By Alan Caruba
I have been puzzling over what I perceive as the growing loss of public interest in the Benghazi debacle in which an American ambassador and three others lost their lives and the former Secretary of State in a pique of anger over questions about the event said, “What difference does it make?”
It makes a difference if the State Department was derelict or indifferent to the ambassador’s cables that spelled out the security threats that he and his staffed faced or, for that matter, the attacks on other diplomats and humanitarian organizations operating in what was a war zone. African migrant workers had earlier been attacked creating an evacuation crisis, but the September 11, 2012—a noteworthy anniversary—attack simply accelerated the flight from a lawless region controlled by al Qaeda.
It makes a difference if, as we have since learned, the President was entirely detached from the crisis of the attack in Benghazi after initially been informed of it. No one, it seemed, took any action despite the six hours of the attack though it was reportedly seen in real time via satellite drone surveillance.
It makes a difference if the White House, in concert with the State Department, concocted a story that made no mention of al Qaeda, said the attack on the anniversary of 9/11 was “spontaneous”, and was the result of a video that no one had seen.
Now, six months later, with the exception of Fox News, there is little notice taken of what is arguably a major scandal, one of incompetence followed by deception, and which, like “Fast and Furious”, the gun-running scandal to Mexican drug cartels dreamed up and covered up in the Department of Justice, is fading not just from the news, but from the memories of Americans.
My theory is that the cabal in the White House, led by the President, knows well that all they have to do is stall long enough and the initial outrage will go away, if it hasn’t already. Even the Congressional committees and their inquiries will lose momentum. The public is asking “What next?” instead of “What happened?”
Complicating this are the hearings on the President’s choices for cabinet posts. Former Senator John Kerry sailed through to his appointment as the new Secretary of State, but others like former Senator Chuck Hagel as the next Secretary of Defense and John Brennan as the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency are foundering briefly over concerns that the former is an incompetent, bigoted fool and the latter may be an Islamic “mole”.
The public, meanwhile, is distracted over the prospect of “sequestration”, blames the Republicans when in fact it was a proposal made by the President to force Congress to address the growing national debt and annual deficit. As he said during a 2008 election debate, he was sure it would be derailed by some kind of agreement.
His failure or refusal to come to any agreement regarding spending cuts, however, ensures that sequestration will become the law of the land. His outlandish lies about the shutdown of vast elements of the government are ludicrous. They are a part of the way the Obama administration rules from crisis to crisis, spreading widespread fear among Americans.
There are plenty of other distractions as the 24/7 news cycle provides coverage of every new crisis somewhere in the world and here at home of dramatic weather events, fires, murders, sports, and the usual celebrity blather.
I often include references to history when I write, but I have begun to conclude that only the older portion of my readers have any real grasp of those events to which I refer. I am inclined to believe that many under age fifty and many more under thirty have no real grasp of U.S. or world history. Even Vietnam and Watergate are “ancient” history to most as is the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.
It is already twelve years since 9/11 in 2001. In that time, our military has been bogged down in Afghanistan and fought a war in Iraq to no effect other than deposing its former dictator, Saddam Hussein. That war, however, may have encouraged the citizens in Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt to force out their dictators, but lacking any experience with democracy, they have only exchanged the former dictators for new ones, often allied with the Muslim Brotherhood. Syria is two years into a civil war with 70,000 dead.
I have begun to suspect that the advent of the Internet and the way news is now swiftly packaged and presented has left too many, but particularly the young, living entirely in the present with neither knowledge, nor interest in the past—even the recent past.
With our blogs and our ability to comment on everything as it occurs on Facebook or via Twitter, we are suspicious of the “experts”—people who may actually have the knowledge and experience to comment in a cogent, informed fashion—because we know what we “feel” even if we do not know what we do not know!
Too many of those experts come with an agenda that is intended to keep us frightened and compliant.
That is why this White House feels confident it can tell us the same lies over and over again, secure in the knowledge that we will only remember them, however briefly, and then move on to whatever the latest, the present news may be.
We are developing the memory and attention span of fungus.
That changes our relationship with the White House, Congress, the arcane workings of the Federal Reserve, the dizzying ups and downs of Wall Street, the imponderable fact that so many millions of our countrymen are unemployed, and that news of the latest Northeastern blizzard has already replaced the devastation of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.
“We are the people we have been waiting for,” President Obama said during his 2008 campaign. I hope not. The sheer novelty of electing the first black President was sufficient to get him elected. That was just over four years ago and the novelty is gone. All that remains are the lies and an economy in disrepair.
The reality of Obamacare and other elements of the President’s agenda are beginning to bite, but the bulk of Americans are now conditioned to live in the present, ignore even the recent past, and regard the future as chaos. They only know what is occurring to themselves today. Who can or even will plan for the future when you have credit cards?
