Obama speechified about how he will “degrade and destroy” ISIS.  Words, words, words are not a strategy.  They are an obfuscation from the reality of doing nothing, of not crossing the red line in Syria, of not stopping the beheadings of Foley and Sotloff.

Great words, little man.

A month ago, a man said to me on the subway that he would beat my head in.  He said I’m an old jerk.  He challenged me.  He said he’d kill me if he wouldn’t have to go to Riker’s Island.  All talk.  I knew he didn’t have guns in his imaginary holsters. 

I said very calmly, “I’ve been to Riker’s, and it was no big deal to me.”

I hadn’t been there.  A brief two-year stint in a prison camp – that’s it.  He hadn’t been there, either.  He was all bluff and backed down at once when he thought that I might be an ex-con, while he was all poseur.

Obama, how tough are you?  Are you like the make-believe thug on the subway?  When have you been to Riker’s?  Did you fight the Latin Kings?  Where are the specifics to your lack of a plan?  A strategy, huh?

A speech is not action.  It is an excuse not to act and pretend that words are deeds.  Indeed, it Obama’s war of words.

Obama keeps insisting that he’s not going to put boots on the ground in either Iraq or Syria.  He should have said that he did not intend to put combat troops on the ground, but he certainly couldn’t promise it.  Wars escalate.  They are not dictated by speechwriters.  Who knows where this will lead us?

Well, Obama’s the man who boasted about ending the war in Iraq, which was actually predicated on Petraeus’s Surge.  He said he killed bin Laden, which was really based on Bush’s waterboarding of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.  He also said that he destroyed al-Qaeda, which is stronger than ever.

Obama takes credit where credit isn’t due.  

Obama wants to arm the Syrian rebels to fight both ISIS and Syrian president Bashar Assad.  Of course, getting Assad will leave a vacuum like Gaddafi did in Libya for terrorists to run riot. 

Obama hates dictators.  He went after Mubarak and Gaddafi.  He prefers their replacements: the vicious terrorists of the Muslim Brotherhood.  He knew about ISIS in advance and did nothing to stop them.

Obama himself tyrannizes through executive order.  He is going after ISIS only because his negligence and abandonment of Iraq have left two heads bobbing up and down on his dashboard.  He has even embarrassed his own party – the loud-speaking Democrats who carry a soft stick.

Obama then throws the responsibility of fighting ISIS back on Iraq: "American power can make a decisive difference, but we cannot do for Iraqis what they must do for themselves, nor can we take the place of Arab partners in securing their region."

Obama, why did you abandon Iraq in the first place?  Why did you abandon action for speeches on the first day you took office?

As for the Mexican border?  You’ve done nothing to secure it, and you’ve encouraged illegal immigration.  Muslim terrorists in sombreros?  That’s neat.  The Junior Varsity riding donkeys. 

“Degrade and destroy?”  Degradation, thy name is Obama and his supporters.

When I ride the subway today, I will look for thugs.  Most of them I don’t have to worry about.  They are like Obama – JV.