Obama Passes The Buck 

Harry Truman popularized the phrase "The Buck Stops Here" with a plaque that sat on his desk in the Oval Office for much of his presidency. It's a concept that seems lost on the current occupant of the Oval Office.

President Obama went on "60 Minutes" and did what he does best. Asked whether the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria came as a total surprise to him, Obama blamed someone else. Obama said, "Our head of the intelligence community, Jim Clapper, has acknowledged that, I think, they underestimated what had been taking place in Syria." 

Some intelligence officials are seething over this remark. One former senior Pentagon official said, "Either the president doesn't read the intelligence he's getting or he's bullshi**ing." 

The Daily Beast reports that top Pentagon officials testified before Congress in January and February about the growing threat from ISIS. 

Moreover, Iraqi leaders were begging for U.S. drone strikes as one city after another fell. In fact, former Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki came to Washington last October and personally pled with Vice President Joe Biden for help. 

But Obama shrugged off all the warnings and dismissed ISIS as a "JV team" (junior varsity team). Now he has the audacity to go on "60 Minutes" and suggest that it was our intelligence community that got it wrong. 

Trouble In Hong Kong 

While the world was fixated on beheadings and the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, China cracked down on free speech in Hong Kong. Massive protests have ensued. In a scene reminiscent of Tiananmen Square, the communists in Beijing ordered riot police to move in with batons, tear gas and pepper spray. 

If the people of Hong Kong were hoping for any encouragement from the United States, they were surely disappointed with today's statement from White House Press Secretary Josh Ernest. "The United States urges the Hong Kong authorities to exercise restraint," Ernest said, "and for protesters to express their views peacefully."  

Here we go again. This is the same kind of weak-kneed moral equivalency we have seen from this administration time and again. Whether it is Israel and Hamas or the pro-democracy "green revolution" and the Iranian regime, Obama hesitates to boldly stand for freedom. 

Beheading Update 

Over the weekend, more information about Alton Nolen, who beheaded a woman at his former place of employment, became public. A local newspaper reports that Nolen was arrested 10 times during a five year period. Friends say he converted to Islam while in prison sometime in 2011, eventually adopting the name Jah'Keem Yisrael.

Worshippers at the mosque Nolen attended described him as "a little odd" and "weird." Breitbart.com reports that Nolen posted a picture of Islamic State fighters on his Facebook page "on the very same day" ISIS released the photograph, "implying he closely followed ISIS online." There is another picture of Nolen at a mosque in Oklahoma City offering what appears to be the ISIS salute -- the right index finger pointing upwards. 

On Fox News this morning, Texas Governor Rick Perry said, "At some point in time the administration does have to address this as what is appears to many people that it is -- and that is an act of violence that is associated with terrorism." 

When a police officer and a young man have a confrontation in Ferguson, Missouri, something that unfortunately happens all too often all over the country, the left immediately seizes upon the incident and exploits it to fit a narrative of "racist America."

When a Muslim beheads a woman in Oklahoma, thankfully a very rare event, the left does whatever it can to make sure that it is not recognized for what it is. Rather than calling it an act of terror, it is labeled "workplace violence."

Some are attempting to downplay Nolen's interest in ISIS and they are insisting that there is no link to terrorism. But whether he was a "dues paying" member of a terrorist group is irrelevant. If Nolan did have contact with a terrorist group, to some degree that would be less disconcerting because we would know that he was acting as their agent. 

But if he in fact acted as a "lone wolf," that is precisely what intelligence agents fear most. Nolen could have been responding to calls by ISIS for Muslims in the U.S. to turn into a fifth column and act independently with one goal: to kill the infidel. Yet when there is some evidence that this nightmare scenario is happening, our government's goal seems to be to make sure we don't understand how much trouble we are in. 

And now there is this breaking news: The Washington Times reports that another Oklahoma City man, Jacob Mugambi Muriithi, a Muslim native of Kenya, was arrested Friday for threatening to behead a co-worker at the Bellevue Nursing Home. 

Are we experiencing an outbreak of "workplace violence" that is coincidentally associated with radical Islam? Or are the appeals from ISIS to lone wolf jihadists gaining traction? I know which one I think it is. 

Values Voter Summit A Big Success 

This year's Values Voter Summit was another huge success. A constant theme throughout the three-day event was the growing assault on religious liberty overseas and here at home. Featured speakers included Naghmeh Abedini, wife of Pastor Saeed Abedini, David and Jason Benham, Aaron and Melissa Klein, and Mariam Ibraheem -- all of whom have experienced varying degrees of persecution for their faith.

For the second year in row, Senator Ted Cruz finished first in the Values Voter straw poll, winning 25% of the vote. Dr. Ben Carson finished second with 20%, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 12%. Rounding out the top five were former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in fourth place, followed by a tie for fifth between Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. 

I was particularly pleased that several major media outlets, including MSNBC and the Washington Post, picked up on several key lines from my address Friday afternoon. Commenting on the policies of the current administration, I noted that Obama seemed more interested in saving the reputation of Islam than in saving the lives of Christians. Looking forward to 2016, I suggested that Hillary Clinton could find it difficult to run away from Obama after spending four years implementing his policies. 

If you missed my speech or any others, click here to watch them online. 

Thank you, my friends, for making this work possible!