President Obama put his own spin on the oft-quoted advice of Teddy Roosevelt: Speak sharply and carry a big nine iron.
The vacationing commander-in-chief, after promising a relentless hunt for the terrorist butchers of a U.S. journalist, teed off on a Martha’s Vineyard golf course just a short time later.
“Obama is more dedicated to golfing than he is to defending the nation,” sniped Liz Cheney, daughter of the former GOP vice president, via Twitter.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius also took a swing at Obama.
“I know in Western countries, this is vacation period,” he said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “But when people are dying, you must return from vacation.”
Obama’s motorcade zipped quickly Wednesday from a local school to the first hole after his 12:45 p.m. media session on the murder of James Foley, 40.
Obama delivered a short statement and took no questions from the assembled media.
“The United States of America will continue to do what we must do to protect our people,” the President said. “We will be vigilant and we will be relentless . . . to see that justice is done.”
The President’s foursome on Martha’s Vineyard included ex-NBA star Alonzo Mourning, tech mogul Glenn Hutchins and longtime pal Cy Walker.
Just weeks before Foley was beheaded by Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists, Obama dispatched dozens of U.S. Special Operations fighters to Syria in a failed rescue attempt, senior White House officials said.
The mission earlier this summer ended when the commandos — after parachuting in — couldn’t find where James Foley and other Americans were held by ISIS radicals, said the senior officials.
A firefight ensued, with several ISIS fighters killed, the officials said. No American fatalities were reported.
“The U.S. government had what we believed was sufficient intelligence . . . to move aggressively to recover our citizens,” said Lisa Monaco, Obama’s top counterterrorism adviser, in a statement.
“Unfortunately, that mission was ultimately not successful because the hostages were not present.”
The terrorist group recently pressed U.S. officials to pay a multimillion-dollar ransom for Foley’s release, which they refused, according to The New York Times.
Foley’s boss at the Boston-based online news service GlobalPost said the terrorists sent him a terrifying Aug. 13 email indicating their lethal plans for the journalist.
“I characterized it as vitriolic and filled with rage at the U.S. government for bombing in Iraq,” said Philip Balboni, CEO and co-founder of GlobalPost.
“There was also a more explicit threat to execute Jim,” he told the Daily News.
The email was turned over to officials at the White House and the State Department, although Balboni declined to provide any additional information.
“We’ll miss him deeply,” said Balboni. “He was a special guy. Our hearts were broken about it. We believed to the end we were going to bring him back. It’s just horrifying to know now that’s not possible.”
Obama, after speaking Wednesday with the shattered Foley family, promised justice in the savage killing that was callously posted on the Internet.
“All of us feel the ache of his absence, all of us mourn his loss,” the President declared. “We will do everything we can to protect our people and the timeless values they stand for.”
A somber Obama dismissed ISIS as a morally bankrupt gang that uses the United States as a scapegoat for its ongoing killing spree against innocent victims — including women, children and fellow Muslims.
ISIS claimed Foley’s death was in retaliation for U.S. missile strikes in Iraq, and threatened to kill a second journalist.
But there was no word from Steven Sotloff’s cruel captors Wednesday about his fate after the U.S. continued with its bombing of Iraq.
The Americans unleashed a new round of air strikes Wednesday against ISIS, with the 14 attacks bringing the total to 84 since Aug 8.
Foley went missing in northern Syria in Novemeber 2012 while working as a freelancer in the volatile region. There was no word on his whereabouts until the gruesome video surfaced Tuesday.
Additional U.S. troops, likely fewer than 300, could also be headed back to Iraq to provide additional security for the American Embassy in Baghdad, The Associated Press reported.
Obama, speaking during his family vacation, ripped into the terrorists with carefully chosen words.
The group “speaks for no religion,” he declared. “No faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday, or what they do every single day.”
On a mobile device? Click here to watch the video on Obama’s speech.
