by Daniel Gardner

Last week President Obama said, "The world is less violent than it has ever been. It is healthier than it has ever been. It is more tolerant than it has ever been. It is better fed than it's ever been. It is more educated than it's ever been." Critics are no longer wondering whether Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii or Kenya...they're wondering which planet he came from.

Obama came into office promising to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As late as November 1, 2012, Obama said in a stump speech, "Thanks to sacrifice and service of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in Iraq is over, the war in Afghanistan is winding down, al Qaeda has been decimated, Osama bin Laden is dead." Obama had the audacity to say this 58 days after Islamic terrorists with strong ties to al Qaeda murdered four brave Americans in Benghazi including our ambassador to Libya.

When Obama pulled all of our troops out of Iraq in 2011 without negotiating an agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to keep an American presence there, he didn't 'end the war;' he laid the foundation for war atrocities we are seeing in Iraq today just as many in the military and on the right predicted.

ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), the new al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq, is a well-supplied and trained army, not a terrorist cell, that is capturing city after city in western and northern Iraq. ISIS is led by Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, a college-educated man who rose from poverty to riches through the ranks of al Qaeda in Iraq. Baghdadi is driven more by methodology and practicality than by ideology. In other words unlike his predecessors in Jihadist groups, Baghdadi is building an Islamic state.

Coincidentally, Baghdadi was released by U.S. forces in Iraq in 2009 after spending 4 years as a prisoner in Camp Bucca. As Baghdadi was leaving, he reportedly said, "I'll see you guys in New York," according to Army Col. Kenneth King, then commander of Camp Bucca. We're just beginning to see consequences of Obama's catch and release policies for Islamic terrorists. How long before we see consequences in America?

President Obama came into office promising to make the world a better place through diplomacy and negotiations. So far we've seen Obama's failures in Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Ukraine. In fact, his only successful negotiation was a deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan to free 5 Taliban commanders from Gitmo in exchange for American soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

Even Hillary Clinton is distancing herself from Obama's foreign policy blunders, essentially saying she argued for different policies and strategies during her time at State. Now that she's no longer running the State Department, 'what difference at this point does it matter?'

America is as weak today as ever. Our enemies neither fear nor respect us. Our allies fear we will not support them in times of need. And, President Obama hurts his own optics and America's image in the world by preaching about climate change at a college graduation, and then going golfing while ISIS brutally conquers Syria and Iraq.

With this overwhelming lack of leadership in the White House, we need to elect strong conservatives in Congress to change the direction we're going. The world may not survive two more years of Obama in the White House.

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