By John W. Lillpop
(Honolulu)- In a desperate attempt to soothe, at least momentarily, the brutal wounds to his person inflicted by post-partisan America over the past eleven months, President Obama sought refuge in the healing sun and surf of Oahu.
He was beckoned by the Aloha Spirit and a culture that not only tolerates dithering as a lifestyle choice, but actually encourages it.
Surely, a robust inventory of Mai-Tai cocktails and wiggling one’s toes in the warm sands at Waikiki Beach would provide a much needed respite from the horrors of health care reform, the war in Afghanistan, out-of-control federal deficits, and, most ominously, his sharp decline among fellow Democrats and Independents.
Hawaii called, and Obama answered by shouting out Mele Kaliki Maka in his best Hawaiian. All was well.
That is, until Farouk Abdulmutallab decided to stage a free, one-person Christmas Day fireworks show while flying into Detroit on Flight 253.
Abdulmutallab’s rude Christmas present interrupted Obama’s luxury bathing in the dreamy trade winds of Honolulu, and forced the president to face the bitter cold reality that inevitably comes with presidential power.
After burying his head in the sand for what an eternity, the president finally showed up and issued the obligatory Commander-in-Chief statement:
"This was a serious reminder of the dangers we face and of the nature of those who threaten our homeland," Obama said of the incident aboard a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam. "We do not yet have all the answers about this latest attempt, but those who would slaughter innocent men, women and children must know that the United States will do more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us.”
Unfortunately, the reality is that the Obama administration is more concerned with assuring that Abdulmutallab was read his Miranda rights and treated with PC kindness than in preventing the annihilation of America.
Which leads to the pertinent question: Will the Obama presidency mean Aloha! to the America we know and love?
