With Jon Stewart retired and David Letterman off the air, media darling Barack Obama pursues other avenues by which to preen his ego.  This time the President has opted to be schooled in a reality survival television show in Alaska. 

This is right in his imagery wheelhouse. These shows aren’t reality at all.  They are staged “realities,” like an Obama news conference or a speech at a University. Are not his appearances on late night television and reality shows just large “selfies”? 

Obama, with his affinity for “selfies,” seems engaged in a bizarre public self-admiration exercise. (Is that a Presidential Seal on that selfie stick?)

True reality seems to slip him by. He still might believe you can indeed keep your doctor and your plan.  He still might believe his policies did turn the economy around.  There is a larger reality out there with which he seems not to be engaged. Or, is it by choice?

However entertaining his dismissal may be to frivolous realities, national security and military preparedness are the gravest of matters.

The Russians are ramping up their nuclear submarine fleet. 

“The size of the Russian submarine force will begin going up by five starting in 2015, with the pace of construction resembling the Cold War days more than the lethargic shipbuilding rate that has prevailed ever since the Berlin Wall fell. But although the number of U.S. nuclear submarines will only increase by two this year, experts are already questioning the effectiveness of the Russia’s submarine fleet.”
 

 As FOX News reports “U.S. military satellites have been tracking a Russian spy ship - capable of cutting undersea communications cables and other sensors - since it was spotted in the north Atlantic last month off the coast of Kings Bay, Ga., home to the U.S. Navy’s East Coast ballistic missile submarine fleet.”

In April, the head of the U.S. military’s Northern Command, Adm. Bill Gortney, confirmed the presence of two other Russian military ships operating near the United States at the time.

"They were the same ships that took part in the Russian-Chinese naval exercises which recently concluded in the Sea of Japan,” the official said.

And speaking of China, the historical norm for a reaction to economic turmoil is usually the glorification of a nation’s military capabilities via parades and military boastings.  Last week the Chinese engaged in such distractions.  Not only did China roll out the hardware for a military parade,

Chinese war ships: Chinese navy ships off the coast of Alaska in recent days weren’t just operating in the area for the first time: They also came within 12 nautical miles of the U.S. coast, making a rare foray into U.S. territorial waters, according to the Pentagon.

An F22 “fly by” might have been an appropriate response to a brush with our boundaries.

 Additionally, Russian jets in Syria

Russia has begun its military intervention in Syria, deploying an aerial contingent to a permanent Syrian base, in order to launch attacks against ISIS and Islamist rebels;

Recent open source reports and unverified images of Russian equipment in Syria indicate that the Kremlin may slowly be ramping up its presence in the war-torn country in support of the beleaguered regime of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad.

The unfriendlies (China, Russia, Iran) seem to want to test the resolve of the President, if not push the envelope in his final year in office.  Perhaps this is just nose thumbing.  Perhaps these maneuvers are more common place than recent reports suggest.

Obama seems to be seeking a more fashionable reality. There is plenty of reality out there, Mr. President, and the coming final year of your presidency might be chock full.