President Obama issued a statement at 5:45 pm last night regarding the “Situation in Paris.”

While the timing of this statement comes relatively soon after the reported start of the Paris attacks, Obama took no chances in “speculating” about what happened. Obama does not call the attacks terrorism, let alone mention radical Islam. He simply calls them “attacks.” And “an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.”Apparently, we do not all share the same values, so that is not exactly accurate President Wordsmith.

Through the rest of his seven-paragraph statement, President Milquetoast says such underwhelming phrases like the attacks were “an outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians.” He assured everyone that “we stand together with [the French] in the fight against terrorism and extremism.” Later he says Americans are familiar with “these kinds of attacks.” Finally he calls the French “an extraordinary counterterrorism partner” and that he intends to help them in the same way. He sums it up by calling it a “heartbreaking situation.” The worst thing about this statement is the completely unaffected, unemotional tone. It’s as if he’s tired of talking about these kinds of things.

Obama’s short statement after Charlie Hebdo was significantly better than this. Here is how he started the one paragraph statement:

I strongly condemn the horrific shooting at the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris that has reportedly killed 12 people. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this terrorist attack and the people of France at this difficult time.

By contrast, Vice-President Biden issued a one-paragraph statement on Paris that surpassed Obama’s mealy mouth by miles. Biden started off by offering condolences to those wounded, and the families of those lost. Obama started his statement by saying he wanted to “offer a few brief comments . . . .” Biden used the word heartbreaking as well, followed closely by it’s “Outrageous.” Simple, it is outrageous. He acknowledged that we don’t know the details, but the United States is ready to support France and the people of Paris. Biden finished out his statement with this, strong language that is actually inspirational:

We will stand together.  We will never bow.  We will never break.  That’s the character of our two nations.  We are bound by timeless democratic values that the cowardice and perverse ideologues of extremist networks can never match, wherever they are. Such savagery can never threaten who we are. We will respond. We will overcome. We will endure.

President Obama’s statement wasn’t exactly horrible, but it is an excellent example of his spineless approach to national security. President George W. Bush puts him to shame by comparison with his simple statement after the fall of the World Trade Center in 2001:

I want you all to know, that America today is on bended knee in prayer for the people whose lives were lost here, for the workers who work here, for the families who mourn. This nation stands with the good people of New York City, and New Jersey, and Connecticut, as we mourn the loss of thousands of our citizens. (shouting from the crowd) I can hear you! (applause) I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. (crowd chanting USA) The nation sends its love and compassion. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for making our nation proud. And God Bless America.

World leaders all conveyed more emotion about Paris through their brief messages than anything uttered by Obama.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said:

[s]he was “deeply shocked” by the attacks in Paris.

“My thoughts in these hours are with the victims of these apparently terrorist attacks, their relatives, and all people in Paris,” Ms. Merkel said in a statement. “The German government is in contact with the French government and has expressed the sympathy and solidarity of the people in Germany.”

Russia issued this statement from President Vladimir Putin:

Russia has condemned the “series of monstrous terrorist attacks in Paris,” with President Putin offering deepest condolences to the French people, as well as his counterpart.

The Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull wasn’t afraid to call it Islamic terrorism. He said the attack:

“appears to have all the hallmarks of a Daesh exercise”.

Coincidentally, earlier on Friday, just hours before these attacks that are being celebrated by ISIS supporters on social media, Secretary John Kerry reported that an American airstrike in Syria had killed Jihadi John, who became known through gruesome beheading videos posted online in the last several months. This was certainly cause for celebration. He said:

“We are still assessing the results of this strike but the terrorists associated with Daesh need to know this: Your days are numbered and you will defeated,” said Kerry, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

“There is no future, no path forward” for IS, the secretary of state said.

Radical Islam just destroyed that statement with an unequivocal, resounding act of barbaric, brutal, unmatched violence.

But even John Kerry’s remarks after the attacks were far more sincere than Obama’s. Kerry said:

“These are heinous, evil, vile acts,” Kerry said in response to the attacks. “Those of us who can must do everything in our power to fight back against what can only be considered an assault on our common humanity.”

The “attacks” last night in Paris were horrific. The death toll is at 158 [update: number has now been revised to 127]. This number rivals the 2004 Madrid train bombings that took 191 lives, and the 2008 Mumbai three-day siege that took 164 lives.

In the Madrid attack, Spain arrested 66 people and eventually tried 29 defendants. India tried and executed the one remaining terrorist, and Pakistan arrested 20, eventually charging 7. One U.S. citizen was arrested in Chicago for providing material support. He took a plea deal and was sentenced to 35 years.

This attack in Paris was carried out by at least eight operatives, which would have required up to two dozen people to plan and support this operation. The attack was clearly preplanned and premeditated. At least six separate locations in Paris were attacked nearly simultaneously. Numerous weapons were used – automatic rifles, suicide vests, grenades, and possibly other bomb mechanisms. Our own intelligence services had no specific information to believe any attack would take place, let alone one of this scale. That is outrageous. We need to do better.

Paris has experienced several of “these kinds of attacks” in the last few months, with the Paris train attack stopped by three hero Americans in August, 2015, the beheading at an industrial plant in Lyon, in June, 2015, and the Charlie Hebdo office massacre in January, 2015, that killed 12. Paris, and France, was already under a high alert for terrorist activity. Is there any reason we should think this won’t happen here? Telling the world that we stand with France is a given. We need to tell the world that we will hunt down those bastards like the dirty, dirty dogs that they are.

Unsurprisingly, French President Francois Hollande is on the same page:

“We are going to lead a war which will be pitiless”

Mr. President. Make no mistake. Let me be clear. ISIS is not afraid of you. Al-Qaeda is not on the run. Radical Islam laughs in your face. The world is not a safer place, and you are squarely to blame for making it so.