Sep 22 2009
This Could Be The End Of The Obama Presidency (And The Democrats)
The war in Afghanistan was seen by most in this country as the legitimate war. The war in Iraq, which far fewer supported through to its successful end, was considered Bush’s war (it was mine too, and everyone who supported it and voted for it – war’s are not things you change your mind over).
The war in Afghanistan struck at the heart of Islamo Fascism. It was from there that 9-11 and numerous other attacks on the West (going back to the first WTC attacks in 1993) were conceived and launched. It was the training ground for al Qaeda, the headquarters of al Qaeda. It was the snake pit which needed to be cleansed.
President Bush left the Afghanistan conflict well staged to be won. The Pakistanis have surrounded their federally administered tribal areas and cleansed much of it of radical terrorists. The sanctuary for terrorists has been shrinking for years. Now they hide out in small villages running for their lives from our unmanned drones and their missiles. Their attacks have become less and less successful and bloody. Their recruits are drying up, their money running short. By all accounts they are on the verge of collapsing in the coming year or so.
To the North in Afghanistan the US/NATO/Afghan forces are on the verge of winning as well, though they need more personnel to push pass the tipping point. The terrorist Taliban and their al Qaeda allies are cornered and putting up a fight, like the trapped animals they are. The NGO’s are in country and doing great work. One person I talked to told me childhood death due to illness and malnutrition had gone from something like 3,000 a year to 300. Afghans are emerging from the darkness in most parts of the country.
Now, after 8 years of war, bloodshed and too many fallen heros from too many countries, our young and inexperienced President is frozen with indecision. After announcing a counter-insurgent plan for Afghanistan in March of this year (the right plan), similar to the one that broke the back of resistance in Iraq and turned al Qaeda from the Future of Islam to the Enemy of Islam, President Obama is hesitating on whether to actually execute his own pronounced policy.
His own hand picked general in the region is about to teach this young President a harsh lesson in leadership, honor and responsibility:
Within 24 hours of the leak of the Afghanistan assessment to The Washington Post, General Stanley McChrystal’s team fired its second shot across the bow of the Obama administration. According to McClatchy, military officers close to General McChrystal said he is prepared to resign if he isn’t given sufficient resources (read “troops”) to implement a change of direction in Afghanistan …
We have a newly promoted Marine Lance Corporal in the family, and we are very proud of him and his achievements. If President Bush was in office right now we would be as comfortable as possible with the idea of him heading to Afghanistan to do the good work of this nation.
But no one should take his willingness to risk the ultimate sacrifice for granted. No one should play political dodge ball with all the lives of the Americans in Afghanistan, all those who will be going, and all those who sacrificed there. Not to mention the NATO forces and their sacrifices, and of course our Afghan allies as well. This is not a time for political calculation. It is a time for determination and pushing through the final barriers to success. It is were leaders rise and losers fade to the side.
President Obama is hesitating because he has screwed up so badly on so many fronts he is in danger of losing his mindless (and gutless) liberal base. But if Americans can sacrifice their lives for America in Afghanistan, our young President can surely take on the wrath of the rabid far left to honor those sacrifices. Or one would think so.
President Obama, if you do not fulfill your promise to finish the war in Afghanistan with success, if you do not get Bin Laden (as you said you would all through the campaign), if you end up losing your hand picked general to your own incompetence and crass political machinations, you sir are a failure. Is it possible you, sir, had no idea what you were saying when you committed to winning the war in March? Or did you think you could just reword things to mean something else later?
So far you have been quasi-disaster, trying to get your bearings as all new presidents do. But you cannot leave our fighting forces hanging. You cannot hold back what they need to win and stay safe. You have broken lots of promises, dreams and bonds. This one will be straw that destroys your presidency and your party.
And I include the Democrat party because I better hear some loud voices coming from moderate/centrist Dems supporting General McChrystal and his requests. And I mean now. There needs to be an honest chorus from the Dems to do the right thing, to make it clear their party has some small piece of brave America left in it. I don’t expect the liberal loons to chime in, but if the Dems want to be a broad party that can win state and national elections this is your litmus test. Fail this, let your party’s president slink away from this responsibility, and it will be just as much your fault as his.
Update: President O-Bumble is at it again. While our brave men and women are in Afghanistan risking their lives he is clowning around on late night TV. It seems he has time to mug to every TV camera in sight, but doesn’t have time to make a damn simple decision. Pathetic.
We have a Lame Duck in the White House.
I prefer that they don’t pass any more bills. What I would like to see in 2010 is a repeal of some of the bills that the Democrats passed in the last 3 years.
If Obamacare does not pass and Obama decides to bail out the newspapers, the more of a lameduck Obama is.
No way Cap n Trade will pass after this.
Obama can show up on TV from here on out…who’s listening to him?
“But if Americans can sacrifice their lives for America in Afghanistan, our young President can surely take on the wrath of the rabid far left to honor those sacrifices. Or one would think so.”
