FOD 2013.02.25

Say what you will about obama -- and believe me, I've said plenty -- but give the devil his due. The SOB is pretty damn good at managing his image and covering up his actions (or inactions).

Case in point: the tragic deaths of four Americans during the attacks on our Benghazi consulate.

The Obama White House is to be congratulated. It has executed one of the most effective stonewalls in recent memory over the Benghazi attack Sept. 11 that killed our ambassador to Libya and three others. Its handling of the debacle's aftermath is a model example of the power of obfuscation and delay.

The imperative for the White House was, first, to try to deny that the assault was a coordinated terrorist attack lest that undermine its anti-terror credentials and, second, to push further consideration of the matter past the November election. After that, there would be no electoral consequences. And it all would be “old news.”

So the Accountability Review Board report from the State Department was scheduled to hit ... in December. When asked about Benghazi during the campaign, the president could aver, “Nobody wants to find out more what happened than I do.”

Of course, President Barack Obama knew what he did or did not do during the eight-hour attack that started at the consulate and continued at a safe house, where two security personnel were killed. If he had covered himself in glory, surely he would have let reporters know.

Instead, nothing. Time passed, and he won re-election. When Congress got around to hearings the past few weeks, “Benghazi” had become a watchword for right-wing obsessiveness.

Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has revealed under questioning that after a previously scheduled meeting with the president at 5 p.m. at the outset of the attacks, he had no communication from the White House the rest of the night. Neither, according to his testimony, did Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey.

This raises the question of what Obama was doing during the long hours of an attack that killed a U.S. ambassador for the first time since 1979.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina vows to hold up Obama administration nominees until he gets answers. His determination is admirable, but by now, no one really cares.

The stonewall worked, alas. PR experts might want to rewrite their rules, at least for clients who can count on a compliant press. Benghazi was a fiasco. The handling of its aftermath by Obama and his team was brilliant.

It helps, of course, to have a media that is an extension of the obama campaign machine.

I try to stay positive, but at this point in time I'm beginning to have serious doubts about the long-term future of my beloved country. If an administration that is directly responsible for the deaths of American citizens through running guns (Fast and Furious), turning its back on American citizens in distress (Benghazi), and outright killing American citizens without due process (drone attacks) can garner the support of the media and a majority of the voters, then I fear we may be lost.