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The rise of Donald Trump has shown up a great many political "experts" for the ignorant fools they really are. The entire Republican elite has confidently waited for Trump to implode - but the more they criticize him, the more his ratings rise while the establishment candidates languish in single digits.
For the left and the media, the surprise is that the customary attacks of racist/sexist/phobic/bigot/etc. don't work on Donald Trump, which leaves them ineffectively spinning their wheels. The public seems to feel that anyone the mainstream media dislikes must be pretty good. What does that say about their credibility?
Above it all glides President Obama. He does not have to worry about how far Trump is stretching the Overton Window to the right; he will never have to run for re-election, and as a retired President, he can do just about anything and still be honored.
This is not reassuring to other Democrats, because unlike the President, many of them do still have offices they'd like to retain. The more Americans listen to Trump and decide that since Muslims cause almost all organized acts of mass terrorist and are mostly easy to identify it makes sense to keep them out, the more they'll decide that protecting their own skins is more important than staying ready for Hillary.
So if at all possible, the Democratic Party would really like Mr. Obama to keep the voters calm.
Unfortunately, the Muslims aren't cooperating: every time we turn around, there's yet another outrage against civilization, and now bona-fide jihadism has indisputably come to Middle America no matter how fervently Mr. Obama wishes to deny it.
To be perfectly blunt and crassly outrageous, every new terrorist attack is another few tens of thousands of votes for Donald Trump, the one candidate who has a plan that resonates with ordinary people as having some possibility of working.
Which presents Mr. Obama with a horrible dilemma.
It has been obvious for a very long time how to stop mass terrorist attacks: keep out Muslims, or at the very least keep a gimlet watch on them. For years after 9-11, the NYPD ran an extensive Islamic surveillance program to protect New Yorkers; needless to say, this policy of simple common sense is now the subject of a lawsuit by the usual suspects on the Left.
The FBI also has a watch list of suspected terrorists, but it doesn't seem to be a particularly close watch; San Bernardino jihadist Syed Farook was in contact with some of them, but the FBI didn't notice in time to save his 14 victims.
A prudent government which wanted to calm down the voters would redouble these efforts at profiling, recognizing the reality that it isn't Lutheran grandmothers blowing up their neighbors. If Mr. Obama took action along these lines and somehow got America through the next year without any more exploding Mohammeds, Hillary and her fellow Democrats would have a fair chance.
That, alas, would force Mr. Obama to abandon his most dearly held belief that all religions are equal and the Religion of Peace is more equal than others, at least in his own heart.
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
At least when it's not drowned out by explosions and gunfire anyway...
But if Mr. Obama continues to deny the obvious and act as if there's no difference between Achmed and Susie, odds are there will be another terrorist outrage, or perhaps several, between now and next November. Which means, in all probability, Mr. Obama turning the White House keys over to none other than President Donald Trump.
What to do? What to do? Never let it be said that the presidency doesn't entail tough decisions!