In his last press conference of 2014, President Barack Obama blamed Sony for pulling The Interview after hacking attacks and terror threats from North Korea. Yet not only did President Obama do and say nothing to defend Sony at the time, he also created a precedent in Benghazi in 2012 that likely contributed to Sony’s surrender. By blaming an obscure YouTube video, and jailing the filmmaker, Obama sent a signal that he would not protect American filmmakers from foreign attacks.
In that light, Obama’s remarks are clearly a cowardly attempt to shift blame entirely to the filmmaker. While Sony probably deserves much of the criticism it is receiving for its swift surrender, no private company can be expected to stand up, alone, to cyber-terrorist threats from a nuclear-armed dictatorship.
Had Obama actually done what he claims about cyber-security, had he defended the company, and had he not blamed a YouTube video for Benghazi, the result may have been different.
Senior Editor-at-Large Joel B. Pollak edits Breitbart California and is the author of the new ebook, Wacko Birds: The Fall (and Rise) of the Tea Party, available for Amazon Kindle.
Follow Joel on Twitter: @joelpollak