THE JOKE'S ON US

June Smith

 

While campaigning in Eau Claire, Wisconsin yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden quipped, “I’m supposedly an expert on foreign policy,” he said. “Where I come from, an expert is anyone from out of town with a briefcase.”

This is the man Barack Obama chose as his running mate on August 23, 2008, calling him “a statesman with sound judgment”, the man touted as “an energetic foreign policy expert, very highly regarded in that area”, who has held “two of the most critical Senate chairmanships” (Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Judiciary Committee).

“Statesman with sound judgment”? No Statesman with sound judgment would joke about foreign policy as we mourn the loss of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other members of the American diplomatic corps in Libya and violence in the Mideast is spreading faster than Obama is back-peddling on his comments about Egypt.

The liberal media wants us to believe Biden’s gaffe was simply an intentional slam at Romney’s lack of foreign policy expertise. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times wrote, “But on a day when anti-American violence overseas again dominated the news, the self-deprecating humor of the vice president had a point: to draw an unflattering contrast with the lack of foreign policy experience of the Republican ticket.”

Wonder what topic Joking Joe will include in his next campaign stand-up routine?

There’s much from which to choose, given the events of the last 24 hours:

-The U.S. Navy has deployed two guided missile destroyers off the coast of Libya;

-A Marine Rapid Response Team has arrived in Yemen to deal with the aftermath of the attack;

-Pope Benedict XVI is appealing for peace as he arrived in Lebanon for a three day Middle East visit where rioters are burning American flags and have burned down a KFC;

-The U.S. Embassy in Sudan is under attack and the German Embassy there has been attacked and an Islamic flag has been raised;

-Black smoke is coming from an area near the U.S. Embassy and an American school in Tunis, Tunisia;

-We now know that militant groups were involved in the attacks in Libya;

-The University of Texas at Austin received bomb threats from a man with a “Middle Eastern accent” claiming to have Al Qaeda ties and was evacuated;

-Shortly thereafter, North Dakota State University received a bomb threat and was evacuated;

-A dozen Diplomatic posts around the world are under siege;

-Obama decided not to personally meet with Netanyahu;

-No one’s sure whether Egypt is not our friend or just not our foe;

-And news of more “unrest” by "demonstrators", "protestors", and "rioters" keeps coming.

As hard as it is for me to believe Biden would joke about foreign policy at a time like this, it is even harder to believe all this is happening over the reportedly “American-made Anti-Islam film"...especially so close to the anniversary of the 9/11 Attack on America.

As Don Corleone said, "There is no such thing as coincidence."

June Smith is the widow of Ron Smith, WBAL Talk Show Host, Emmy® Award winner, and Baltimore Sun columnist, who was a media titan in Maryland area and beyond for almost forty years. Her tribute website, founded in his memory, is www.friendsofronsmith.com. She is working diligently to raise one million dollars for the Ron Smith Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund at Johns Hopkins. Her email is june@friendsofronsmith.com.