Abdication

            ABDICATION: The relinquishing of power or responsibility.

            The most famous abdication in modern history was that of King Edward VIII of England in 1936. He gave up the throne to marry Wallace Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite.

            The most recent abdication is going on right now. It is the abdication of presidential leadership by Barack Obama.

            When the country cries out for salvation from its intolerable 14 trillion dollars of debt, the president leads by paying lip service to the need to cut spending while proposing more spending, which he calls "investments." He wouldn't want to offend anyone who might vote for him, now, would he?.

            While all agree that entitlements must be reformed, beginning with Social Security, Obama refuses to put forth any proposals. He prefers to let Republicans come up with a plan so he can claim that they are throwing grandma out on the street. That's good strategy for his reelection, you see.

            With union goons inciting demonstrations outside state capitols, the president has all but forgotten his call for civility. We don't need to be reminded that he is one of them and that they are his biggest supporters. Let's not jeopardize the flow of union dues to Democrat party coffers.

            With rebels in Libya crying out for help in the form of a No-Fly Zone, our leader agrees that Qaddhafi must go, but that the United States cannot lead any military effort to oust him. With the crisis worsening and the rebels about to snuffed out, the president prefers to go out and play golf. After all, no one can deny him a little recreation after the exertions of fundraising.

            With prices at the pump rising daily as the result of the turmoil in the Middle East, the president still preaches windmills and solar energy instead of permitting the extraction of oil and gas from our enormous reserves. Protecting one caribou in the frozen tundra of Alaska is much more important than fighting extortion by OPEC. We can all agree on that.

            When pictures of the unimaginable tragedy in Japan appeared hourly on our TV screens, Obama came on to tell America that his heart was broken. Days passed without another word until he went on the air to sketch out his NCAA March Madness picks. What's more important than the spirit of American competiveness?

            After all this hard work, our leader scheduled a vacation to Rio de Janeiro with his family. At the taxpayers' expense, of course. Leadership is exhausting, as we all know.

            This is presidential cynicism at its worse. It is crass dereliction of duty. It is the shameful abdication of Obama's responsibilities as a world leader.

            Abdication. What a legacy!