Originally Posted at American Thinker. Blog
In 2009 President Obama subjected the nation to 52 addresses, 158 interviews, 42 news conferences, 23 town hall meetings and used the teleprompter 178 times. Oddly, the master of speechifying says more by saying nothing then if every utterance that ever passed Obama’s lips was pooled into one unending communiqué.
There is great power in the non-verbal message. Obama inaudibly comports himself with a haughty composure and his implicit actions impact far beyond the spoken word.The most insightful messages Barack has expressed to America have been conveyed, not by way of rhetoric, but rather through silence.
Take for instance Obama wordlessly bowing to despots and dictators and doing so while snubbing America’s greatest ally, Israel. The President even allowed the soles of his shoes to be photographed while conversing with Bibi Netanyahu on the phone.
In Muslim culture “to have the sole of the shoe directed toward one is pretty much the equivalent of someone in our culture giving you the finger.” For an individual so preoccupied with advancing the understanding of Muslim mores, is it possible Barack was unacquainted with the insulting message the soles of shoes convey?
During the Pledge of Allegiance, Barack failed to place his hand over his heart an action excused as innocent oversight. Yet as time goes by the message behind the President’s voiceless actions are being verified by policies that unfortunately prove initial discernment was not a misunderstanding on the part of Obama critics.
Another example was Barack’s wordless message, on none other than the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland, reversing U.S. commitment to situate a missile defense system on Polish soil. A message that was tacitly potent.
This year Obama sent another nonverbal missive to defenseless Poland one sated with subliminal significance. On the day of President Lech Kaczynski’s funeral Obama saw fit to go golfing. Citing flight hazards caused by the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, Obama unable to travel to Poland, chose to pay homage to Tiger Woods instead, and did so while President Kaczynski was being eulogized in Krakow.
Some world leaders were also unable to attend, others found alternate means of travel. Barack, rather than visiting, paying respects, and signing the sympathy book at the Polish Embassy in Washington DC, decided to solemnly commemorate the death of a world leader by shooting a few rounds of golf. Focused like a laser on the 18th hole, Barack did not allow his birdie to be distracted by how blatant irreverence might “tee off” the world community.
French President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel also were unable to attend the funeral. However, Sarkozy did not express condolences while toweling off after a tennis match, nor did Chancellor Merkel commiserate from International Dance Week in Dresden.
Wrongheaded Obama didn’t glean a thing from his predecessor George W. Bush. Understanding the impact symbolism carries, the former president gave up golf “in solidarity” with the families of soldiers who were dying in Iraq. Bush’s sacrifice of golf was a decision made because GW, didn’t “want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf.” Bush said “I feel I owe it to the families to be as – to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.”
Excuse me Mr. Bush do you mean “sends the wrong signal,”similar to the type of signal the leader of the free world sends by choosing to play golf, while the president of Poland is laid to rest-that kind of wrong signal?
