Good grief, Mr. President

Editor's note: The following column has been changed to correct the location under attack in Benghazi.

Nothing to see here folks. Just another week in Washington.

Increasingly, the lack of American leadership from the Obama White House is illustrating the fundamental flaw of inexperience in Washington combined with a detached arrogance that has outworn its welcome.

On so many fronts, this administration is proving a frightening lack of resolve toward our enemies and an obsessive disconnect with the laws of this land.

Today, after two beheadings and a path of utter destruction, the president will announce long-ignored plans to address the threat of ISIS with limited American involvement. His delay on the ISIS front has cost countless lives and created a crisis of his own making.

It was also announced this week that the Russians, who Obama cavalierly dismissed with his brilliant "reset" button, are flying practice flights near American airspace to test their nuclear capabilities.

Think of that. The Russians are practicing near enough to our borders to fire a nuclear missile at any American site of their choosing.

After dismantling our missile defense system in Eastern Europe, Obama quickly joined with NATO forces last week to form a Very High Readiness Joint Force with the emphasis on "Very," as if that will scare the Russians.

But the administration's leadership vacuum was in greater display with Obama's decision to delay his long-awaiting unilateral move on amnesty until after the midterm elections. This administration knows fully well the havoc that will follow that announcement and Obama is trying desperately to maintain control of the Senate and thus the political move that reinforces the sentiment that Washington is more interested in politics than policy.

And just one passing footnote on a typical Obama week. More IRS emails have gone "missing" but still the Obama Justice Department ignores a crime so obvious even staunch Obama supporters must be cringing.

Ferguson has slipped out of the headlines for now but just down I-55 in Memphis, a white store employee was beaten unconscious by a mob of African American teens. We can only assume that Eric Holder is own his way. Right?

But the best punch line of the week came from none other than the cerebral John Kerry who pronounced with a straight face that the Bible teaches us that -- are you ready for this? -- America needs to protect Muslim countries from climate change.

Lost in the week's news items was the conversation with three surviving military personnel stationed in Benghazi who said they were ordered to "stand down" three separate times during the siege of our consulate there, despite repeated denials by the administration.

So there you have yet another typical week in the world of Obama. And each of these incidents highlights the growing disconnect and lack of leadership that will mark this administration.

Given this avalanche of misery and turmoil, the administration and its lemmings resort to name calling and finger pointing.

The truth is, that's about all they have left in their arsenal.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Sikeston Standard Democrat.