Did You Know...

Late on Friday, the White House dumped Scare Force One staffer Louis Caldera and released a scant “review” of the stunt photo-op flyover that wrought havoc in New York City. The dump seems to have accomplished its mission. By Saturday night, the president was instantly comfortable joking about it in front of starstruck journalists who should have seen the lack of disclosure as no laughing matter.

Snickered the president at the White House Correspondents Dinner:

Now Sasha and Malia aren’t here tonight because they’re grounded. You can’t just take Air Force One on a joy ride to Manhattan. (Laughter.) I don’t care whose kids you are. (Laughter.) We’ve been setting some ground rules here. They’re starting to get a little carried away.

All just fun and games in Washington. Remember when Obama said he was “furious” about the debacle? Not “furious” enough to restrain himself from making light of the incident in front of tittering Beltway/Hollywood glitterati.

Outside the Beltway, more serious thoughts prevail. Victor Massad writes at The American Thinker today about the visual subtext of the Statue of Liberty fly-by photo:

One image alone was released from the expensive photo op that terrified New Yorkers last month. Out of God only knows how many images taken during the mission, only one was chosen. It speaks powerfully to the American public — in symbolic language.

The ominous and imposing aircraft dominates the scene in such a way that, in gestalt parlance, no one could mistake the figure for the ground. The figure is an aircraft that serves as Air Force One, representing the Messianic omnipotence of the Obama presidency. Below it, part of the background — a small and less relevant thing in comparison to the aircraft — stands the Statue of Liberty, representing the individual freedoms that Americans have come to treasure and enjoy.

The message and its purpose could not be clearer: we must reset our priorities. Now that the democracy is at last headed by this magnificent and elegant man, we must put the federal government and its needs ahead of our paltry individual freedoms. Of what value, after all, is the property Americans have spent their lifetimes to acquire, or one’s right to defend oneself with a firearm, or even the privilege of living in an upwardly mobile society that used to be the envy of the rest of the world, in comparison to the Leader’s magnificently powerful icon, glistening like a phoenix in the sun?

And if you missed Debra Burlingame’s piece on the utter unseriousness of Obama with regard to the Gitmo detainees, read it as 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America — with supporting links and video — here.

Thankfully, not everyone treats national security as a joke.