{"id":8300,"date":"2015-03-19T07:56:52","date_gmt":"2015-03-19T14:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/?p=8300"},"modified":"2015-03-19T07:56:52","modified_gmt":"2015-03-19T14:56:52","slug":"at-the-white-house-theres-nobody-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/at-the-white-house-theres-nobody-home\/","title":{"rendered":"At the White House, There\u2019s Nobody Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

The absence of true leadership has created chaos at home and abroad.<\/em><\/h3>\n
by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\"(Photo:
(Photo: White House via Flickr)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

W<\/span>hat has gone wrong with the U.S. government in the past month? Just about everything, from the fundamental to the ridiculous.<\/p>\n

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States to warn Congress about the dangers of a nuclear Iran. He spoke without the invitation of an irritated President Obama, who claimed that he did not even watch the address on television.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Obama declined to even meet with the Israeli prime minister, announcing that it would have been improper for him to have such a meeting so close to Netanyahu\u2019s re-election bid.<\/p>\n

But if Obama was so concerned about not influencing the Israeli elections, why, according to some news accounts, is a Senate panel launching an investigation into whether Obama\u2019s State Department gave grant money to a nonprofit organization, the OneVoice Movement, that sought to unseat Netanyahu with the help of several former Obama campaign operatives?<\/p>\n

Then, 47 Republican senators signed an unusual letter to the Iranian theocracy, reminding it that any agreement on Iran\u2019s nuclear program negotiated with the Obama administration would have to first clear Congress.<\/p>\n

Obama shot back that the senators\u2019 letter was undue interference that aided the Iranians. Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton agreed that the senators were either empowering Iranian hardliners or sabotaging the diplomatic efforts of their own president. Secretary of State John Kerry concurred.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Senate may well pass new sanctions against Iran, if it feels Obama has been too lax in its negotiations or usurped senatorial oversight of treaties.<\/p>\n

Senator Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) bucked the Obama administration and expressed doubt about administration concessions to the Iranians. Other Democrats could join him.<\/p>\n

But almost immediately after weighing in on Iran, Menendez found himself the target of a federal investigation into purported corruption. And as far as the claim of improper interference in foreign affairs goes, the Obama administration and British prime minister David Cameron jointly lobbied U.S. senators not to pass tougher sanctions on Iran.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Hillary Clinton is bogged down in another trademark Clinton scandal. Clinton never used a standard government e-mail account while secretary. And rather than submitting her actual e-mails to the State Department back in December, Clinton submitted 55,000 printed pages of e-mails \u2014 making it much harder for those e-mails to be searched.<\/p>\n

Apparently, Clinton also wished to decide which of her private-server communications to release to the government \u2014 but only when demanded by congressional investigators and watchdog groups well after her tenure ended.<\/p>\n

Clinton\u2019s implausible press conference last week only made things worse. She proved unable to explain her unusual behavior and seemed ignorant about how government e-mail works and is secured.<\/p>\n

Abroad, Syria, Iran, and the Islamic State are battling for what is left of the Syrian-Iraqi borderlands after the United States abruptly pulled out all its peacekeepers from Iraq. All are enemies of the U.S. But as they fight each other, the Obama administration is negotiating with Iran over its efforts against the Islamic State. The administration has also expressed a willingness to meet with Syrian president Bashar Assad, after not long ago declaring Assad an illegitimate leader who should step down. Obama had issued red-line threats to Assad over the gassing of his own people.<\/p>\n

Back home, two apparently inebriated Secret Service agents crashed their government car into a security barrier near the White House \u2014 in the midst of an active bomb investigation. Indeed, the reckless agents may have crashed right through the crime scene. This is after the Department of Homeland Security launched an investigation into the culture of the Secret Service following a 2012 scandal in which a dozen agents hired prostitutes during an alcohol-fueled night in Colombia.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in the midst of nightly demonstrations at Ferguson, Mo., a young demonstrator on parole allegedly shot two police officers. \u201cWhoever fired those shots shouldn\u2019t detract from the issue,\u201d the president editorialized.<\/p>\n

But trying to gun down a policeman should amount to something more than a \u201cdetraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s own Department of Justice recently issued a report indicating that the Ferguson Police Department routinely violates the rights of black citizens. But the DOJ also found Officer Darren Wilson\u2019s shooting of a charging Michael Brown justifiable. That shooting was the incident that began the Ferguson \u201cissue\u201d in the first place.<\/p>\n

Was Obama worried about the wounded policemen \u201cdetracting\u201d from the protestors\u2019 \u201chands up, don\u2019t shoot\u201d allegations, which Attorney General Eric Holder\u2019s investigators, along with a grand jury, had already debunked?<\/p>\n

All this chaos has taken amid ongoing IRS and VA investigations, the Supreme Court\u2019s impending decision on the constitutionality of Obamacare, and Saudi Arabia arranging to buy from South Korea nuclear expertise to counter Iran.<\/p>\n

The common thread in all this chaos?<\/p>\n

More than the usual partisanship at home and barbarism abroad.<\/p>\n

No one seems to be in charge at the White House. And that has terrified America\u2019s supporters and emboldened its enemies \u2014 with another two years to go.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a9 2015 Tribune Media Services, Inc.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The absence of true leadership has created chaos at home and abroad. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ National Review Online What has gone wrong with the U.S. government in the past month? Just about everything, from the fundamental to the ridiculous. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States to warn Congress about the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[28,124,126,97,152,196,262,185],"tags":[995,1053],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-29S","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8592,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/hillary-clinton-reactionary\/","url_meta":{"origin":8300,"position":0},"title":"Hillary Clinton, Reactionary","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/ PJ Media\u00a0 Amid the Trump psychodramas, the public has forgotten not just Hillary Clinton\u2019s latest contortions over her emails, but Mrs. Clinton herself. Hillary has assumed the position of a tired vice president in waiting, without any of the perks that might accrue from a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hillary Clinton"","block_context":{"text":"Hillary Clinton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/public-figures\/hillary-clinton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo via NRO","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/pic_giant_033015_SM_Hillary-Clinton-Dark-G-500x292.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6610,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/netanyahus-necessary-crankiness\/","url_meta":{"origin":8300,"position":1},"title":"Netanyahu’s Necessary Crankiness","author":"victorhanson","date":"October 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We can afford to be overly optimistic about Iran, but Israel can't. by Victor Davis Hanson \/\/\u00a0National Review Online\u00a0 So far, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani\u2019s peace ruse is still bearing some fruit. 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(Rex Features via AP Images)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/obama_netanyahu_3-8-15-1-500x310.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9423,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wheres-the-letter-from-democratic-security-officials-opposing-hillary\/","url_meta":{"origin":8300,"position":4},"title":"Where’s The Letter From Democratic Security Officials Opposing Hillary?","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"By Victor Davis Hanson\/\/Town Hall A group of 50 conservative foreign policy elites and veteran national security officials of prior Republican administrations recently wrote an open letter denouncing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. 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