause foreign policy is a little more complex than negotiating condominium sales in Manhattan. Trump will never get my vote for as long as he refuses to accept that reality. By the same token, history tells us peoples often turn to strongmen in times of crisis and the tough-talking marketing tycoon is certainly a strongman if nothing else. Trouble abroad and border wall rhetoric COULD help Trump hold the lead despite the fact that he clearly has no idea what he’s talking about when the discussion leaves our shores. God preserve us…

To be fair, I’m not sure if he’s any worse than Rand Paul who thinks a post-WWI style global withdrawal of American power will somehow lead to a different outcome than WWIII? The jury is out:

My thoughts & prayers are with the people of Paris. America must stand united with France as they face this truly horrific act of terrorism

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 13, 2015

It’s a nice sentiment. No snark here. My honest follow up question: how do you ‘stand united’ with an ally while you’re hiding behind your own walls?

Let’s turn the page.

The candidate who’s leading the race for my 2016 allegiance has an answer. Here’s Marco Rubio taking Barack Obama to task on CBS back in January 2015 after the President skipped a global Paris rally in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terror attack:

“You recall what it felt like after 9/11 to have all these nations around the world rally to our side and take up our cause after we suffered so greatly,” Rubio said. “The French are going through a similar trauma.”

Rubio continued to speak truth to power at the last GOP debate, declaring “I know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I am not. I know the world is a safer and better place when America is the strongest military power in the world.”

Since when is THAT controversial? American fecklessness always leads to war, and death, and suffering. I’m tired of debating it because the history books render isolationism indefensible. 

The wolves are INSIDE the door, folks. The FBI has more domestic ISIS cases than it knows what to do with. It’s time for a real leader again. Not someone who doesn’t know what to do, or thinks war is the same thing as selling condos, or wants to hide and pretend it’s 1920, or thinks we’re dealing with simple “thugs” who can be treated like common criminals. We need a president who’s ready to – surprise! – LEAD the West.

Today’s attacks, and all of the recent carnage in the Middle East and on our own soil, is a direct result of a vacuum of global leadership created by Barack Obama’s failure to lead and a willful misunderstanding of the enemy we’re facing. There’s no denying it.

And Marco’s the only top tier candidate who seems to get it – all of it – at the moment. Only my opinion…

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