Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Saturday said that President Obama “minimizes” the threat of terrorism and downplays Americans’ fears.
“We live in a dangerous world – and the dangers are ever increasing, particularly from radical Islamic terror,” he said in the weekly GOP address.
{mosads}“The attacks in Brussels, Paris, San Bernardino and across the world make this all too clear,” Cotton said. “They are understandably fearful about their safety and security.
“But President Obama wants us to ‘chill out.’ He believes overreaction to terrorism is a graver threat than terrorism itself. He minimizes the threat of terror attacks, even as these savages cuts off the heads of Americans and inspire or direct radicals to blow themselves up in public places.”
Cotton said that Obama’s public behavior shows a leader who is unconcerned with the danger extremism poses.
“That’s why President Obama went to a baseball game and did the wave with Cuba’s dictator even as Americans were missing and murdered in the Brussels attack,” he said.
President Obama was on a trip to Cuba when the Brussels attacks took place and attended a baseball game with Raúl Castro, a move Republicans immediately denounced.
“The president defended this decision by comparing himself to ‘Big Papi,’ the Red Sox star who defiantly took the field after the Boston Marathon bombings,” Cotton said, referring to baseball player David Ortiz. “’Big Papi’ is a great player, but his job is to hit homeruns. The president’s job is to keep Americans safe, and that requires leading from the front, not sitting in the stands.”
Cotton added that Obama belittles voters when he cites the long odds of becoming a victim of terrorism.
“President Obama reportedly likes to point out that more Americans die each year from bathtub falls and car accidents than from terrorism,” he said. “But bathtub falls aren’t spreading an apocalyptic ideology and car crashes can’t be weaponized against American cities. These aren’t communication mistakes by the president. They’re a feature, not a bug, of his foreign policy.”