Posted on 03/22/2011 2:42:58 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Speaking in Chile to defend his decision to launch Operation Odyssey Dawn, President Obama couldn’t resist taking a swipe at George Bush, in a clumsy attempt to make himself look superior.
As reported by Fox News, the President declared: "In the past there have been times when the United States acted unilaterally or did not have full international support, and as a consequence typically it was the United States military that ended up bearing the entire burden."
As the folks at Fox quickly pointed out, Bush actually had twice as many international allies for the invasion of Iraq as Obama has put together for his adventure in Libya. They even put together a list.
The thinking behind this latest Bush smear is extremely troubling. You might view Obama reflexively blaming or denigrating Bush as a dog-bites-man story, but consider the context.
Odyssey Dawn is only four days old. Unlike Bush, Obama made no effort to prepare the American people for the operation, and now that the initial surprise has worn off, significant questions are being asked about his authority to launch these attacks. The concept of taking executive action to counter an imminent threat was arguable in Bush’s case – and people have been arguing about it for years – but utterly risible with respect to Libya. Indeed, the Administration hasn’t even tried to advance such an argument.
Serious questions are being asked about the long-term objectives of Odyssey Dawn, how much of it we’ll be expected to pay for, and whether promises to avoid the commitment of ground forces will be kept.
Against this backdrop, Obama decided to throw out an offhanded smear of his predecessor… a slander so transparently false that it was debunked within minutes?
That’s a disconnect with reality so profound that it verges on mental illness. It also highlights just how half-hearted and poorly thought out this decision was. The President has a massive staff and an enormous political team, but apparently no effort was made to put together a comprehensive response to critics of Libya policy. Nobody gamed out the scenario, considered the most predictable developments, and developed comprehensive, well-researched answers to likely challenges. Instead, it was Improv Night in front of a brick wall in Chile, and the President decided to haul out the old joke about Bush the Unitary Executive.
The President’s comment demonstrates an appalling lack of knowledge about the Iraq war. He ran as an outspoken opponent of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay… but has continued all three, and now added Libya. It would seem his campaign criticism was not informed and intelligent opposition, but rather a general conviction that George Bush is the devil, and anything he did should be mindlessly denounced from every possible angle.
Congress is understandably upset that they weren’t even formally notified about Odyssey Dawn until several days of bombing had already gone by. No rational person could have thought they would be mollified by boasting of how many international allies were consulted, especially since this is a coalition Obama was dragged into. This is not the rhetoric of a President who has been carefully weighing policy options since the beginning of the Libyan uprising. It’s the irritable snarl of a man who sent American troops into combat to get everyone off his back, so he could get back to doing what he enjoys.
I thought that order was while he was on the phone and Monica Lewinsky was under the desk. OH! OH! OH! BOMBS AWAY.
Bookmark.
Bush also waited for congress to vote... TWICE to authorize it.
You mean purple lips?
Forgive me TailgunnerJoe, for intruding on your post.
Email sent to me. Don’t know how old it is but it really grabbed my heart.
God Bless our soldiers!
(Note how this guys lips are normal color.)
Read before clicking on link below: The story is about Channing Moss, who was impaled by a live RPG during a Taliban ambush while on patrol in Afghanistan. Army protocol says that medivac choppers are never to carry anyone with a live round in him.
Even though they feared it could explode, the flight crew said damn the protocol and flew him to the nearest aid station.
Again, protocol dictated that in such cases the patient is to be put in a sandbagged area away from the surgical unit, given a shot of morphine and left to wait (read die) until others are treated. Again, the medical surgical team ignored the protocol. Here’s a short video put together by the Military Times, which includes actual footage of the surgery where Dr. John Oh, a Korean immigrant who became a naturalized citizen and went on to West Point, removed the live round with the help of volunteers and a member of the EOD (explosive ordinance disposal) team. Moss has undergone six operations, but is doing well at home in Gainesville, GA. You’ll find the video absolutely remarkable.
http://www.militarytimes.com/multimedia/video/rpg_surgery/
1) He knows better and is flat out lying; or
2) He is too stupid to know better.
I am not sure which is worse.
Top 10 Rejected Obama Mission Names
Apparently the White House tossed out a number of perfectly good names before arriving at “Operation Odyssey Dawn”:
10.Operation Nine Months In The Senate Didn’t Prepare Me For This
9. Operation Organizing for Libya
8. Operation Double Standard
7. Operation FINE! I’ll Do Something
6. Operation Enduring Narcissism
5. Operation So That’s What the Red Button Does
4. Operation France Backed Me Into A Corner
3. Operation Start Without Me
2. Operation Unlike Bush Wars This One Is Justified Because Hey Look A Squirrel
1. Operation Aimless Fury
i hate this pofs more than you can imagine. and not only him, also whoever voted for him.
Ouch. That's going to leave a mark.
I would be 1,000% behind the President on this Libya thing if the following things were true:
1. We had a stated aim to get Khadaffi, or at least force him from power. While I don’t support going to war lightly, if an enemy of the United States is teetering on the edge of a cliff, it’s just fine to give him a little push.
2. We had started pounding this guy as soon as USS Enterprise and her battle group came into range. Had we done it at that point, there would not be the stalemate that appears to be forming now. The rebel force would be larger and khadaffi’s forces would be less prepared for both offensive and defensive ops.
Instead, as Hayward says, we have improv night, and the people and the Congress are told a story that changes every couple of days.
What kind of name is Odyssey Dawn anyhow? Title of a romance novel? I’ll have to check Amazon for that one.
OD? — more like OverDose! Put that with his other unfortunate Winning The Future (WTF) campaign slogan.
I’m ODed on BO! WTF?
Bush’s Coalition:
30 nations
4 members of the G8
4 muslim nations
17 NATO nations
Obama’s Coalition:
16 nations
6 G8 nations
4 muslim nations
12 NATO nations
Other than the raw numbers, there isn’t a whole heck of a lot between the two lists, actually.
No leadership skills and no class.
Are there only two of us?
We better get on the endangered species list!
“Odyssey Dawn sounds like the name of a stripper”
You gave me a well needed laugh for today!
Fore!
Bears repeating because that's exactly what it is, why can't leftists see it?!
I just finished Bush’s Decision Points. For all his faults, the man is a class act.
Zerobama is a Kenyan punk.
Sarkosy thought that taking leadership bashing Gadaffi would help help him in upcoming presidential elections.
So he jumped right in and 0bambi got in on the act a week late....and the rest is history.
The “Best and the Brighest” of this administration are already back in Chicago working on the 2012 campaign. Moochelle and Valerie Jarrett run the White House, and it shows.
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