In September, Obama promised the U.S. military would “degrade and ultimately destroy” ISIL. How’s that going? Despite a U.S. bombing campaign to assist Kurdish fighters, ISIL has nearly overrun Kobani, a largely Kurdish city on Syria’s border with Turkey. The administration’s response was essentially, “Yeah, whatever. It’s not important.” Meanwhile, the U.S. for the first time sent low-flying attack helicopters to attack ISIL targets west of Baghdad over the weekend. That’s perhaps not technically “boots on the ground,” but it is “boots in the air.” Choppers are also significantly more vulnerable than fighter jets already flying bombing sorties – and all while the U.S. has no Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq. Finally, State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki was asked about ISIL making “gains rather than retreat” in the face of Barack Obama’s strategy. She responded, “There have been, certainly, gains made by the Iraqi Security Forces in Iraq. I can go through some of those for you if that would be useful.” She then thumbed through her notebook – and never found any examples. This administration is so grossly incompetent, even Jimmy Carter is still criticizing Obama’s Middle East policy as a failure. That’s when you know things are bad.