The news was simple. It was leaked two weeks ago. President Obama had made a decision to omit any mention of Islamic radicalism or jihad from strategic doctrine and public documents. Some in the media told it as a simple story, which it certainly is not. Some commentators analyzed this as an extension of Obama's courtship of Muslim leaders around the world. You can begin with his first oversees travel to visit the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the success of which trip can be measured by how close Istanbul has become to Tehran. Well, what can we say? Yes, it was (and remains) a flop.
Then came the genuflection before Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah. More than a flop. A disaster ... and an insult, besides.
Obama seems to think that he can alter the world by altering the presidential verbiage. If he and his underlings (or puppets, as the case may be, like shameless Hillary Clinton) do not refer to Islamic extremism well, then, poof, it will no longer exist. By which logic maybe we should also cease referring to Al Qaeda and the Taliban and maintain the illusion and delusion that these terrorists (a useful word the journalistic profession has excised from the common vocabulary) constitute only a tiny fraction of the Muslim world. Which, of course, they do not. Even without counting their followers and enthusiasts.
The fully reliable and indispensable MEMRI put on the web this morning coverage of a March 30 pro-Palestinian rally in Kuwait. No, it was not merely a news report. It was beginning-to-end treatment. Yes, in staid and conservative Kuwait, for which American men and women fought. A Kuwaiti poet, a Kuwaiti member of parliament (such parliament as it is), a Kuwaiti older-looking student rabble rouser, a Kuwaiti leader of the Salafist movement, a five-year old singing about martyrdom. Poor boy.
Here's a part of his song: "Allah loves the martyrs ... You have taught us what it means to be a man. All the money in the world will not make us forget."
The Obama administration won't refer to any of this anymore. Thank God the jihad is no longer with us. Ask the president.