The Shoes Fit

                    “If the shoe fits, wear it,” says the old adage.  Bret Stephens, in writing about the foreign policy of the President and his Secretary of State, recalled that the great German poet Goethe once wrote that nothing is worse than aggressive stupidity, but that pompous impotence surely comes in second place.  These two shoes are a perfect fit for Barack Obama and John Kerry.  They have been wearing them in Syria, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine. 

                    Stern warnings in opposition to Russian incursions take the form of sanctions that produce derision and laughter.  A response to a request for arms results in a shipment of meals-ready-to-eat (MREs).  Meek, ineffective, and yes, laughable.  That’s American foreign policy these days. 
                    Let’s move on to Nigeria where the Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram has been terrorizing Christian communities since 2009.  The FBI, the CIA, and members of Congress repeatedly asked the State Department to treat the group as terrorists, but Hillary Clinton refused, apparently believing that appeasing terrorists promotes peace and stability.  And let’s not mention that Boko Haram has ties to al Qaida, because that would run counter to the president’s claim that al Qaida is on the run.
                    When Boko Haram slaughtered hundreds in Gamboru Ngala and later incinerated 59 boys in an attack on a Christian Easter service, there was silence in Washington.  But when the terrorists kidnapped 300 girls and threatened to sell them into slavery, Hillary finally spoke up and called the action abominable and criminal.  Michelle Obama then jumped into the fray with a Tweet of herself holding a poster that read “# Bring Back Our Girls.”  So that’s it.  We now place our foreign policy in the hands of a hypocritical former Secretary of State and an outraged First Lady.  That will surely make Boko Haram quake in fear.
                    So what should we do about Boko Haram?  Should we send forces into Nigeria to rescue those girls?  Our intrepid Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel takes the cue and says, “We’re going to bring to bear every asset we can possibly use to help the Nigerian government” ….except put boots on the ground.  What a show of force!  Oh, but we’ll send personnel (presumably unarmed) to help locate the girls.  Now there’s a bold plan!
                    To aggressive stupidity and pompous impotence, we must now add to our foreign policy fearsome outrage and feckless bravado.   When you send those scouts into the jungle, Chuck, make sure they take a lot of MREs with them.