A Commander in Chief in Need of Serious Self-Reflection

[Geee]

American Thinker:

I spent a portion of my Fourth of July holiday in a local shopping mall. It was not my first choice for a day meant for barbeques and fireworks, but as a working mother, national holidays typically serve as errand days for me. Apparently, however, some of our country's future heroes and leaders did in fact choose to spend their Independence Day shopping at the mall -- members of the Corps of Cadets of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

By my guestimation, there were several hundred young men and women walking around the mall neatly dressed in their khaki pants and collared shirts, and I was proud to be shopping in such good company. But I also felt a lump in my throat every time I walked by an individual wearing a West Point logo. I could not help but wonder what the future would hold, if that young person would survive his or her service to the country.

I had a similar feeling a couple of weeks ago when I was in Israel. In that country, joining the military is not an option; it is an obligation and one that almost every Israeli proudly fulfills in the name of survival. In America, our citizens take for granted that their freedoms and way of life will be defended by the young people who choose to enlist in the military; the vast majority of citizens do not opt for duty in reliance upon others. Israelis do not take survival and freedom for granted -- they have either already served or one day will serve, they have friends and family who are currently serving, and they have a lump in their throat and a pit in their stomach every day knowing that their loved ones may not survive the next war, rocket attack, or soldier's kidnapping. And Israelis most certainly do not rely on others to help them survive.

Early in his presidency, in the midst of very un-presidential and personal attacks on Israel and its leadership, President Obama told American Jewish leaders that Israel must "engage in serious self-reflection." Sadly, Obama was quite serious when he made that ridiculously ignorant comment. And as another Independence Day passes just weeks after Obama dissed the Israeli Prime Minister for the umpteenth time and made self-aggrandizing speeches pitting Israel against the rest of the world drawing it further into a position of isolation, it would be nice to know what it would take for this American president to engage in serious self-reflection himself.