Say Nothing

At yesterday's daily press briefing in the White House, the following exchange occurred between Peter Doocy of FoxNews and Josh Earnest, Barack Obama's press secretary:

Peter Doocy: "President Obama yesterday jumped to say that this mass shooting means it's time for commonsense gun laws. Does the President really think that common sense gun laws would deter terrorists now that he has admitted that these two may have been terrorists?"

White House press secretary Josh Earnest: "Yes. The president believes that passing common sense gun laws that makes it harder for people with bad intentions to get guns, makes the country safer."

Peter Doocy: "But so the president thinks that when there are potentially two terrorists sitting around planning a mass murder they may call it off because President Obama has put in place common sense gun laws?"

Earnest's response is one of a number of reasons why the American people are uneasy—and virtually every commentator and news source reports a level of unease. The administration's response is insulting, delusional, condescending, and worst of all, completely ineffective in addressing the serious threats we all face. The Obama administration is trying desperately to avoid confronting a war that has been declared against us by radical Islam. Clinging to the hope that "work place violence" is the underlying cause of the San Bernadino event, this president and his Team of 2s appear to be looking for anything to change the subject—if it's lobbying for "common sense gun laws"—all the better.

But it gets worse. In the administration's effort to avoid anything that might connect Islam to the threats that we face, they have created, along with their trained hamsters in the media, an atmosphere in which political correctness trumps "common sense" (to use a phrase Obama spokespeople are fond of lately).

A neighbor of the San Bernadino terrorists observed a number of suspicious goings-on in the weeks and months that preceded the attacks. She was concerned, but admitted that she was afraid of being accused of "profiling." So ... she said nothing. The neighbor's response is completely understandable—after all, the Obama administration and their friends at CAIR (a group that has visited the White House for "consultations" many times) emphasize that any suspicion of any Muslim, regardless of the circumstances, is "Islamophobia." The meme has been repeated so many times that it is now ingrained into the consciousness of far too many Americans.

Federal authorities tell us: "If you see something, say something." Unless what you see involves someone who might be a Muslim or might be happening at, say, a Mosque, or might be part of a group that might be Muslim and might have nafarious intent. Then, say nothing.

UPDATE - I:
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It appears that on the subject of the nexus of Islam and terrorism, Hillary Clinton is Obama 2.0. Just last week she stated: "Let's be clear: Islam is not our adversary. Muslims are peaceful and tolerant people and have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism."

Nothing whatsoever? Really? Nothing? 

For some reason, leaders of the Democratic party have a unique ability to live inside their own fantasy construct. Both Obama and Clinton believe that if one states something outrageously fantastical, something with absolutely no connection to reality, but does so with conviction and a pinch of moral superiority, then they will be believed. Add in a complicit media, and it's a slam dunk.

Except when it isn't. When fantasy collides with reality, reality will win in the end. With every passing hour, we learn more and more about the Islamic connection in the San Bernadino terror attack. And as this drip, drip of reality continues, "nothing" becomes "something."

Mona Charen addresses this reality when she writes:

... there is a fever sweeping the Muslim world that has infected a significant minority of Muslims -- and because Muslims are so numerous, that minority amounts to hundreds of millions. It began in the 1920s with the Muslim Brotherhood. Its Shia incarnation has captured the government of Iran. Saudi oil money has facilitated its spread to places such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. President Obama, deluded from the get-go that our enemy was not Islamic extremism but merely "al-Qaida," stood by while the Islamic extremists in Iraq and Syria morphed into a new entity called ISIS. Obama never saw it coming because he was determined to believe, with Clinton and other Democrats, that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam.

Isn't it odd, then, that in Nigeria (70 percent Muslim) and Lebanon (54 percent Muslim) large majorities say they are "very worried" about Islamic extremism in their countries? The presence of Boko Haram in Nigeria and Hezbollah in Lebanon has a way of concentrating the mind. People around the world are worried about Islamic radicalism, too. Perhaps they are mindful of 9/11, the Fort Hood shooting (2009), the Boston Marathon bombing (2013), the bombings of trains in Madrid (2004), the three-day siege of hotels and a Jewish center in Mumbai (2008), the bombings of a bus and trains in London (2005), the attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse (2012), the slaughter of students at a Kenya university (2015), the attack on high schoolers in Peshawar, Pakistan (2014), the shootings at a Mali hotel (2015), the stabbings in Israel (2015), the Bali bombings (2002), the Jakarta bombing (2009) and so very many more, to say nothing of the treatment of religious minorities, homosexuals, and women in many Muslim societies.

As for whether Muslims are tolerant, there's no doubt that some are, but as a 2013 Pew survey of global attitudes found, 88 percent of Egyptian and 62 percent of Pakistani Muslims favor the death penalty for apostates. "This is also the majority view among Muslims in Malaysia, Jordan and the Palestinian territories," reported the Washington Post after reviewing the data.

Eradicating the canard that Islam has "nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism" is the very first small step in eradicating radical Islamic terrorism. And the first step in eradicating the canard is being absolutely sure that politicians who repeat it are never again elected to high office.

UPDATE - II:
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Richard Fernandez laments the descent of many Democrats into fantasy (Islam has "nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism") and writes:

How can anything survive on it? Fantasy is treacherous ground. Facts -- also known as the Truth or the Light -- have an inconvenient way of burning through the darkness. Anyone who walks upon a road of lies will sink into it ...

There is a light in the darkness and the darkness overcame it not. A long road ... but for anyone who begins the journey now, it is always x years minus one.

Every time someone like Obama or Clinton promotes a fantasy, the darkness grows more ominous. Every time someone forces the populace to confront reality, the darkness recedes.