My thoughts, exactly. Imho, AJ, this president sides with the far left. He was the most liberal senator based on his voting record. The problem for him is he knows he will get clobbered by regular Americans in the polls and I think the regular democrat party (not the far left) is hammering him because they know they will be crushed again as the moniker of them being weak on defense will be further strengthened in the public’s minds. Imho, this is about the far Left radicals (there are MANY in this administration) MoveOn, Kos, Soros, ACLU vs. America.
George W. Bush knew and knows how to keep America strong. I know he is cringing and disgusted, seeing what is going on now.
It’s getting harder and harder for Obambi to vote “present” on these decisions.
So far, he’s just been coasting on the success of the systems that GWB and Petraus had put in place. I don’t think he has the nerve to fight when he actually has to make the decisions himself. He doesn’t have the nerve to stand up to the Iranians, he doesn’t have the nerve to stand up to the Taliban, and he doesn’t have the nerve to stand up to the anti-american left wing in his own party that want to see this country fail militarily just to make themselves feel better about hating this country.
I don’t have great confidence that a counter insurgent strategy is the correct strategy for Afghanistan, but it is the strategy that Obama chose. He chose the General to lead it, and he knew that more soldiers would be needed. Maybe he thought that he could get a bigger commitment from other countries (Bush couldn’t, stupid Bush) but with all his powers he thought he could.
I don’t know AJ, if this President is confused, too busy doing other things, or just doesn’t tell the truth about what his intentions are.
Personally I thought that Bush had it about right. Some nation building, keep the bad guys moving, one day we will get them, and try to keep Pakistan on board with money, CIA support, and logistical support.
The left suggested that Bush forgot the war in Afghanistan, that was a political statement. The difficulty of getting the kind of supplies; tanks. trucks, planes, choppers, medical equipment, fuel, was always iffy. So the size of our commitment was in proportion to our ability to support it.
If the President commits our country to war, he had better do everything possible to give our soldiers everything they need.
He will not be a lame duck president until we take over the house and senate. That is a year from now. In looking at the damage he has done our country in 9 months, I hold out no hope that his damage by next year will be reversable. Probably by that time he will have destroyed all our nukes. That is his stated goal. He has already instructed the Pentagon to get up a report about destroying some of them. He said their report was too timid. Which means he wants more destroyed iniatally.
Even if we take over congress his is still free to desroy in the infrastructure of the executive for two years after the election next year. He has ruined our relations with all our allies. He has joined forces with the communists regimes in Cuba and South America. Russia is now showing Venezualia how to make nukes and is revamping Cuba’s army. He has meddled in another country’s laws and demanding that country reinstate a wanna=be communist president allied with the other communists dictators in its area.
Every egregious thing he does is called his waterloo. I haven’t seen it yet. He just goes on and on breaking our laws and destroying our freedom and life as we have always known it. I don’t care if I am called a racist or not. Obama wants the blacks to be in the ascendancy and the whites in the mud. Both he and his wife hate us. They couldn’t be clearer on that.
Changing the ROEs such that our troops cannot get air and artillery support when needed increase the risk to our troops. Just another incompetent mistake by Obama as CIC.
Wish your son well.
Semper Fi!
I don’t think people appreciate just how big a McChrystal resignation would be.
Resigning in protest has always been a theoretical possiblity, but it really isn’t part of the American military tradition. To the best of my knowledge, the last time it happened was the ‘Revolt of the Admirals’ in 1948.
If GEN McCrystal pulls the plug, it would be a spectacular public condemnation of Obama and the Democrats. Obama stops being a lame duck and becomes a dead one.
And Stanley McCrystal can start thinking about the color scheme for the Oval Office. The American military enjoys sky-high levels of public approval.
jwb,
yeah, trust me that one did not go by me without notice.
I found this at FREEREPUBLIC, I think it is interesting because if you substitute “the American people” for Michelle in this story you get a picture of Obama and what he thinks of us and our worries, of how he approaches problems and the magnitude of his narcissism.
‘Barack and Michelle’ tells story behind domestic tension…
09/22/2009 7:31:17 AM PDT · by kingattax · 22 replies · 411+ views
New York Daily News ^ | September 21st 2009
There was something different about the screams this time. They were more piercing, more frantic and insistent. As usual, it was Michelle who climbed out of bed first and made her way to Sasha’s room while Daddy stayed in bed, hoping his 3-month-old daughter would quickly be lulled back to sleep. The baby would not be consoled. Barack finally threw back the covers and plodded down the hall. “Jeez, Michelle,” he asked, “can’t you get her to stop?”
You know, it’s more than that for military families who have lives at stake in this war. AJ hit on it, and should be the headlines on Foxnews, PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS THE TIME AND WHEREWITHALTO PUSH THE HEALTHCARE DEBACLE BUT HAS LITTLE TIME TO MAKE LIFE AND DEATH DECISIONS ON THE MILITARY MEN AND WOMEN HE IS SUPPOSE TO BE COMMANDING.
