Weekly Columns and Op-Eds

Millions of people have watched the Facebook video posted by the White House of a six-year-old boy, named Alex, from Scarsdale, New York, requesting to help give a home to a Syrian refugee.

“Alex told me that he wanted Omran to come live with him and his family. He wanted to share his bike, and teach him how to ride. He said his little sister would collect butterflies for him. “We can all play together,” he wrote. “We will give him a family and he will be our brother.”

Let me first say that Alex should be commended for his outpouring of compassion and heartfelt display of love. His parents too should be commended for instilling these important values in their son. Alex may not know it yet, but he continues a long and proud history of belonging to the most charitable, kind, compassionate and philanthropic group in the entire world: the American people.

According to the Almanac of American Philanthropy, “Rates of giving are two to 20 times higher in the U.S. than in comparable nations.” Additionally, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees lists the United States as accepting the third largest number of refugees of any developed nation between 2007 and mid-2015. No other country in the history of the world has more of their identity rooted in charity, brotherhood and love.

In a post on the White House Facebook page, President Obama praises Alex as “a young child who has not learned to be cynical or suspicious or fearful of other people” and that “we should all be more like Alex.”

Obviously, no one expects a six-year-old child to comprehend the incredibly complex and dark reality of geopolitical relations. However, it’s downright appalling to see our 55-year-old commander-in-chief not only share but promote this same naïve view of the world.

I don’t expect a six-year-old to know about the history of ISIS ideology or Islamic extremism and the fact that Syrian terrorists have openly admitted to, and been caught posing as refugees.

I don’t expect a six-year-old to know that the FBI and DHS have both admitted the United States doesn’t have the ability to adequately vet all Syrian refugees for terrorist ties.

I don’t expect a six-year-old to know that the purpose of a refugee program is to eventually have the refugees return to their country of origin once hostilities have ended. And that transferring Syrian refugees thousands of miles across an ocean decreases the likelihood of them ever returning home.

I don’t expect a six-year-old to know that there is evil in the world and that the United States of America is at war with Islamic terrorists who have no regard for any human life, including the life of one of my constituents, Kayla Muller, a 26-year-old who was murdered by ISIS terrorists in Syria while serving as a humanitarian aid worker.

I don’t expect a six-year-old to know any of these things because children should not have to confront the brutal nature of our world. I do however expect our Commander-in-Chief to understand these facts and accept the responsibility of confronting these very real dangers.

President Obama’s Facebook post serves as a microcosm of his perpetually inept judgment and disastrous ignorance that has plagued his failed presidency. His shameless attempt to use an innocent child as a political prop demonstrates that his way of thinking is more in-line with that of a six-year-old boy rather than that of a world leader.

Congressman Paul Gosar represents Arizona’s 4th congressional district.