I recently reposted a cartoon of a man watching and believing insane propaganda put out primarily by billionaires running ads on television. It included the assertion that Bin Laden had not been killed but was living in Palm Springs. One of the responses to this is that it wasn't President Obama who got Bin Laden, but it was the military.
Really? The military, in defiance of President Obama, just upped and killed Bin Laden in a daring raid that they themselves conceived of and executed without any authorization? Shades of Seven Days of May! The military coup is fait accompli!
The Constitution is written in such a way that the military is completely under civilian control. Given the rocky history that many other countries have with military coups and take overs, this seems like a pretty good idea to me. It was President Obama who gave the order, chose the method, directed the effort. He consulted others, both civilian and military, many of whom recommended either not to do it or other methodologies. This was his choice, his decision. A well trained military, one that had been shaped for counter-terrorism by several administrations, Democratic and Republican alike, carried out the mission in heroic fashion, with a precision that had to have struck fear into our enemies. But as good as it was, the military was the instrument - they were not the conductor.
Having a long political memory, the raid to rescue the hostages by President Carter comes to mind. President Carter was actually quite courageous in ordering this rescue. In this case, the military instrument failed. The execution of the President's orders fell to error and bad luck. But I don't remember the right in this country going after the military. No, they full-throatedly and viciously went after President Carter, and made the failure of the raid a personal weakness of the President. Probably more than anything else, it cost him the election. Then by some odd coincidence, the hostages were miraculously released the moment Reagan was inaugurated (you don't even want to get me started on that).
Yes, I remember the day that Bin Laden was killed, the flood on facebook of posts from my right-wing friends thanking everybody under the sun for the successful mission, even Bushy, Jr, but inevitably leaving out the man most responsible for it.
So, can the billionaires rewrite history and get a significant portion of the American people to believe whatever they want them to? Why, apparently, they've already got a healthy start!
Tom, I really dont think its fair to say that the president was the "person most responsible" for killing Bin Laden. It was a long effort that included many people including the president. He ultimately made the final decision, but in my opinion that was a no- brainer. Also the mission was not to kill Bin Laden, but to capture him. Ultimately the credit for killing him went to Bin Laden himself when he chose not to surrender. IN my opinion 2 things need to happen, first the right has to stop acting like President Obama wasnt even in the room. second, the Left needs to stop crowing about the presidents role as if he pesonally pulled the trigger.
ReplyDeleteI, too, saw the political cartoon circling around facebook. Because of the negative blurbs assailing President Obama and his administration, the "Left" needs to "crow". Bin Laden was killed under Obama's Administration..he "administered" the actions that led to Laden's death...is that better? Obama has accomplished a lot considering the chaos it was handed from the previous administration. Have we forgotten that the economy was slipping into the abyss during the Bush Administration or that the Bush Administration entered us into the war in Iraq (even when he was counselled by upper military officials to wait, i.e. Colin Powell), or that banking and wall street regulations (that provided oversight to an industry that historically left unchecked destroyed our economy in '29) were slackened, or that we were in a trillion dollar deficit before President Obama was even elected? Obama may not have been able to bring us back to where we were under Clinton, but he has stopped the economic torrent...the avalanche of the banking system, the flight of corporations, the foreign policy malady that made even our allies pull from our sides....Socially, the Obama Administration has made landmark changes to the health care system, i.e. extending insurance coverage to older children, covering previous conditions, etc. and to the education system, i.e. providing incentives to states that adopt the common core curriculum...very helpful to families who move from state to state..especially the military..and allowing states the choice to escape the 2014 provision of the No Child Left Behind Act that states all schools will have 100% pass rate of all students lest there be adverse action upon the school...he put those decisions back into local hands...something republicans have been fussing about for a while. Obama must crow in order to drown out the political pundits paid for by corporations who do not have America's welfare in mind, but their own bottom line. I remember a time when ALL Americans respected the office of the president, no matter their political affiliation. Where is the respect of the office?
ReplyDeleteColeen, You will notice that although I am pretty conservative, I always refer to him as President Obama, Not just Obama, or BHO. He is the President and 1st Peter 2:13 tells me I must give him respect.
ReplyDeletePaul, if you note, I do try to credit the improvements done to our counter-terrorism unit under several administrations, including President Bush II. But to state the decision is a no-brainer is dismissing credit President Obama should get for a very tough and by no means unanimous decision. The President chose the method and path this mission would take, To say that another leader would have done it the same way is only speculation. Colleen, your analysis of President Obama and his efforts are spot on! I do think Paul does have basic respect for the President, even though his views might be slightly colored by his political filter. As are mine towards Reagan/Bush. Thank you both for your comments!
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