It didn’t take long for political pundit Charles Krauthammer to object on Fox News to President Obama’s very subdued and vague response on the shooting that claimed four Marines in Chattanooga.
On Thursday, Obama said, “We don't know yet all the details. We know that what appears to be a lone gunman carried out these attacks. We've identified a name. And at this point, a full investigation is taking place. The FBI will be in the lead working closely with local law enforcement.”
Speaking to Bret Baier on Special Report, Krauthammer took issue with Obama’s comments:
KRAUTHAMMER: Look, unless this is an unbelievable coincidence of a psychotic who happens to carry his name who went out of control, this is in all probability an example of radicalism at work. I think our emphasis on ISIS is a little overstated, because we had these attacks the predate ISIS. Nidal Hasan when he shot up and killed 13 Americans, stood up on a table and yelled "Allahu Akbar," was acting pre- ISIS.
What ISIS does is I think it gives direction, organization, and because of its command of the social media, can actually activate people in a way that was more random before. But the general issue is radical Islam. And unless we have a president who immediately says -- this is a lone gunman. How did he know?
Krauthammer also took aim at Obama’s use of the words “lone gunman”:
KRAUTHAMMER: When you say "lone gunman," what you're doing subtly or unsubtly, is disconnecting the dots. When we had the underwear bomber try to bring down a plane over Detroit, Obama immediately said this was an isolated extremist. It wasn't, in fact. It turned out to be connected to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula…So I think the whole six-and-a-half years of Obama always wanting to err on the side of downplaying the threat. The threat is radical Islam, which he won't say.
Krauthammer is the latest to criticize Obama on his remarks and, as many suggest, his incensitivity to many recent events. Obama has taken a lot of heat for not commenting or releasing a statement on the death of Kate Steinle, a woman who was murdered by an illegal immigrant that had been previously deported numerous times. Obama’s “non-statement” of such an issue is in stark contrast to other times when he has commented on the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, or even his remarks on that “teachable moment” over the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Obama showed his temper recently when questioned by CBS’s Major Garrett over the Iran negotiations when Garrett mentioned that four Americans were still in captivity. After all, it was Obama who traded four Taliban commanders for known deserter US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and said, “I make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents, and that the American people understand that this is somebody’s child, and that we don’t condition whether or not we make the effort to try and get them back.”
Like the shootings at Fort Hood by Nidal Hasan, Obama considers the Chattanooga shootings by Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez "workplace violence" from a “lone gunman.” Krauthammer is correct. Obama won’t connect the dots. No one in the media would ever suggest he’s not connecting the obvious dots because he’s too stupid to accomplish it.
