Exclusive: Obama Unfit to Hold Supreme Command of the American Military

by W. THOMAS SMITH, JR. August 4, 2008

During a recent conversation with a friend - who also is an active supporter of Barack Hussein Obama - the subject came up of Obama's lack of any substantive leadership-experience - executive or otherwise. As expected, the supporter defended Obama's lack of experience by pointing to "experienced world leaders" whom she believed had failed so miserably as heads-of-state that they had come to serve as examples of why experience and longevity don't really matter, and why freshness and ambition should.

Perhaps, if the fresh, ambitious one is selling life insurance: But not if he is vying for a position as important as commander-in-chief (CIC) of the armed forces of the United States: And especially not during time of war.

If we were to follow my friend's line of thinking, a colonel commanding a Marine regimental combat team in battle would - if his units failed to achieve their objectives - be better replaced by an eager albeit inexperienced boot lieutenant fresh from Quantico rather than another colonel or an experienced lieutenant colonel.

Let's boil it down even simpler: If you were flying with an experienced commercial-airline pilot who poorly flew the aircraft in which you were traveling, would you next time hope to fly in the same type of aircraft with a pilot whose experience was limited to a flight-simulator? Of course not. But that is exactly the kind of thinking the O-crowd wants us to buy into.

TWO TRACKS OF "UNFITNESS"

Fact is: Obama is not fit to be CIC. Someone else may argue the case of his fitness -- or lack thereof - as regards the other executive duties of an American president. But my focus here - and in subsequent pieces we will be publishing over the next weeks and months leading up to the November elections - is his unfitness for supreme command of the American military.

But it's not just inexperience. When examining Obama's unfitness for command, we have to look along two tracks: His leadership experience and his life experience - both critical components in any executive decision-making on the part of any CIC.

It's like the young man who confidently swaggers onto the showroom floor of a Maserati dealership, hoping at the end of the day he'll be driving out in a brand new Quattroporte. He either has good credit, no credit, or bad credit. Obama has the latter two when it comes to his fitness for command.

On the first track we see Obama has no credit in the sense that his leadership experience is limited to his work as a community organizer, a stint in the Illinois legislature, and a shorter hitch in the U.S. Senate of which he often has been absent. So his only real leadership experience has been the OJT of his presidential campaign, the success of which, he freely admits, has surprised him beyond his wildest imaginings (In other words, his campaign success has been something of a phenomenon beyond his control.).

On the second track, Obama has bad credit in the sense of his life experience: associations and/or long-strong relationships with America haters like his close friend and former spiritual-political advisor the lunatic Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the equally maniacal Michael Pfleger, the late Communist Party member Frank Marshall Davis, criminal Tony Rezko, terrorist-bomber Bill Ayers, and so many others connected to the black liberation movement, the dark Chicago underworld, the Communist Party USA, and, yes, radical Islam.

RADS IN THE MIX

No. I am not saying Obama is a Muslim. I have no proof or evidence of such. He says he is not: Says he is a Christian. Though Obama's brand of Christian worship for the past 20 years under the direction of his ever-angry, dashiki-clad, good-friend J-Wright would have to have been a bizarre experience for most Christians to put it mildly. But we'll take Obama's word for it: and he says he's a Christian.

Obama did, however, receive Muslim training as a boy. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was a Muslim, as was Obama Jr.'s stepfather, Lolo Soetoro. And we are now discovering, Junior offered direct political support to at least one African leader, Raila Odinga, with ties to radical Islam as recent as seven months ago.

According to Friday's edition of WorldNetDaily:

"Barack Obama directly intervened in last December's presidential election in Kenya, supporting fellow Luo tribesman Raila Odinga's candidacy, despite an agreement Odinga signed to back radical Muslims, according to an explosive new book written by WND senior staff reporter Jerome R. Corsi. . When Obama decided to support Odinga, Corsi noted, Obama embraced the extreme left wing of Kenyan politics, going back to Raila Odinga's father, Odinga Odinga, known as ‘Double-O,' who was overtly communistic during the presidency of Jomo Kenyatta. Odinga's current party, the Orange Democratic Party, or ODM, is a leftist-socialist political party that stops short of being openly communist."

Moreover, less than two weeks ago, Obama appointed Chicago lawyer Mazen Asbahi as the Obama campaign's National Coordinator for Muslim American Affairs.

Great, until you read the fine print.

Obama's appointment of Asbahi has been greeted with enthusiastic approval by the Muslim Public Affairs Council, whose founder and executive director Salam al-Marayati has openly and just as enthusiastically expressed support for the Iranian-Syrian-backed terrorist group, Hezbollah.

And we're just scratching the surface.

ANTITHESIS OF THE AMERICAN MILITARY

Some readers may wonder what any of this has to do with Obama's fitness for command.

Plenty.

First there is Obama's military ineptitude, which is evidenced by his previous contention that the surge strategy in Iraq would not only fail, but inflame the existing situation on the ground (and Obama's inability to admit the surge has been successful); his executive indecisiveness (manifesting itself in so-called flip-flopping); and his utterly unrealistic proposal of a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in the face of an armed enemy (even when the enemy was on the ropes).

"In formulating his Iraq policy, Sen. Obama seems to value ideological consistency above military victory," said Iraq war veteran and Vets for Freedom Chairman Pete Hegseth in a statement on July 23. "By detaching his policy from any future factual analysis, Sen. Obama would create a dangerous situation in which he would be obligated to reduce the U.S. presence in Iraq even as those reductions were endangering U.S. forces and allies in the region, as well as the government and people of Iraq."

Then there is Obama's blatant disrespect for the military: not meeting one-on-one with Gen. Dave Petraeus when the Army's grand architect of the "surge" traveled halfway around the world to meet with Congress; Obama's turning down an opportunity to visit wounded American soldiers during his recent overseas trip (at least he did finally meet with Petraeus), and Obama's refusal to meet with two-dozen Illinois veterans who went to his office in April. Yet he is willing to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Finally, there is as Obama's weird - yes, even dangerous - life-long, personal and professional relationships - we discussed earlier - all of which makes Obama the antithesis of all that is wrapped up in the honor and glory of American military tradition and culture.

Though the mainstream media didn't pick up on it, there is a reason that during Obama's recent trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, among other stops, he was almost always photographed with military support personnel. Not to take anything away from our brave men and women in the rear with gear, but the overwhelming majority of frontline conventional combat troops and special operations forces - the men who actually do the fighting - don't want anything to do with Obama.

We'll explain why over the coming weeks.

- Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. online at uswriter.com.