There have been many diaries and comments about the debate and how President Obama looked like he was distracted and didn’t want to be there. I can’t help but wonder if the President didn’t get a briefing on the Syria/Turkey conflict right before he went on. If that is the case then it puts the debate into a whole different context. Follow me below the squiggle for this senior citizen’s take on things.
I am old enough to remember the Cuban Missile Crisis. I remember the war in Vietnam. It destroyed my brother’s life. I remember the numerous conflicts in the Middle East. I watched as the Bush regime rattled their sabers and cost us the lives of too many of our people and the people in the lands they invaded. One thing that has impressed me the most about Obama is his ability to stay calm and not go “buckeroo” as they said in the movie The Hunt for Red October.
April 12, 2009 the Navy Seals rescued an American cargo boat Captain and killed three Somalia pirates. Remember how quiet Obama was about the whole raid? He didn’t let the world know anything until after the rescue so as not to jeopardize the operation. May 2,2011 Osama Bin Laden was killed. Remember how the President spent the evening roasting Donald Trump? Again he kept his cards close to his chest and didn’t jeopardize the raid.
I believe that one of the most important things President Obama has done is to repair our reputation in the eyes of the world. He is someone other leaders look up to and listen to. He has a cool head and tries to mediate conflicts so they don’t escalate into wars. He didn’t bring our troops home from Iraq and set a timetable to pull them out of Afghanistan just to send them to war in Syria.
I believe the President was distracted by the Syria/Turkey conflict on the night of the debate. We have to remember he is not just a candidate. He is the President of the United States and he has more on his mind then dealing with Romney. I have to wonder if what he was looking down at was his BlackBerry and reports on the conflict between Syria and Turkey coming in from his foreign affairs team as he debated.
President Obama is a man who takes his job seriously and does not shoot off his mouth like Romney. Remember the fiasco of Romney in England and the claims of the MI6 gaffe? Maybe we should back off a bit on our criticisms of the debate. I believe there was a lot more going on that night then we will ever know. We have a President who knows how to keep his mouth shut when the security of our Nation is at stake.