the rix mix

I couldn't understand why President Obama was so off his game last night. Then, around 1 am, listening to BBC World Service, the Turkey-Syria border crisis was big, big news. The Turkish Parliament had even authorized its military to enter Syria. I realized President Obama had cleared his calendar Wednesday to deal with that - it is a very serious national security & NATO problem, was dealing with it right up to the time he entered the building for the debate. Unfortunately, the debate was not about foreign policy, so the Commander-in-Chief & "Leader of the free world" could not give a little "what I was doing today & will be doing the moment I leave here" talk. No wonder he looked distracted. He was stopping a war from breaking out in the most volatile region on the planet.

Can't use it as an excuse. The debate was about domestic policy. Americans have almost no interest in world matters until they affect us directly, & American news media accordingly pays that much attention to it. But the pathological liar on the other side of the stage receives national security briefings. He knew what was happening. He didn't have to worry about it. When the debate ended he slapped backs & drank soda pop & slept the undisturbed sleep of the smugly righteous. Next debate, let's get back to that "3 am phone call" theme.