WHEN NOT EVERYONE GETS THE MEMO

DATELINE: Lonelyville, September 14 –  It’s embarrassing when everyone seems to have gotten the memo but you. You feel left out, unimportant. It’s kind of depressing really. Just ask John Kerry. Or give National Security Advisor Susan Rice a call.

On Thursday, Kerry denied that we are at war with ISIS. Rather, according to the Secretary of State, the President’s speech the night before described a “very significant” and “major counterterrorism operation”, just not a war.

On the same day, Susan Rice struggled to describe the new ISIS strategy. She couldn’t decide whether it was war or a “sustained counterterrorism campaign.”

Another day, another characterization. On Friday, both the Pentagon and the White House corrected those who spoke the day before. Of course we’re at war with ISIS. But, just to be clear, it’s not like the old Iraq War. It couldn’t be because the President got us out of that one. It’s like the war we’re waging against Al Qaeda.

Apparently, the unstated distinction is that we’re not fighting with American boots on the ground. We’re fighting with American assaults in the air.

After the Pentagon and White House pronouncements, the State Department insisted that Kerry was on the same page. It’s just that no one bothered to ask him on Friday.

Well, the Secretary was asked on Sunday during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation”. He stated affirmatively, “we are at war”. Predictably, Kerry then attempted to downplay the confusion in administration sources by characterizing the issue as “a kind of tortured debate going on about terminology.”

Kerry should be very used to terminology problems by now. Attempting to minimize the importance of Obama’s words is a necessary part of his job. In the same Sunday interview, he tried to explain some of the assertions in the President’s Wednesday night speech. Obama had stated, “[I]n each of these four parts of our strategy, America will be joined by a broad coalition of partners.”

Obama’s claim sure sounded like the coalition was a done deal. His words were unequivocal. And, he’d just come from a NATO summit where, according to him, an ISIS coalition would be pursued.

But, he must have forgotten to secure the buy in of our partners for the airstrikes prong because the negatives started coming in right after his speech. The Germans weren’t asked to participate and stated that they would not be involved in air assaults. The Turks will restrict their support to humanitarian aid. The British are undecided.

On Sunday, Kerry admitted that Obama’s “broad coalition of partners” had yet to be identified. Or, as he put it, the administration “is not ready to announce which country will take what actions.”

The more we learn, the less we understand Obama’s speech. Was it just a bunch of polito-babble spewed out in an effort to shore up tanking poll numbers? Was there nothing of substance behind it

Now that everyone’s gotten the memo, we don’t get the memo. What in the world does it actually mean?