Blame Obama for Chris Stevens' murder

As most of the mainstream media continue to live down to already low expectations, it's little wonder how Obama is afforded such a pass on failing to satisfactorily respond to the two most critical issues of the day – the sagging U.S. economy and America's standing in the world.

On Thursday the government released the latest economic growth figures. The U.S. economy contracted again in the third quarter, falling to a pathetic 1.3 percent annual rate. I'm not sure what's worse – the actual pathetic growth rate or the fact that economists had predicted a rate of just 1.7 percent, which is also pathetic.

Either way, President Obama has no time for it. He's campaigning; on Thursday he went to Virginia. In recent days he's made the daytime talk-show circuit and has hung out with other celebrities.

That's unacceptable because, as bad as the economy is – and it's bad – the country faces a worse situation abroad.

You may have heard that "radical Islamists" killed one of our ambassadors earlier this month.

Many Americans have been prone to blame these "radicals" for Ambassador Christopher Stevens' death. As tragic as his death is, we shouldn't forget that in war, enemies will try to inflict violence against us any way they are able.

War? Yes, there is still a global war on terror, even if the PC police within the Obama administration have labeled it something else. So if you want to blame someone, then blame the person who made conditions ideal for our enemies to attack and kill our ambassador.

Stevens, who died in Benghazi, was killed in large part because security around him was so negligible (no word yet from the Libyan president, Mohammed Magarief, as to why he didn't order additional security to guard our consulate, which is what a true "friend of the U.S." would do).

Benghazi was the seat of the recent Libyan uprising. A hotbed of insurgency. The very definition of insecurity.

And yet our State Department, which falls under the purview of the Executive Branch, failed to provide adequate security.

The head of the Executive Branch is the president of the United States.

In other words, Barack Obama.

Stevens knew he was in danger. A small journal he kept that was found by a CNN crew in the burnt-out shell of the consulate said as much.

We have to assume that Stevens, a seasoned and experienced diplomat, conveyed those security concerns to the administration, via the State Department. And yet, we now know that nothing was done to assuage his concerns.

Stevens was likely going to die that day – the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks – one way or another. Part of the militants' plan was to attack him at our consulate. A second militant force, meanwhile, attacked the site of the embassy staff "safe house," where Stevens was heading when he lost his life.

In the aftermath of this tragedy we have a president who refuses to accept responsibility. That's nothing new, however, because Obama has refused to own up to anything, including the nation's other critical issue, the sad state of the economy.

But Obama is responsible. It is he who created the perception of weakness on which the attack was premised.

This president has apologized over and over again in this volatile part of the world for the "behavior" of our country, even though most of us have no idea what it is we did or why he's singling us out.

In the part of the world where Stevens was killed, that kind of Neville Chamberlain-like behavior is not respected. Consequently, in that part of the world America is no longer respected. So we're attacked. And Stevens paid the price of Obama's apologetic weakness with his life.

He should not have died in vain. No one should be able to murder one of our ambassadors and get away with it. If one enemy is allowed to succeed, another enemy will try us. Then another.

Obama should have wasted no time in punishing Libya's current rulers by striking at them wherever they were found. That would have sent the message loud and clear that the United States will not stand idly by when attacked.

But he didn't. Instead, he did what he always does – he lectured. He chided. He deflected. Mr. Cool blamed a foolish video.

What Obama should do now is step down, for he has disgraced his office by surrendering any remaining legitimacy he had left as commander in chief. The memory of Ambassador Stevens, as well as the thousands who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting those who attacked us on 9/11, demand it.

As more enemies line up at the gate.