The President Leads from Behind

By Ed Hoffman

The recent Paris March for Unity, as it has come to be called, was a poignant moment in history; it symbolized a unification among people from all over the world, erasing the lines of geographical and political division in a way that was profoundly moving. In that sense, it reminded me of some of the public events that were held following September 11, 2001, when people from around the globe stood in solidarity with the United States and weren’t afraid to speak out against those who had attacked us. (Remember those days? I digress.)

But this march of solidarity, while it was attended by world leaders including British Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was missing one very important element: the President of the United States, Barack Obama. As we now know, the President sent Attorney General Eric Holder to France to attend the security summit that was being held that weekend – but for reasons that were never fully explained, Holder failed to attend the rally. To call this a missed opportunity would be an understatement; even many of the President’s supporters have said that in recent days.

What could have been more important to the President than joining other leaders on the world stage to march in solidarity with the free people of France? That’s right: college football. It was confirmed by the White House that this is what the President was busying himself with that day, around the same time they blamed this blunder-turned-foreign relations nightmare on security concerns raised by the Secret Service.

But according to former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino, who served under Obama after serving under Bush and Clinton, this could not possibly be true and the President is pointing the blame at the Secret Service because he knows they aren’t allowed to speak out. In fact, Bongino said, Obama has been to more security-sensitive events in the very recent past. “Just look at the Mandela funeral,” he said, “which was geometrically worse when it comes to threat and he went to that because he wanted to go. If the President wants to go, he goes. The Secret Service doesn’t tell him he can’t go. That’s only in movies.”

There you have it, folks. The administration lies (again), after blaming someone else for its mistakes (again), after waiting to see what everyone on TV is saying about its actions to determine if it made the right decision and finding out that no one thinks it made the right decision – again. This is what’s called leading from behind, and it’s the one thing this President knows how to do. Unfortunately for us, it’s precisely the opposite of what real leadership is.

Ed Hoffman is the host of the Main Event on AM590 which airs Saturday at 9:30 AM and Sunday at 4:00 PM. Follow him on Twitter @EdHoffman, and like him on Facebook by searching The Main Event AM590.