The Patriot Post® · Obama vs. Reagan: Contrasted Responses to Downed Plane

Barack Obama strutted to the podium for a stump speech in Delaware Thursday, just after the Soviets Russians shot down a Malaysian airliner. He began his remarks with just 38 seconds discussing the plane. “[I]t looks like it may be a terrible tragedy,” he said. “May be”? He then noted his national security team would stay on it, and quickly returned to his regular programming – beginning with jokes about Joe Biden. By contrast, when the Soviets shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Ronald Reagan, who was on vacation in California at the time, immediately canceled all events to return to the White House. When Reagan addressed the nation about the shoot-down, there was no equivocation. He called it “a massacre,” a “crime against humanity,” an “act of barbarism.” Obama, on the other hand, went on joking about Joe Biden and slamming Republicans. As Red State’s Erick Erickson put it, “Reagan led. Barack Obama could learn from the last guy from Illinois to sit in the Oval Office.” More…