Charles Krauthammer, "Bombing for show? Or for effect?": And What About the War on Ebola?

In his latest Washington Post opinion piece entitled "Bombing for show? Or for effect?," Charles Krauthammer explains that American attacks on Islamic State forces in Syria are ineffectual:

"So what have we done to relieve Kobane? About 20 airstrikes in a little more than 10 days, says Centcom.

That’s barely two a day. On the day after the Islamic State entered Kobane, we launched five airstrikes. Result? We hit three vehicles, one artillery piece and one military “unit.” And damaged a tank. This, against perhaps 9,000 heavily armed Islamic State fighters. If this were not so tragic, it would be farcical."

Farcical? Indeed, but perhaps enough to convince the American electorate prior to the midterm elections that Obama is not a milksop.

Krauthammer's conclusion:

"The indecisiveness and ambivalence so devastatingly described by both of Obama’s previous secretaries of defense, Leon Panetta and Bob Gates, are already beginning to characterize the Syria campaign.

The Iraqis can see it. The Kurds can feel it. The jihadists are counting on it."

Krauthammer is correct, and Kobani cannot hold out much longer. One month ago, US Secretary of State John Kerry told ABC News Today:

"No. Look, we’re engaged in a counterterrorism operation of a significant order, and counterterrorism operations can take a long time, they go on. I think 'war' is the wrong reference term with respect to that, but obviously it involves kinetic military action."

A few days later, Kerry corrected himself and stated that the US is indeed at war with the Islamic State. However, it now turns out that the US is not even engaged in a "counterterrorism operation of a significant order." This is a phony military engagement, if ever there was one.

Krauthammer, however, fails to note that there is another war that Obama has faced with "indecisiveness and ambivalence": the war on Ebola.

The Ebola virus, which is spreading at a frightening rate, could ultimately prove far more deadly than the Islamic State, yet the Obama administration has responded to this threat with extreme laxity.

Obama would have Americans believe that the midterm elections are all about his policies:

"I’m not on the ballot this fall. Michelle’s pretty happy about that. These policies are on the ballot, every single one of them."

Well, let's see what Americans have to say about that.