I realize that every blogger and his mother are chiming in on this one today, but I feel that I must point out at least a few observations. One, while candidate Obama whined about the Bush policies enacted to prosecute the war on terror, he changed precious little of those policies which had to do with the actual operation of the military, or our intelligence gathering services. As it turned out, that was a good thing as far as eliminating the remaining figure head of Al-Queda was concerned. So, as Obama took to the airwaves to make the statement that he did this all by his lonesome, and that not a single member of his team of advisers, or the military, nor our intelligence gathering services contributed in any way that should interfere with his bid at reelection. But even in his best attempt to fly his flag on undeserved arrogance, he made a small misstatement. Obama stated that he signed the order to take this action. The reality is that he reaffirmed an order previously signed by George W. Bush. This may seem like a ticky tack distinction, but it really is very telling. Once again, Obama’s best actions as President turned out to be an instance where he successfully kept himself out of the way of others. It was after all intelligence gained at Gitmo, a place Obama promised to close, by use of water boarding, a practice Obama promised to discontinue, from Khalid Sheik Mohamed, a man Obama promised to try in civilian court complete with a defense lawyer and Miranda Rights that led to this result. I will give Obama Kudos for not following through on his disastrous campaign promises to close Gitmo, end water boarding, end rendition practices, and prosecute the war on terror using law enforcement.
The media spin has already begun. The New York Times has called this the result of Obama’s maturation as a world leader. How low must the grey lady sink before she becomes the laughing stock she so richly deserves to be? By the first hand accounts leaking out about the process of this decision so far, Obama has known since the early days of his Presidency, within the first weeks at least, where Bin Laden was holed up. It took just a little over 30 months for him to give up dithering and to make an adult decision. I will predict that within two years of Obama’s Presidency ending, there will be a book released by no fewer than three members of those security council meetings where this decision was born, and it’ll show Obama to be an aloof, clueless participant who had to be forced, like a small child into doing something. If this were Bush, does anyone in America actually believe that it would have taken him 30 months to act on this information?
Does our President have a clue as to the optics he is showing with his Presidency. As he lectures a concerned citizen in Pennsylvania about driving a car which only gets 8 miles to the gallon, (a fact which Obama did nothing to establish by the way,) he boarded Air Force One to visit with Oprah on the set of her T.V. show. While telling Americans to take, “staycations,” to save on resources, his wife jets off to Spain with dozens of guests to vacation in Europe on the taxpayer’s dime and to stimulate a foreign economy. While chastising the CEO of BP for yachting during the Gulf Oil Spill, he went literally from the bank of microphones to the golf course and then to a party with Paul McCartney in the same day. While this operation was being carried out, he managed to squeeze in 9 holes as well. One of the constant criticisms of Bush was the amount of time he spent working at his Crawford Texas home. I am beginning to wonder if Obama has even found the Oval Office yet, or even laid eyes on his desk. Of course, if he never does, he’ll do less damage that way.
Thank Goodness we had George Bush enact his policies prior to Obama becoming President. If Gore or Kerry had won, we would doubtless be following their insane ideas right now.
Crossposted at Musings of a Mad Conservative.
Note: We will have a special Radio show on the killing of Bin Laden at 9:00 PM EST.
Tags: Opinion
