Unlike domestic policy, I am loathe to criticize President Obama on matters of war while we are at war.
Then again, apparently this is a kinetic conflict and not an actual war, so maybe there is some latitude.
Critics will say that President Obama has absolutely no idea what he is doing. Sycophant supporters will drool that he is so cool and calm that he knows exactly what he is doing. Either he is just not telling us because we are too dumb to understand it, or he did tell us but we did not realize it because we are too dumb to understand it.
His sycophant supporters will also point out that because he is not George W. Bush, of course he did everything perfectly right. If that argument fails to sway people, the left will point out that Obama is smart and Palin is dumb, and that ends the discussion for them.
I want President Obama to remove Khadafi from power. He must talk to the nation. Sometimes he weighs in on matters where he should mind his own business, but on this issue he must speak up.
All of the Huffington Post columns in the world will not be able to allow Obama to claim that Libya was an inherited problem, unless one accepts that Libya existed as a nation when he took over. George W. Bush did not obliterate Libya or Iran. I forgive him. He did not have a third term.
Anyway, I will hold off on the hard questions for now. We will know more by then as events develop. On this day, other questions will be asked.
How does Khadafi rule an entire nation for over 40 years without getting beyond the rank of Colonel?
For a dictator, this guy’s military career is fairly undistinguished.
Colin Powell became a General in 35 years. What kept Khadafi from getting his stripes?
More importantly, why can’t the greatest military in the world remove a guy who can’t even climb above Colonel in four decades?
How is it that Ronald Reagan can target Khadafi’s home and eliminate one of his kids long before internet access or Google Maps existed, yet Barack Obama can’t shove a predator drone up Khadafi’s rumpus?
Given that the Obama answer to everything is “Yes, we can,” then the issue is less about “can’t” then “won’t.”
So why won’t he?
Some will argue that Khadafi did not attack us, but the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 certainly was an act of war every bit as evil as Pearl Harbor or 9/11.
What will Mr. Obama do if by some shocking turn of events, the French fail to get the job done in their great post-Napoleonic tradition of failing at everything?
If the French succeed, are they the new superpower? Will we all be forced to get on our knees and pray five times a day toward Paris?
Will Billy Crystal then be arrested for “Forget, Paris?”
(I tried to. It was not his best work, despite the Rush Limbaugh and Charles Barkley cameos.)
What is a kinetic conflict? How does it differ from a war?
Americans are fairly good at winning wars, but our record on kinetic conflicts I believe is 0 for 0. Obama supporters will point out that we have never lost a kinetic conflict. We have never won one either. The fate of future kinetic conflicts rests on Libya. Given the NFL Lockout, perhaps a kinetic conflict is the equivalent of using replacement players.
Also, George W. Bush had 33 nations in his coalition and Obama has 16 (Thank you Brent Bozell). So how does Obama have a coalition while Dubya acted unilaterally?
Obama has France. They count for 40 nations. So liberals should now brag that Obama has 55 nations in his coalition and Dubya had negative 7. The Politico and MSNBC now have another reason to hate Bush.
Maybe my time in Tennessee has left me biased, but I say we just send in Pat Summitt to finish things.
(In Tennessee the 3 world evils are Radical Islam, radical leftism, and Lane Kiffin. I agree with them.)
Is Barack Obama paying Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, and Louis Farrakhan money to speak? If so, maybe Mr. Obama really is a genius. Every time these lunatics speak, Mr. Obama looks as reasonable as can be. If Mr. Obama truly was behind their remarks, he would have trotted them out the week before the 2010 election. Maybe the charmed lucky life Mr. Obama has led just keeps continuing.
Is Donald Trump on the Obama payroll? Every minute talking about our Hawaiian born Christian leader as a possible Kenyan Muslim subversive helps him in the polls and moves Libya from the major news.
