The Pirate hostage rant falls overboard

THE AMAZING rescue of Pirate hostage Richard Phillips by Navy Seals on Sunday also kidnapped the right-wing fomentators' latest assault on President Obama as being something of an incompetent  sissy in standing up to America's enemies.  Led, as always, by the wingers Great White Whale, Rush Limbaugh,  Obama was already cast in pig iron as no match against the Somali Pirates, thus proving once again that we are in great risk without someone as tough as, can we say,  George Bush?  The Seals ruined their anti-Obama  rant by killing three of the Pirates and capturing a fourth while demonstrating to the world that we have not lost all of our smarts.  Until the dramatic rescue, the ranters would have you believe that in an Obama-world,  piracy was just another example of our rising mediocrity, no  matter that   it had been occurring all too frequently long before he entered the White House.  Limbaugh's word for it while  including Hilary Clinton in the wrap, was "inept" - as in, these people have no idea in hell about what they are doing. So  it may surprise them that the Associated Press has now reported that the president was in close contact with the rescue mission, getting as many as six briefings a day after  clearing the Seals  to use deadly force if necessary to bring Phillips home safely.     (Would it be fair to ask Rush how he came by such incisive military insights with not a day of military service on his resume?)  The wingers will keep up the beat, insisting perhaps, that a truly concerned president would have been on the scene disguised as one of the Seals.  All of this reminds me of what Dr. Samuel Johnson, the essayist and lexicographer, said about another fellow:  "The worst of Warburton is, that he has a rage for saying something, when there's nothing to be said."