Two weeks from tomorrow, my new book Killing Patton will be in the marketplace. 

The book is about leadership, and what happens to strong leaders when they make powerful enemies.

General Patton, Winston Churchill, FDR ... even Hitler and Stalin are prominent in the book.

Barack Obama should read Killing Patton.  I hope he does because we need strong leadership in America right now.

We need to be inspired.

And sadly President Obama is not fulfilling that mandate.

CHUCK TODD, MODERATOR OF "MEET THE PRESS": “I've got to ask, so during that vacation, you made the statement on Foley, you went and golfed. Do you want that back?”
((EDIT))
OBAMA: “After having talked to the families, where it was hard for me to hold back tears listening to the pain that they were going through after the statement that I made, that I should've anticipated the optics.”

A fair statement from the president.

But then the question becomes why did he not anticipate the optics?

It is obvious to most people you don't play golf after announcing the gruesome beheading of an American citizen.

Talking Points does not believe Barack Obama is a callous person.  He has helped raise millions of dollars for wounded veterans, he truly cares about children at risk, and he has been a terrific role model for American families.

But the president is not a natural leader, and that is harming the nation.

Right now the world needs to be inspired to take action against Islamic terrorists and the Russian villain Putin.

The world needs a strong leader to mobilize action against those threats.

President Obama does not seem to understand that.  He continues to meander around, making conflicting statements about ISIS, failing to punish Russia in effective ways.

These are dangerous times.  Savages are murdering innocent people all over the world, and they are not afraid of America.

Our allies are largely weak, selfish, not interested in global justice.

So it becomes vitally important for America to lead the world, and that requires a strong point of view from Washington.

This week Mr. Obama will make yet another speech about how he will finally confront the ISIS threat.

We hope he includes Putin in that speech and we hope that finally, after all this time, Barack Obama will show some passion, some urgency, some determination to eradicate evil in ways that are smart and effective.

And that's the memo.