In a few months my husband will return to Afghan. On this return factors have changed which is causing me great anxiety and I can’t rid myself of this dread feeling in my stomach. I’m not posting my opinion for sympathy, but just an example of many military family members deep concern over their family member’s well fare. It says everything about Obama when as AJ says, he is on David Letterman laughing it up, while American soldiers are dying on the battlefield. It’s shocking, disgusting that a president of the United States would put aside the cries of commanders for help, while having to watch their men die because of the President’s indecisiveness and political motivations. I dare say, he has and will have in the future blood on his hands. One last note, Iran is supporting the Taliban as we all know, however even this act of war by Iran will not deter Obama’s stubborn venture to meet with them without preconditions. I’m amazed he hasn’t asked for meetings with Osama Bin Laden , oh but wait, I bet it’s coming.
We can’t win in Afghanistn, so let’s start a war with Pakistan!
Order, counter-order, disorder, run away, the Democratic Party’s warfighting way.
See below:
——————————————————————————–
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-09-22-obama-afghanistan_N.htm?csp=34
AP sources: Obama may change Afghanistan course again
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama may change course again as the war worsens in Afghanistan, steering away from the comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy he laid out this spring and toward a narrower focus on counterterror operations aimed at al-Qaeda.
The White House is looking at expanding counterterror operations in Pakistan as an alternative to a major military escalation in Afghanistan.
Two senior administration officials said Monday that the renewed fight against al-Qaeda could lead to more missile attacks on Pakistan terrorist havens by unmanned U.S. spy planes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made.
There’s another aspect of this that is disturbing on another level, and that’s mentioned briefly in the article that AJ has linked to. These reports have been leaked to the press by Pentagon officials who are infuriated that Obama has been sittig on the “Afghanistan Assessment” with no decisions being made for over a month now. Apparently they feel that they are being hung out to dry, and are going to use leaks and other methods to publicly undermine this administration if their concerns aren’t addressed.
This is *huge*. No doubt the White House is *furious* about this – in their view, this is the last thing they needed while they’re fighting for health care and cap & trade. Leaking sensitive military documents in an attempt to discredit the President is an astounding breach of institutional loyalty, and it’s incredible that the Pentagon was driven to the point that it saw this as the only viable option. (Because you know these docs were only leaked with institutional approval – they were leaked to Bob Woodward of all people, hardly a random choice.)
But there is now a public split between the Pentagon and the White House, easily as deep as any that existed during Clinton’s tenure, if not worse. If the military does completely split from Obama, the consequences are – incalculable.
cj and AJ, I just can’t imagine your everyday fears, we all keep your families in our thoughts. McChrystal’s threat, bless him, he is looking out for our guys and that’s a good thing, I hope it shook up Obama.
You may not want sympathy but I am giving it anyway along with prayers. It breaks my heart that our troops and their families are put in this position. It is one thing for the rest of us to be scared for our country and another when you have a loved one in immediate danger. I can not imagine what it would be like to have that tiny lying man in charge when it is so obvious that he does not even like Americans.
Our best hope is that he will remember what the left side of his mouth said for several years.
>>yeah, trust me that one did not go by me without notice.
AJ,
Check your e-mail for a couple of power point slides from me on this engagement.
To all families who are giving us their treasure to keep us safe, there are not enough thank you’s in this lifetime to tell you how much we appreciate your sacrifices. And we love you!
And if there is one thing we learned from Viet Nam it is that we WILL NOT LET THE POLITICIANS RUN OUR WARS. Book it.
(I was told personally by a very high ranking US general in the Viet Nam war that the politicians would not let them win)
A quote from “the Nav Log”,
In March, 2009, GEN David McKiernan was fired and replaced by GEN McChrystal, who took command in June. General McChrystal’s report was delivered to Obama at the end of August, almost three months after he took command. And yet now in the last half of September, the decision on additional forces has been ordered not delivered to the administration. That the Obama Administration is hostile to the military – with Obama promising to create a competing Civilian National Defense Organiziation “just as well-funded, well-supported, and well-armed as the military†– is no secret. That he’d betray our military and the country as part of a plan to “transform†the country is dawning on a lot of people who thought otherwise. That our flag officers have the guts to stage another “revolt†against the intolerable gives one hope at a time when it is sorely needed.
kathie:
You have miquoted The One:
…“just as well-funded, well-supported, and well-armed as the militaryâ€
He actualy said:
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
I have little doubt that he meant what you said, however.
I continue to get ready for 2010.
Yesterday Beck said that McCain would have been worse for the country than Obama. This right here is one reason why that comment is insane. McCain, for all his faults, would never deliberately lose a war.
Barbara I think you misspelled “realist” and you are absolutely correct, this guy is the great divider, he will personnally set back race relations to pre civil war days.
CJ — they have had blood on their hands since they started obstructing President Bush’s efforts; they provided material moral support to our enemies and continue to do so. There is no redemption or penance for those crimes and sins and why I say they have no place at the table.
But my faith is in the military to ultimately uphold the Constitution of the United States and defend us from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I feel these guys are our last hope.