MJ and I are here in Atlanta for a couple days of meetings in the office with the boss, so as I sit in the bullpen and listen to Herman and Shaney B. banter about how they're doing a service to the show's listeners by subjecting themselves to President Obama's speech on ISIS tonight, I can only say this:
Thank you, gentlemen. I will take advantage of your service and pass on the speech. There is no way in hell I would miss tonight's Tigers-Royals game to watch Obama try to cover his own political # because he is now being forced to do what he does not want to do, which is to use the power of the U.S. military to defend our interests abroad and defeat the perpetrators of genocide inside our ally Iraq.
No matter what Obama says tonight, it will be a joke and a fraud. If he says we must spare no effort and no resource to destroy ISIS, he tacitly admits that every attack he launched on George W. Bush's foreign policy was either a lie, a product of total ignorance or some combination of the two. If he makes an excuse for his own inaction to this point, it is of no value to the nation. Obama's political standing is not important. Eliminating the ISIS threat is important. If he blames others for how we got to this point, he is wasting our time. His job is to lead, not to blame.
And if he spends time outlining the military strategy against ISIS, he is only helping the enemy. We don't need to know the strategy. What's needed is for those charged with executing the strategy to be allowed to do so.
Every after-the-fact assessment of the speech will be on the basis of whether Obama helped himself politically. That is not important, which is why this speech is not important.
And no, it is not a good use of the nation's time to have the president address us and "make the case for war." Everyone with a brain knows that ISIS needs to be destroyed. All Obama is going to do here is try to maneuver so he can go to war without contradicting everything he's ever said in his political career.
You think I'm going to miss the Tigers-Royals game for this crap? With first place in the American League Central on the line? Not. A. Chance. The Tigers will send 15-game winner Rick Porcello to the mound against the Royals' ace, 13-game winner James Shields. That's where the action that matters is. Whatever Obama is going to say tonight? Noise. Decibles of garbage and nothing more. And not worth even a second of my time.
