There is something eerie about Barack Obama’s approach to the world: a defiance about facts and a belief that you can simply rewrite history and your own actions without anyone daring to mention it. We see this on a daily basis with Obama. It is one thing to assert that Iraq was not ground zero in the war against Al Qaeda when the war begun, but now? What about the facts — the battles in Mosul, killing of tens of thousands of Al Qaeda fighters, the psychological and practical damage done to Al Qaeda’s infrastructure? Does he not know or does he choose not to know?
Then there are his own comments and positions. These too can apparently be willed away. The old Obama is being purged. Can you imagine if he had used all these new caveats and conditional phrases during the primary campaign? He’d never have made it around Hillary Clinton’s left flank. It is one thing to change your mind and another to try to erase the memory of your former persona and positions.
At bottom, Obama appears to be weaving, grasping and ultimately making up his his own facts to avoid a tough predicament: offending his base. But given the choice between defending your country’s interests and taking on the extremists in your own party (who will likely vote for you anyway), it is surprising that the choice would prove to be so hard.