THE DAILY BLADE: Obama’s Afghanistan Speech: One From Column A, One From Column B
President Barack Hussein Obama’s speeches are a lot like a Chinese dinner. Heaping helpings of impressive-sounding but empty phrases (“we will go forward with the confidence that right makes might and with the commitment to forge … a future that represents not the deepest of fears but the highest of hopes”). An hour later, you’re wondering what, exactly, he said he would commit to (“The 30,000 additional troops that I'm announcing tonight will … help create the conditions for the
Obama’s
† The Appetizer. Predictable potshots at the Bush administration (“the decision to go into
† The Entrée. Mixed messages with which Obama can pivot in two directions at once:
‡ We must keep the pressure on al-Qaeda. And to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region. But: We will remove our combat brigades from
‡ [A]s commander-in-chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000
‡ [U]nlike the great power conflicts and clear lines of division that defined the 20th century, our effort will involve disorderly regions, failed states, diffuse enemies. But: I reject [a nation-building project of up to a decade] because it sets goals that are beyond what can be achieved at a reasonable cost and what we need to achieve to secure our interests.
† A Side Dish. Premature self-congratulation (“we are bringing the
† Dessert. Unintentional laugh lines (“I refuse to set goals that go beyond our responsibility, our means, or our interests” and “Our new approach in Afghanistan is likely to cost us roughly $30 billion for the military this year, and I'll work closely with Congress to address these costs as we work to bring down our deficit.”).
Take this to the bank:
We will lose the war in Afghanistan. Just as in Iraq, every serviceman or woman who has died there has died for no reason. Russia and merrie old England learned this lesson a long time ago. You would think....Never mind.
Suffice to say, on my best day I do not receive one tenth of the information that President Obama receives. I don't read any of the Presidential Daily Briefings that are placed on his desk every morning. Obviously he is in possession of a wealth of intelligence that you and I are just not privy to. Maybe we should be giving him the benefit of the doubt - and I have been doing just that, I promise you. But from my vantage point it appears to me that this president has failed to learn the lessons that have been passed onto us down the decades by the administrations of Franklin Delano Rossevelt and Lyndon Baines Johnson - lessons involving bold action in times of economic crisis (more on that another day) and the utter folly of waging wars that cannot be won.
Let this be etched in stone:
Any country that would view its women as inferior beings not entitled to basic human rights is not worth one drop of ANYBODY'S blood.
I want to believe in this president. He is the chief executive I worked harder to elect than any other in my lifetime. I realize that it is simply far too early in this administration to write a final assessment of his term of office. That being said, my confidence in the Obama White House is ebbing rapidly. Where in the hell is all of this change I could believe in? Is the Bush Mob still in charge? What gives?
NOTE TO THE RIGHT WING:
No, I am still exceedingly grateful that John McCain and Gidget von Braun did not win the election last year. Have another sip.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan
Goshen NY
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A few things. Afghani girls are going to school since the occupation. A country which would walk away and let them get shoved back into the Dark Ages, how much blood is that country worth? In Iraq one of Saddam's psychotic sons would choose random women to be brought to him to rape. He is not doing that anymore. And no one is ordering chemical attacks on their own people. Nor paying $25K to the families of homicide bombers. That's something, not nothing, at least with a volunteer army. They choose to serve. I back their choice.
I thought the post was worth reading until that reference to Gidget von Braun at the end there. I do get tired of rudeness. Palin is a striking woman and it may be that you have a prejudice against good-looking females. Or it may be that you are stressed over the guy you worked to put into office. As Paul Greenberg says, "If there is a presidential decision that can be put off, a bold new policy that can be negotiated into a continuation of the old, a way to change momentum into inertia, this president's your man." Not the Wizard of Oz. Not even the man behind the curtain. Sorry about that. That's gotta hurt.
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