Which President Obama appears at the White House podium depends on whether the incident du jour is commendable or condemnable.

If it’s a star-spangled victory by America’s magnificent military, such as the Navy SEALs killing Osama bin Laden, Obama becomes the reincarnation of Chester W. Nimitz, Admiral of the Pacific Fleet, fully informed and in command.

If it’s a scandal involving willful deceit and/or incompetence, Obama becomes the know-nothing Sgt. Schultz of the ‘60s TV sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes.”

On March 16, a team of Navy SEALs seized a commercial oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that had been hijacked by three armed Libyan rebels. On March 17, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a press release announcing that Obama had approved the operation at the request of the governments of Libya and Cypress. According to the DOD:

“The Morning Glory is carrying a cargo of oil owned by the Libyan government National Oil Company. The ship and its cargo were illicitly obtained from the Libyan port of As-Sidra. The Morning Glory will be underway soon to a port in Libya with a team of sailors from the USS Stout (DDG-55) embarked. The sailors will be supervising the transit.”

When Navy SEALs took out Osama bin Laden, Obama announced it from the splendor of the White House East Room. One has to wonder why Obama didn’t personally wrap himself in the “morning glory” of the SEALs’ latest successful mission instead of a one-liner in a DOD statement.

Could it be that a statement involving Libya from the White House or Department of State would raise more vexing questions about the absence of Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during the terrorist attack on our Benghazi consulate and compound on Sept. 11, 2012? Or their failure to increase security there as urgently and repeatedly requested by our ambassador?

Why did Obama and Clinton repeatedly lie about the cause of the Benghazi attack, while imprisoning the formerly unknown Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, producer of an unknown, amateurish video about Mohammed, which Obama and Clinton knew had zilch to do with causing a so-called “spontaneous demonstration” at the consulate?

Why were our military assets in the Mediterranean sent to rescue a $36 million cargo of crude oil, returning it to the same Libyan government that failed to protect our consulate and delayed in cooperating with our rescue efforts of consulate personnel?

Why didn’t Obama order any of the several military assets in and around the Mediterranean to attempt a rescue of Americans under attack in Benghazi that left fourdead, including our ambassador?

Don’t the following facts refute the Obama administration’s insistence that removing Muammar Gadhafi from power would stabilize Libya and defeat terrorism?

• The Libyan government’s failure to apprehend any of those responsible for the Benghazi attack.
• Its inability to protect the tanker in a Libyan portfrom three rebels and prevent its removal.
• That several ports in Libya are currently under blockade by rebel militias.
• Kidnapping of its prime minister by a small group of militiamen.
• The recent sacking of its Parliament by a lightly armed mob.
• Recent car bombings.

Obama was just a clueless couch potato when asked about the “Fast and Furious” gun-running debacle run by the U.S. Department of Justice, which resulted in the death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican citizens. Obama knew nothing about it until he saw it in the media, according to White House Press Secretary James Carney. During a press conference on June 27, 2012, Carney claimed that there was not

“some grand plan behind the Fast and Furious program when, in fact, everyone knows the President did not know about this tactic until he heard about it through the media; the Attorney General did not know about it.”

The Republican National Committee’s website provides links to other scandals about which Obama claimed to know nothing until he learned about them from the media. These include: the IRS targeting conservatives; the impending failure of the ObamaCare website; snooping on German Prime Minister Angela Merkel,and the DOJ seizing AP phone records and spying on Fox News journalist James Rosen and his parents. Obama’s media mavens aided and abetted his claims of ignorance. Mark Landsbaum, columnist for the Orange County Register, provided a lengthier list on Nov. 8, 2013.

If either of the SEALs’ missions had failed, would their know-nothing commander in chief have appeared at the White House podium? Who can imagine Obama writing a personal note accepting sole responsibility as General Dwight D. Eisenhower was prepared to do if the “D-Day” invasion had failed? Ike’s handwritten note was found later crumpled in his jacket pocket:

            “If any fault or blame attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”

Obama accepting sole responsibility for any of his failures is inconceivable unless one frequents the delusional world of compromised commentators working at the branch offices of the Obama White House, otherwise known as “mainstream” media.

Jan LaRue is senior legal analyst with the American Civil Rights Union.