© Alan Caruba, 2013
Comment
Comment by Herb Irish on February 26, 2013 at 9:56am 
Comment by Randall on February 26, 2013 at 2:04am We have a POTUS who cannot even pass E-Verify! No big deal says the Congress who could investigate him! Our POTUS has a SSAN from a dead man from Connecticut! No big deal says the Congress who could impeach him! Our POTUS attended Columbia as a foreign student from Indonesia! He probably overstayed his student visa and might STILL be Indonesian! Not worth investigating says the do-nothing Congress! Obama ignores the Constitution and does whatever the hell he wants! Obama gives $1,500,000,000 to Libya to overthrow Gadaffi! They buy Russian and Chinese weapons with their Obama money and then use those weapons to attack and kill our people! Why is nobody bringing up the fact that the Libyans got the money for those weapons from OBAMA?!?! What does this fool have to do before he GETS IMPEACHED?!?!?
There are plenty of people disturbed and outraged over these events, including the audacity that the person responsible, feels confident to run for president. The problem is that it isn't all of the people. Listening to Obama voters and how ill informed they are - it is no wonder they do not join us. They hear what MSPMS allows them to know, the eat up the lies like it's their last meal and they have no curiosity or care about anything but possibly having those empty promises benefit them personally. By the time they realize promises are not the same as deeds, hopefully it will still be possible to save us all.
Comment by Dawn Pizzo on February 25, 2013 at 1:42pm I agree with you Debrajoe. I live in NJ. I might even be the last Constitutional conservative living here. I have to deal with Senator Menendez being shown as the pedophile and money grubbing bastard that he really is and have to grin and bear it that he still gets to go to Washington and represent me. Sick right? I got rid of my TV a long time ago. I only watch the news when I hang out at other's people's houses and I do not watch any of the main stream media outlets. I also listen to talk radio programs like Mark Levin's and a couple others that are worth it. I don't want to hear the same fear-mongering crap on the nightly news over and over and over again. Anyone with half a brain can tell that they are trying to "direct" us into their way of thinking. 5 years ago I didn't know what a conspiracy theorist was and now I am one. And I am not ashamed to admit it either. I have learned over these years that there are definitely real conspiracies going on and its not just theory anymore. Here is what we know about Benghazi for sure...... Obama knew what was happening and went to bed. Nuff said. He should be impeached immediately for the plain and simple reason that as Commander-in-Chief, he cannot protect us. The military hates him and I have that on excellent word. And yes, you are correct, we need to get these bums out of office at all costs.
Comment by Debrajoe Smith-Beatty on February 25, 2013 at 7:52am Kelli I have had a gut full. I have decided that I am going to try and do something about this mess. Whether I succeed or not is not important. I will no longer tolerate the lies blown out of BH Obama's mouth. He speaks with a forked tongue. I will no longer tolerate kiss off letters from my elected representatives; I have informed them of this and told them I intend to find a replacement for them. They are not worth the salary we pay them. They are our paid political servants like it or not. If they cannot perform, then they can go home.
Comment by Kelli Brochon on February 25, 2013 at 7:21am I would really like to hear from ano one of the 30 plus survivors of this attack. Where are they? What is happening to them, why are they not speaking out? Judge Janine on Fox has requested several times that any single one of them just call, email, tweet, anything in the way of communication and NOTHING! I am deeply concerned for these people, as the POTUS now has the authority with NDAA among other directives, to detain these people indefiniatly I have to wonder if this is happening to them. I cant imagine another scenario that makes any sense, how about anybody else?
Comment by C.E. Moore on February 25, 2013 at 1:02am This is the best column I have read in a good while. I agree. Our situation is well condensed and defined in this posting, especially the battle we are waging, have been waging, and have probably already lost regarding the current members of our country in the age line descending from fifty or so, who are exactly as described by Mr. Caruba. Our modern society is non equipped to deal with the reality of our real situation and the machinations of the socialists in power who, I reluctantly give credit to, for recognizing the depths our younger people have slipped in ignorance, and obviously laziness, mental and physical, and to exploit those charactor flaws and shortcomings to their advantage so well. I am so disappointed in our country, our young people, and our leaders. I hate to see my country be this bad, and I cry to know what she is gonna be like and what her true citizens are gonna have to endure in the near future.
Comment by Linny Redd on February 24, 2013 at 10:14pm Yeah, everybody thinks "wow, it's getting hot in here", but nobody seems to know "the house is on fire"!
And DC sure isn't telling the fire department! The guys on the hill, Republicans and Democrooks seem to
be saying, "Burn, Rome, burn!"
Comment by Judy Masserano on February 24, 2013 at 7:39pm I don't think we are developing the memory and attention span of fungus. I think the American people have been beaten down to a point where most people are just giving up and the rest of us are being overwhelmed by the blatant disregard for our Constitution and all that it means. This president has been put back in office, not because he is leading our once great nation to be greater and proud, but to demoralize, punish, lose confidence, separate and weaken morale to gain the advantage of forming his own religious dictatorship. by RAD 999
You hit the nail on the head EXACTLY! The above is half the population; the other half is living off the them (us).
Comment by John Liposky on February 24, 2013 at 6:36pm I wamt to know who dreamed up the excuse for the attack. Who was sitting on that clip until they could give an excuse for this violence by muslim extremists. Would have to be a supporter of them.
© 2013 Created by Judson Phillips.
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