Obama Hits The Links While Poland Mourns

If you read these words from Central and Eastern Europe, please accept our apologies. So many of us did not vote for this guy, and so many who did now deeply regret it.

Barack Obama decided not to attend the funeral in Warsaw of a fellow head of state, citing the disruption of air traffic due to the Icelandic volcano.

Well, ok. Fair enough.  Not good to endanger another head of state enroute to the funeral.

But thoughts do come to mind....

The volcano may have been a factor, but there are routes to Poland that don’t involve flying over the North Atlantic east of Iceland. He had some other options available to him as well, had he cared to make use of them:

1. A video-taped or live-linked personal message of condolence to be broadcast in Poland, translated into Polish for local consumption. We have a State Department to arrange for things like that.

2. A visit to the Embassy to sign the condolence book, and to visit with the Ambassador and the staff of the embassy, many of whom surely lost friends in the tragedy.

3. An invitation for the Polish ambassador to visit the Oval Office, where condolences could have been offered, perhaps in conjunction with option 1.

4. He could have flown to Chicago to attend a Polish-language requiem mass in honor of the Polish leaders who passed away, which surely took place. He knows the way to Chicago, and his way around it, last time anyone checked.

5. He could have signed a presidential proclamation of condolence, and ordered the US flag flown at half-mast for the day of the funeral.

The list goes on, and these are just the obvious, easy things that could have been undertaken–need we continue?

Reagan, Carter, Ford, both Bushes, and probably Bill Clinton would have done at least three of the five. Clinton would have done them with the cameras running constantly, but he would have done them, probably with as sincere a heart as he was able to muster.

Obama hit the links, publicly, on the day of the funeral. Compare and contrast.

OS loves golf, and thinks it's good for everybody to play, especially people with large responsibilities on their shoulders. But, some days, it might be better to stay home...

We live in an age of medical miracles, but alas, there is no cure for lack of class.