More War, More Failure
For all the pain of the Bush years, it was at least always easy to understand how such a cheap, weak, and lazy man could make such frequent, repetitive, and disastrous errors. For a fellow like Obama, with his profound gifts of intellect, vision, and oratory to make such a hideous commitment is beyond comprehension. With Bush, we could always shake our heads and say, “what a fool.” Today, we hang our heads and say, “why would such a smart man act like such an idiot?”
Since I’m an unknown blogger and not a writer for the New York Times, I can afford to be a little more direct than Bob Herbert: Mr. President, on the eve of Veteran’s Day, you have spat on our military; doomed hundreds and probably thousands of young people to a horrible death or something just as bad; ignored the manifest will of the people who elected you; undermined your generally worthy domestic agenda; and doomed the political future of yourself and your party. In short, you have failed. This is a dark and sad day for America and the world.
Rush, it looks like your wish will come true.
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I think you may be too harsh on Obama.
When you are receiving ALL of the pertinent (and highly classified) information about a situation as complex as Afghanistan, your decision making becomes better informed. I find it hard to second guess the guy that’s got gobs more information than me.
“There is always an easy solution to every human problem–neat,
plausible, and wrong.” Henry Louis “H. L.” Mencken
I also don’t believe Obama has spat on the military. The military is overwhelmingly in favor of getting the resources needed and staying in Afghanistan.
Obama has visited with families of returning servicemen killed in Afghanistan. Many (most?) have urged him to stay in Afghanistan.
I appreciate and understand your strong opinions on this matter, but please remember that there are other perspectives. It should be telling that Obama has been open to listen and make the hard decisions. I applaud the way he’s carefully considered and handled this issue….regardless of his final decision.
Funny that the Vice-President should have had access to the same secret information that’s too profound and compelling for me to understand, and according to press accounts, he came to the opposite conclusion. I’ve said this since the campaign season: I trust Joe Biden’s judgment in foreign policy more than Obama’s; he got the experience and the international street cred that BO lacks.
But the main point is this: if government is going to remain in that “if-you-only-knew-what-I-knew” realm of discourse with the people of this nation, then we may as well drop the superficial display of democracy and make the President a king. As it is, the GOP leaders in Congress will be absolutely right to now tell the President: forget about health care and energy reform, forget about new economic stimulus, forget about all your socialist programs, we’re at war and can’t afford your hope and change. As Herbert said, now every time there’s something to be done about unemployment or climate change, the GOP can say, “support the troops” and end the debate.
As for the soldiers, your claim of a hundred percent support for more war is slightly off. These vets say no.
I never claimed a hundred percent.
Too bad the dems didn’t elect Biden. You guys had your chance :-)
i thought i would add a pertinent quote (I am reading the work in question right now)
http://dailyrevolution.net/?p=8181
You’re right, of course. I began back in 07 supporting former Sen. Mike Gravel, who is largely responsible for the fact that you and I were not subject to the draft (and thus possibly for that fact that we did not die in Vietnam), not the mention the Pentagon Papers. Once it became manifest that Gravel was being pushed offstage by the MSM (who controlled all the debates), I switched to Edwards, mainly for his uncompromising stance on Iraq. Then, once his difficulty with the control of his outdoor plumbing became an issue re. his electability, I switched to Obama, mainly because Hillary sounded like she was in the Bomb Iran camp. Had she not been so bellicose then with her rhetoric, she would have made an excellent candidate, and probably a fair president. Today, I only wish that Bob Herbert had come back from his service in the Army and decided to get into politics…
Perhaps we can “right the ship” with Obama if we start calling him an idiot. You go first. Whoops….I guess you already have. I’ll go next. Obama’s an idiot. Terry M.-Do you care to join the mantra? LOL
i accept that politics is a cynical business – Obama is a politician above all else. for political reasons, it may be important to dither in afghanistan, rather than admit that all who died there died in vain. to admit that could wreck all he wants to do, so i bet he won’t.
Whoa, full stop there, boss: read what I wrote again: “why would such a smart man act like such an idiot?” Sometimes I don’t know why I bother writing when people will read what they want to see into it anyway.
Neither I nor TM will refer to this Prez as an idiot; the evidence points completely the other way there, which is what makes this move doubly baffling and depressing. Maybe he’s an ideologue; maybe he’s too obsessed still with reaching across the aisle and showing the GOP bosses what a tough guy he is; but he’s not dim-witted in that Bushian sense (and I personally think that much of Bush’s dim-wittedness was a public persona, a mask put on to allure the media, and it worked for a long time).
Frankly, I truly expected that once he had learned the facts and reviewed the history re. Afghanistan, Obama would have made the right choice and followed his VP’s advice. But for whatever reasons, he has chosen the same errant path as Bush did, and a lot more fine young Americans will die and suffer for it.
In the infamous words of Bill Clinton, I guess it’s how you define the words “right choice.” From my perspective, I think Obama is making the right choice. Obama….you go girl! You’re not an idiot after all!