If Roman legend can be believed, in 54 A.D., then-emperor Nero played the fiddle as he watched his city burn to the ground. This tale is repudiated by most as utterly false; however, it serves as an analogy for leaders who cling to frivolities and inaction in times of crisis. As of today, a crisis of a far larger scale is rising in the Middle East, and the threat is no longer fire, but the perfect storm of radicalized religions, nuclear capabilities in the hands of questionable men and outsiders willing to prod weak men to the point of violence. And the Nero of our time, it would seem, has made his appearance, fiddle in hand.
As the November election grows closer each day, and campaigning becomes more and more inflammatory on both sides, the tensions in the Arab world have elevated to volatile levels. Instead of actively working to remedy the myriad of problems that have already taken a number of U.S. civilian lives, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, President Barack Obama has made it clear that he favors campaigning over conflict resolution.
The ramifications of his inactions, which include an apparent failure to act on tips that would have foiled the Sept. 11 strike that took Ambassador Steven’s life, are not confined to the deserts and hills of the Middle East. Instead of meeting with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the threat of Iranian nuclear capabilities, President Obama made an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. This slight may not seem too severe, but when you consider that Israel and Iran are on the verge of a war that could potentially embroil the entire Arab world and all their allies, his choice seems almost petty.
In the weeks following Ambassador Steven’s slaying, United States’ embassies throughout the world have seen hundreds of protests outside of their gates, spurred on, primarily, by an anti-Islam video posted on YouTube. As the lives of U.S. citizens abroad become increasingly at risk because of this remarkably complex situation, little has been done by the Obama administration to put out the flames. Instead, our nation’s leader has been attempting to put out the flames he himself started by mishandling the situation. While that is clearly the easier of the two paths, nobody can truthfully consider it the one an effective leader would make.
Though President Obama’s reelection is massively important to his cause, one must ask how many American lives need be lost before he switches focus, for several days. It’s been noted by many that President Obama has one of the most savvy PR teams the White house has ever seen. If his focus remains so staunchly on improving the public perception of himself, his team must think that boosting poll numbers by way of late-night comedy TV is more important than actually fixing the problems plaguing his administration. Hopefully, whoever wins the presidency come November will find the resolve to care more about what is right than what makes people like them.
Robert Frye is a junior majoring in finance. His column runs biweekly on Monday.
