The word “disconnect” is the appropriate way to describe the chasm between America’s government and its citizens. We all have our favorite examples, but none can match the events of last week.
On the eve of the 14th anniversary of the worst attack ever against our nation, President Obama celebrated a nuclear pact with Iran, an Islamic theocracy whose leader calls the United States “Satan” and joins crowds in chanting “Death to America.”
A mere 21 percent of the American public supports the deal and a bipartisan majority of the Senate opposes it. Yet the filibuster rule blocked the Senate from defeating it, allowing Obama to hail the “historic step forward.”
His “victory” is a disconnect that will live in infamy.
The deal is essentially a nonaggression pact with Iran, a form of appeasement that renders unfair any further comparisons to Neville Chamberlain. At least Hitler promised peace at the 1938 Munich conference after the British leader engineered a German annexation of parts of Czechoslovakia.
Iran’s supreme leader doesn’t bother to pretend he wants peace. On the contrary, he vows that the nuclear agreement will have zero impact on the policies of the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who repeatedly declares that Israel will be “eliminated,” wrote just before the Senate vote that, “God willing, there will be no Zionist regime in 25 years.”
And he made it clear that Iran, which has militias and terror proxies in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and supports Hamas and Hezbollah, would not be changing its stripes, writing: “During this period, the spirit of fighting, heroism and jihad will keep you worried every moment.”
Think of that: We are lifting punitive sanctions not in the aftermath of victory or as part of a comprehensive peace agreement. We, along with other so-called great powers, are unilaterally declaring peace while our adversary repeats its declaration of war against us and Israel.
Even Iranian “moderates” openly tell their allies that the $100 billion they will get from the deal will help them carry out Khamenei’s terrorist agenda.
They say these things without fear the truth will scare off Obama or turn Democrats against him.
The Iranians are honest about their plans. Our leaders are dishonest when they insist we can safely disregard the rhetoric. We’ve been down this road before, thinking it a joke when Osama bin Laden declared war on us in the 1990s.
And yet, as lower Manhattan was again given over to the solemn anniversary of 9/11, and as family members made the annual trek to hallowed ground, Democratic lawmakers, including some from New York, again failed to recognize evil. Their president said jump, and they didn’t ask how high. Although millions of refugees fleeing Islamists are spilling out of the Mideast and North Africa, their faith in Obama is not shaken.
Their willingness to take a risk for peace might be commendable if peace were the mutual goal. But trusting that Iran will drop its conquering ambitions and moderate its martyrdom culture is a foolish roll of the dice in a life-or-death casino.
Iran had no known role in 9/11, but shares with those who carried out the attack the goal of Islamic rule. Yet its world-wide aggressions were never part of the negotiations, with Obama soft-pedaling them as “nefarious activities.” That’s one way to describe military operations that killed upwards of 1,000 American soldiers in Iraq alone.
Equally appalling, the deal rewards Iran for promised nuclear concessions no one expects the mullahs to keep. Again, it’s almost as if 9/11 didn’t happen.
Long before the smoke had cleared from Ground Zero, ordinary Americans vowed to “never forget” the unbearable loss of innocent life. A united nation went to war, heroic young men and women volunteered to defend their country, and many made the ultimate sacrifice.
The world changed forever, it was often said. Certainly it did for those survivors who gather at the powerful memorial and museum, and for the millions of visitors from around the world who come to bear witness.
As it did Friday, the reading of the names and the playing of taps always lets loose the raw emotions of that awful day.
Yet the Iran deal says the world didn’t change, and that America, or at least its president and his party, are holding fast to a 9/10 mindset. They are wrong, and the country will surely pay a price for their folly.
Gov’s a burger ‘flipper’
Gov. Strangelove is on the prowl again, eager to prove he is New York’s alpha male.
Months after saying that a proposed $15 minimum wage was a “nonstarter,” Andrew Cuomo is pushing exactly that. The difference is that Bill de Blasio was the author of the first push, which made it no good, dumb, impossible.
The feud between the former friends is occasionally entertaining and sometimes useful, but this latest phase is simply bizarre. I have no brief for de Blasio, but if there’s a principle behind Cuomo’s flip-flop, it’s well hidden.
Instead, he’s offered a warmed-over hash of cliches, saying his push “will add fairness to our economy and bring dignity and respect to 2.2 million people.” He said it would “restore hope and opportunity” and deliver “economic justice for all.”
Wow, if it is really all those things, why did he oppose it six months ago, then push it only for fast-food workers?
Unfortunately, the zig-zag is a Cuomo habit. He’s been all over the place on Common Core and teacher evaluations, to where it’s impossible to know what he believes or intends to do.
Similarly, he spent his first term declaring victory on ethics legislation before admitting failure. He then set up the Moreland Commission, vowed he was as “serious as a heart attack,” then disbanded it as probers zeroed in on their targets.
Government-by-impulse-and-revenge is no government at all. It’s arrogant, reckless and destructive of the trust needed to build a public consensus.
It also makes the governor look cuckoo.
Don’t settle for less
Like a recorded message, City Hall defends its settlement of lawsuits by saying payment was “in the city’s best interest.”
Comes now proof that fighting back can also be in Gotham’s best interest.
A jury tossed the police-brutality claims of an Occupy Wall Street protester after deliberating for only 40 minutes. Stacey Hessler, who ditched her family to camp out with the incoherent rabble in 2011, never had a case and clearly hoped the city would simply write a check.
Congratulations to the Law Department for saying no. Let’s make fighting back a new habit — in the city’s best interest.
From Russia with precedent
Headline: NATO ‘Surprised’ By Russia’s Move Into Syria.
Either history repeats itself, or some people never learn. Recall that Jimmy Carter was surprised when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan on his watch, too.