On Celebrity Apprentice, Trump asked Cyndi Lauper if she liked Mr. Obama. She said yes, and he said, “I like him too.” She was praising his support for a gay rights bill, which was not mentioned at CPAC. I like Donald Trump, but can’t we all just admit that there is no way on Al Gore’s green Earth that he is running? He is more likely to run for the presidency of Libya than America. Libya fits with his autocratic style. This is not an insult. To do what he does, you have to often make decisions without consulting others. Debate ends when he says so. In American political life, debate never ends.
Given that it is now racist to ask about Mr. Obama’s birth certificate (again, I don’t care at all about this issue), is it also racist to ask Khadafi for his? Is he really Libyan? I suspect he is martian. If Khadafi is not Libyan, can we impeach him?
Hey if an entire civilization such as Palesimians can be invented from some defective Arabs from Egypt and Jordan, then maybe Khadafi might be constitutionally ineligible to lead Libya.
Shazamm! Maybe that is why he has not gotten past the rank of Colonel.
Wow, a perfect little bow tied up just nice.
Well, almost. A certain failed not-quite-a-general is still slaughtering innocents while the rest of the world…well whatever it is they are doing. Like those entities, I have only questions and no answers.
eric
“How does Khadafi rule an entire nation for over 40 years without getting beyond the rank of Colonel?”
I asked the same question and then realized his present position was never truly recognized because he took power illegaly.
He never had any legitimacy to start with.
Usually I can apply some sense to anything.
On this I cant, unless I drum up conspiratorial scenarios.
Maybe hes trying to attract votes from the right by following another one of Bushs leads that he bashed during his campaign ?
Its hard to put your finger on it when its plain to see hes being led around by so many others…
Look ! There goes Code Pink !
Donald Trump is all style – that is to say: Trump is a marketer, a showman, an artist, so to speak. He does not really make things, he just makes things “happen.” His actual business history is mixed, and more than a little wacky.
Sooooooooo…
Trump? President of the United States? For someone like me the only worse candidate would be some far-right cartoon character like Bachmann or Palin.
But I’ll certainly say this:
At least, for a cartoon character, Trump is smart, and he’s learned when to defer. That’s why he’s a star now. People like Palin and Bachmann are hopelessly full of themselves.
I agree that any hyperbolic assessment of Obama/Libya is silly. The far right is bashing Obama’s alleged lack of “leadership” and “decisiveness,” while the Republicans are upset about his lack of congressional approval, while the Democrats are canonizing Obama’s “deliberative and cautious” actions, while the far left is upset about his lack of congressional approval.
What a world.
Good to see the far left and the mainstream GOP actually agreeing on something, though! If only the people were always so consistent!
I sort of agree with all of them except the far right’s positions and some of the “sycophants” praises, but I still think that all in all Obama did the right thing and he’s doing it well. I’ve said this a good half-dozen times about all this already: So far, so good.
I do not believe this is a kinetic conflict in the sense that Libya is of some serious national interest. It’s not. I do believe it is a kinetic conflict in that the broader international politics combined with relatively altrusitic motivations brought us into this.
Today, the Obama administration seems to have already extricated us even further from this conflict, while still playing a very important role.
Again. So far. So good. Very good, for now…
JMJ
Not a bad assessment Jersey… Of course, we have to ask our good host to take his tongue out of his cheek occasionally… At least we aren’t relegated to Flench Flies yet…
A point touched on but not hammered home: Biden’s tirade about impeaching Bush if he attacked Iran… the left’s accusations of Bush breaking the law by invading Iraq… now we have crickets? The left’s bashing Bush for invading Iraq only because of oil… “If there weren’t oil, he wouldn’t have done it…” Oil crickets. There are massacres still going on all around the world in countries that don’t have oil, and no one is doing anything about them… one danger in deposing the good Colonel who couldn’t make general: there doesn’t seem to be an infrastructure in place to accommodate new leadership unless Iran steps in with a Mr. Fixit…that wouldn’t be good. I may be wrong, but the whole Iraqi thing was about maintaining a balance of power in the ME… broader question is what regime change in Libya will do in the grand scheme of things except make oil accessible to the French.