Beneath the thundering blades of Marine One, President Biden finally faced reporters more than 48 hours after an Iran-backed drone strike killed three American soldiers and injured dozens more.
Busy candidate Joe was on his way to donor events in Palm Beach, Florida, after being out of sight all day Monday.
And today President Joe didn't have much to say about himself.
Asked whether he had decided how the United States would respond to his own murder, the president replied: “Yes.”
His words were barely audible over the roar of the engines.
Asked whether America's response will deter future Iranian proxy attacks on U.S. soldiers, Joe replied: “We'll see.”
Then he trotted to his plane.
Maybe this was all intentional. The White House doesn't sit the president next to a loud helicopter when he's supposed to answer questions.
Nonetheless, this is the level of seriousness we have come to expect from a government that is losing sight of its defense minister.
“I don't think we need a major war in the Middle East.” “That's not what I'm looking for,” the president squeaked.
Unfortunately, the war appears to be expanding whether Biden wants it or not.
Beneath the thundering blades of Marine One, President Biden finally faced reporters more than 48 hours after an Iran-backed drone strike killed three American soldiers and injured dozens more.
After the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, the president and his national defense team, like B-movie action heroes, repeated an obvious warning to the mullahs in Iran.
If the rogue regime was thinking about capitalizing on the chaos of the Israel-Gaza war to expand its regional dominance, Biden had one word for them: “Don’t.”
Well, Mr. President – they have.
Again and again.
Since mid-October, Iran-trained and funded militias in multiple countries have attacked American assets in the region at least 160 times.
The White House did little about it — it made the president look like Bugs Bunny drawing lines in the sand for Yosemite Sam.
Shadow of Obama?
“We have made it very clear to the Assad regime,” President Obama warned in August 2012, as Syrian dictator Assad massacred his people who had opposed him, “that a red line for us is that we begin to create a whole Lots of chemicals seen.” Weapons moving or being used. That would change my calculation.'
Then, a year later, when horrific videos emerged showing Syrian civilians foaming at the mouth, gasping for air and writhing on hospital room floors – the telltale signs of sarin gas poisoning – President Obama did nothing.
Of course America doesn't want war in the Middle East. But neither the United States nor Europe wanted a war with Germany more than eight decades ago. How many times does this lesson have to be learned and forgotten?
The best Biden can muster is, “We’ll see?” Is that deterrence? Or deference?
His cabinet and staff have used the same bloodless rhetoric.
Sergeant William Rivers (center), Specialist Breona Moffett (right) and Specialist Kennedy Sanders (left) were actually sacrificed to a naive fantasy in which Iran wants peace and the United States and Israel are the real aggressors.
“The U.S. response could be multi-level, phased, and sustained over time,” murmured U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“We are not seeking military conflict with the regime,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, returning to work after a lengthy sick leave just in time for a photo op at the White House, had pitifully little to add.
Biden and the Democrats always present themselves as enlightened problem solvers. If only they were given power, they tell us, they would resolve the world's most intractable conflicts through dialogue, negotiation and humility.
Somehow this strategy always ends with hundreds of millions of dollars in cash payments, sanctions relief, or some other type of wealth transfer.
The checks are always cash. But the brilliant plan never works.
Not even.
When President Donald Trump killed Iranian terrorist general Qasem Soleimani, we were told our president was a madman hell-bent on World War III. That didn't happen.
But under peace activist Joe Biden's watch, war looms on every horizon.
This is the same government whose national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, a week before the Hamas massacre on 10/7. said that “the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in the last two decades.”
More delusional wishes.
Things will only get worse as America plunges headfirst into the presidential election campaign.
Describing herself as a “very historic figure,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed on national television that our three fallen American soldiers died in the service of the Biden administration.
Not the flag or the nation.
Serving Joe Biden.
The saddest thing is – it’s true.
Sergeant William Rivers, Specialist Breona Moffett and Specialist Kennedy Sanders were actually sacrificed to a naive fantasy in which Iran wants peace and the United States and Israel are the real aggressors.
Describing herself as a “very historic figure,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed on national television that our three fallen American soldiers died in the service of the Biden administration.
The reward for Joe Biden's spineless appeasement policy is now being paid in American blood.
Nothing will change the minds of the fundamentalist dictators in Iran. They will always want the Americans dead.
So now we're dealing with a massive foreign policy crisis, and the president looks more like a candidate on the campaign trail than a commander in the situation room.
Perhaps he will tell his wealthy campaign supporters how the nation will respond to attacks. For everyone else – including those watching from their lavish homes in Tehran and Qatar – the message is clear: Joe wants it all.
He is careful not to anger pro-Hamas campus radicals and street demonstrators with belligerent speeches about retaliation, national defense or pride. The socialists, the anti-capitalists, the anti-imperialists don't like this talk.
But the rest of us demand justice. We demand a president with courage.
Instead, we're dealing with a decrepit, greedy old cynic who does little more than happily give donors and avoid reporters.
Joe Biden's weakness has been a punchline throughout his presidency.
Now it's deadly serious.
Now Americans are being killed.