He Did Not

It does seem like many Americans must be hit in the head with two-by-fours before they finally realize what’s actually happening. The trouble is that a blow like that is also likely to render the victim unconscious. It is now clear that ever since 9/11, some - if not most - of us have been rendered unconscious. This is not to say that the forces that are bedeviling us today had not been gathering long before the towers came down. 9/11, however, should have served as a wake-up call. It didn’t.

I am amused by reports that consistently prefix their findings with words such as ‘unexpected’ and ‘surprising’. There were many who predicted exactly where we were headed years ago. I myself remember saying that Barack Hussein Obama was destined to chauffeur the hearse to America’s final resting place. We seemed to be okay with that.

9/11 was an attack on what? America’s source of strength: its economy (and to a lesser extent on its military). It succeeded in bringing down the manifestation of that strength in unambiguous, most spectacular fashion. Less of our people died in the Japanese attack on Peal Harbor than did on 9/11. You would think that that would have meant something. Instead, our government to this day still has a problem in defining the enemy. And as such, it’s strategy is in disarray: unfocused, scattered, ad hoc, and - in large part - turned in against itself.

Bush meant well when he said, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” Almost immediately our enemies - both here and abroad - sprang into action and began to ridicule him. Our domestic enemies turned out to be far more effective, turning ridicule into high art; a national pastime. They got what they wanted. They gave us Obama.

Now that it’s become clear where our nation is ultimately headed, everyone acts surprised. As a WSJ reader points out today, ‘unintended’ is not the same as ‘unforeseen’. Whereas everything reported today is couched in ‘unintended’ (surprise); nothing was ever so obscure as to escape prediction. We are being attacked on so many fronts, it’s difficult to keep one’s focus. Unless we’re willing to admit (to ourselves) that we’re in a war, and address the enemy appropriately, our fortunes will continue to wane. The ‘mosque on Ground Zero’ controversy is a case and point: Half of us do not recognize that Islam is at war with us, while all of Islam is utterly convinced of it.

Yesterday, the president of the United States spoke out for the first time on the mosque controversy. I wish he had said, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” He didn’t.