Obama After Terror Attack in France: Now Now Kids, Play Nice With Each Other

By Tom Gilson Published on July 15, 2016

Another attack, another 84 deaths, and President Obama still refuses to speak of Islamic terrorism. I think I’ve finally figured out why. He thinks he’s our national dad, and he doesn’t want his kids speaking ill of other people’s kids. His theory: if only he can convince us all to calm down and (my goodness, kids!) stop calling each other names!, we’ll finally get along. Barack Obama is playing house, and we’re his children. He wants us to play well with other daddies’ children — including Muslims.

This kind of condescension is typical of liberal elites’ posture on many issues, but nowhere is it so pronounced as it is with our president and Islam. He wraps his language in garb resembling inclusiveness and compassion, but underneath it’s really quite dismissive — even toward Muslims.

Patronizing Muslims

I know I can’t put myself in any Muslim’s shoes. Still I can only imagine how infuriating it must be for many of them. The peace-loving Muslim must surely wonder, Does he think he can manage everyone’s opinions about our beliefs, just by telling  them what they ought to think about us? Who does he think he is? Similarly, the terrorist Muslim must be asking himself, Who does he think he is, telling me my religion is a religion of peace that way? For both sets of Muslims, here’s who he thinks he is: Obama thinks he’s the wise daddy with the right answer.

It’s patronizing toward Muslims in more ways than one. His message boils down to, Deep down Muslims aren’t any different from the rest of us, so don’t worry; which translates all too neatly to: At its heart, Islam is just another expression of the same Western-liberal view of humanity we all hold dear. And hey, we have our violent fringe here in America, too! Why should we think they’re any different from us? Again, it sounds nice, but it sets up Western liberalism as the standard against which differences should be measured. If I were Muslim I think I’d take less note of Obama’s niceness and more note of the Western-centric putdown implied in what he’s saying.

But daddy knows best, so Muslims should be glad he’s taking care of their reputation for them, right? Kids can’t do that for themselves near the way dad can.

Daddyship In Place of Leadership

And what then about those of us who aren’t Muslim — what should we think when he postures Islam as a religion of peace? It’s a nice thought; but I can’t think of any time he’s offered reasons to think of it that way. In fact, as far as I can tell, the reason he thinks we ought to believe Islam is a religion of peace is because he told us it would be nicer for us to think so. He wants us all to stop thinking nasty awful thoughts about each other so we can play well together. “Yes, Daddy, since you say so, Daddy.”

America has noticed (it wasn’t that hard to see) there’s a connection between Islam and terrorism. Repeatedly we’ve called on our president to lead us in responding to it. He ignores us like toddlers tugging at his trousers. Day after day, attack upon attack, it’s obvious his approach isn’t working. How could it? There’s no leadership there.

Barack Obama should be leading us as adults, but I’m not sure he sees us as adults. Adults don’t lead adults by telling them nice things they ought to think. True adult leadership would involve him looking us clearly in the eye and saying, “I know some of you have heard of places in the Qur’an that seem to promote war. Some of you know of Islam’s warlike ways down through history. I know you’ve seen terrorists in action, claiming religion as their motivation. But I’m here to tell you that isn’t real Islam — and here, in detailed explanation, are the reasons we know it isn’t.”

“Because I Said So, That’s Why!”

Clear, accurate explanations are great things. They wipe away distortions and correct errors. They do it in the right way, through accurate information presented in proper perspective. They promote thinking, leading to solutions. They bring people into alignment by creating a genuine basis for agreement.

But explanations are for adults, not kids. Kids are told what to think. Obama’s insistence that Islam is a religion of peace contains no more substance than the classic parental answer, “Because I said so, that’s why!” In fact it might even be less substantive than that; for not only does he refuse to explain why (on his view) seemingly Islamic terrorism isn’t really Islamic terrorism, he won’t even speak the phrase. Hush, honey, hush! Some words really must not be spoken around the children!

We Elected Him Our President, Not Our Dad

He won’t treat us as adults because, apparently, he doesn’t see us as adults. The question for us then is, how do we see ourselves? Before we can call out our president for inappropriately treating us as children, we have to shake off the illusion ourselves. He couldn’t have gotten away with this dad charade if we hadn’t been so willing to play our part in it for him. Suppose we took the adult posture here. What would that mean in our interactions with such a patronizing president?

Complaining he’s wrong hasn’t worked. He feels free to ignore it, just as dads ignore kids who complain about being made to do their homework. Dads are wise that way. President Obama thinks he’s wise that way.

So what’s the adult thing to do in response to President Obama’s daddy image? He’s in authority. He has the right to say what he thinks we need to hear. We did elect him president, after all. But we did not elect him dad. It’s time for us to call him on that.

Obama can urge us to settle down and play nice without giving any explanation, without addressing the obvious issue of Islamic terrorism; just “Because I said so!” But this isn’t play, and the process of settling down to real peace isn’t destined merely to be nice. It’s time we grew up and quit listening to our unelected national daddy trying to tell us so. It’s probably too late to expect him to change his style in his last few months in office, but we could still use the practice. Our next president will need to know we don’t want another daddy or mommy as president. We need a leader instead.

 

(Author’s note: I wrote the first draft of this article — all but the first sentence — just before hearing of the attack in Nice, France. I have retained my use of the word “nice” in several places here. It shares an unfortunate homonymic relationship with the name of the city, but absolutely no other connection is intended. In spite of the attack, it remains the one English word that conveys what I think needs to be said.)

 

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