If you want to know someone’s priorities, pay attention to when they’re meticulous – and to when they act like they just can’t be bothered to put in half an effort.
Take, for example, the Obama Administration. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that nuclear inspectors acting under the nuclear deal President Obama and John Kerry negotiated with the ayatollahs have pronounced themselves pleased with self-inspected soil samples submitted by Iran from its Parchin nuclear facility. The idea of a terrorist-supporting regime being allowed to gather and send in its own soil samples has been compared to letting Alex Rodriguez send the commissioner’s office his urine sample via FedEx. Anyone who is serious about preventing a rogue regime from getting nuclear weapons would instantly recognize how insane this is.
So why didn’t the Obama Administration hold out for a more rigid inspection process? Are they too dumb? No. They didn’t insist on real inspections because it’s just not that important to them. What they cared about was getting a deal done – and if the deal wasn’t in the best interests of the U.S. or the cause of global security, they didn’t care.
And I’m confident of this because I see what they do when something is important to them. Consider their approach to tax-exemption applications from conservative nonprofit groups. Does the IRS simply ask these groups to send in an affirmation that what they’re doing is legal and consistent with the law governing nonprofit tax exemptions? Of course not. The IRS often drags out the process for months or even years, in some cases even demanding that these groups disclose their donor lists and who they’ve recently had as speakers.
Or consider another example: The Keystone XL pipeline. Did the Obama Administration simply ask Keystone to assure them that everything was above board and safe, then grant quick approval? Of course not. The State Department has dragged out the approval process for seven years because the administration has no legitimate reason for denying the application, but for political reasons doesn’t want to approve it.
Like I said, you can tell someone’s priorities by how meticulous they are, or are not. Iran can self-submit soil samples and everything is cool because Obama really doesn’t care if Iran gets a nuclear weapon. But try to build a pipeline or run a conservative nonprofit, and just see how much patience, understanding and trust you get from this White House.
Sometimes we say that certain people are not serious people. But human nature being what it is, that’s not really true. Just about everyone is serious about something. The real measure of anyone is what they’re serious about – and that’s especially true when it comes to how they prioritize threats.
If Obama viewed conservatives the same way he views Iran, he would instruct the IRS to let us self-submit our own audits, and then just smile and thank us for our trouble. If he viewed oil companies the way he views Cuba, he would not only let them build pipelines, he would ask them what else they need for their trouble.
But it’s clear who Obama thinks are his real adversaries. All you have to do is look at what a man does and you can read his priorities.
If you want to know someone’s priorities, pay attention to when they’re meticulous – and to when they act like they just can’t be bothered to put in half an effort.
