Sunday immediately following President Barack Obama’s address to the nation responding to last week’s terror attacks in San Bernardino, CA, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer offered his reaction on the Fox News Channel and gave Obama’s effort very low marks.
“Woody Allen said that showing up is 80 percent of life,” Krauthammer said. “So, in that sense, he showed up. Finally appeared to address the issue. I think that counts for something. As to the substance and tone, I think it’s a complete failure. The substance, he announced nothing new on strategy on the ground, except he argued against ground troops, which is a political point. But as to anything he’s adding to his strategy, there was nothing to encourage any sense that we’re going to do any better. This idea that this distraction into gun control I think is really cynical. The idea that the no-fly zone is an important issue. Look, anything that will keep a gun out of the hands of Steve Hayes I think is useful. But these two assailants were not on any list. They were completely under the radar. They live in the state with the strongest gun control probably in the country. Assault weapon bans, magazine limits, and universal background checks. And they were entirely undetected. This is a way to change the subject, and I think he continued in that vein. What he said about Muslim-Americans, I think that’s a good thing to do. George Bush did that four days after 9/11. At the same time, he launched a real war against al Qaeda in Afghanistan that was ultimately successful in driving them out of that country.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor