WASHINGTON -- Today is Veter ans Day. Do you know where your president is?
With his feeble flame of "hope" thoroughly doused here in the United States by last week's elections, President Obama has set out around the globe in search of throngs still enthralled by his flowery rhetoric.
He found them, of course, in Indonesia this week by telling them about how Americans must stop mistrusting Islam.
So that is why your president is halfway around the world instead of being here in the United States to celebrate the sacrifices American soldiers, sailors and airmen have made around the world to keep the real, still-burning flame of freedom alive.
Obama honored our veterans from afar by laying a wreath during a ceremony at an Army base in South Korea last night.
That is a distance from here matched only by the chasm that has opened up between him and the voters who elected him two years ago.
This aloofness of his really is becoming a problem.
Not that Obama doesn't appreciate the sacrifices of veterans. He absolutely does. Just ask the Indonesians.
He was in Jakarta for their Heroes Day this week to honor their veterans "who have sacrificed on behalf of this great country."
"This great country," of course, being Indonesia.
"When my stepfather was a boy, he watched his own father and older brother leave home to fight and die in the struggle for Indonesian independence," Obama told the audience.
And the White House wonders why so many people think there is something foreign about this guy.
In the same speech, Obama gave voice to a harsh criticism he has heard about freely elected governments.
"Today, we sometimes hear that democracy stands in the way of economic progress," he said.
The shocking statement raises the question: Where has Obama heard this fatuous claim and with whom has he been talking politics?
Thankfully, your president tepidly disputed this calumny against democracy, but the alarming questions remain. He went on to tell the Indonesians, "Democracy is messy."
"Not everyone likes the results of every election. You go through ups and downs," he said.
At least it sounds like Obama is starting to get the message voters sent him last week.
