President refuses to face problems

Like it or not, Western civilization and culture are at war with ISIS. At this point, it's an undeclared war and a highly nontraditional war. But it's a war nonetheless.

Unfortunately, President Obama is clearly not at war with ISIS.

It has been abundantly clear from the very beginning of his first term that our president has a somewhat different world view of America's role.

Like his father, this president believes much of America's success has come from taking the resources of other nations to build the amazing system of this great nation.

His obsessive push to open our borders to any and all -- despite massive evidence of potential harm -- serves to illustrate his mindset on how to cut America down to size.

The president's purposeful inability to recognize our enemy and to protect this nation amounts to a junior varsity approach in the face of a dangerous reality.

Few things clearly demonstrate his odd policy more than the censorship this past week of remarks made by the French president.

At a news conference following the nuclear arms talks this past week, French President Francois Hollande was asked about terrorism in the wake of the Paris attack last month.

His remarks were clear.

"We're also well aware that the roots of terrorism, Islamist terrorism, is in Syria and Iraq."

Yet when the video of that news conference was released by the White House, Hollande's use of "Islamist terrorism" was censored. The video goes silent for a few seconds during his comments when he used those magical words that this administration is unable to muster.

President Obama seems to be playing an ostrich on the international stage by sticking his head in the sand to ignore the obvious.

It's no small thing when the president is unable and unwilling to name those who wish us harm. It is an even bigger problem when he chooses to censor those who recognize the threat and voice their concerns.

Given the opportunity during that very same news conference, Obama three times failed to put a name to our enemy.

The president's continuing failure to articulate exactly the problems we face is a curious tactic. He consistently warns that our nation is not at war with the religion of Islam yet his refusal to accurately name the forces of evil does a disservice to a concerned American public.

If history somehow in some parallel universe attributes Obamacare as a major accomplishment of this administration, then surely history will also record the president's reluctance to specify those who wish us harm as a universal failure.

Mike Jensen is the editor of the Standard Democrat in Sikeston, Missouri.