What the honorable, former Secretary of Defense did to President Barrack Obama on Tuesday evening in his 40 minute interview by William O'Reilly on the Factor may well have been unprecedented in American political theater, certainly a unique event during my lifetime. What Mr. Panetta did to Obama was both disloyal and disrespectful, indeed an act of shamelessly disrobing the Emperor.
More significantly, however, what Mr. Panetta did for his country Tuesday was an act of true patriotism, immense courage and bravery rarely, if ever, seen in the ruling elites of America. To sum up Mr. Panetta's devastating critique of Mr. Obama's presidency over the last six years, this life long democratic Icon (no right wingnut, Tea Party fav.) told the Nation that the current occupant of the White House knows full well what should be done to protect America against our foreign adversaries - Russia and China - and our avowed war making enemies - radical Islamists, but he refuses to take the necessary forceful actions of effective deterrence and the powerful military defense of America in the Middle East.
Think about that Panetta statement for a second, or as long as it takes for its full impact to jar your conscience. The former Secretary of Defense, who served for four years directly under President Obama, and therefore, has deep personal, intimate knowledge of the thinking and acting of this President, has concluded that Mr. Obama has made a conscious, willful decision to shirk his duties.
O'Reilly pressed Panetta repeatedly on why Mr. Obama has failed to demonstrate leadership on the world scene, but on this issue real candor and forthright analysis was replaced by the Secretary's ardent pleas for Obama to right the Nation's course over the last two years of this presidency.
Truth be told, I felt like I was witnessing an Intervention around the family dining room table - Leon Panetta appeared almost desperate at moments, seemingly hoping that his outreach might break through the icy calm and dispassion of this President, to literally shake him out of his lethargy so that America might yet be saved.
Pushback from an Administration known for its intolerance of dissent might well be swift and powerful. Nonetheless, I am confident that Leon Panetta doesn't care. Of all the great patriots in our history, the one Mr. Panetta now most reminds me of is Nathan Hale.
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