I’m just a school teacher and I’m getting tired of writing all these posts, because I really do have some issues with President Obama – however, I don’t want to join in with the Republicans who are such liars and almost, to me, traitors as they attempt to undermine our country while trying to insure that it will be a long time until we have another President that’s not part of their “Country Club” social statosphere. That (the Republicans) is why I have to continue speaking my mind as I see fit. If that statement wasn’t too clear, I don’t want to pile on the President until we remove these OBSTRUCTIONIST Republicans from the scene (any objection I have to Obama would fall in the “constructive criticism” category in hopes that he would SUCCEED). Of course, I understand that my audience, which ranges from the twenties to sometimes around two hundred per day (I have no idea where any of “you” come from), won’t make much of a dent in the American political process – but, if enough people continue to speak out, maybe REAL CHANGE will actually happen DESPITE the politicians and the PUNDITS in Washington who are ALL fattening their own purses at the expense of the rest of us.
I used the word “pundits” in all caps because that is where my motivation comes from today. Recently I signed on to get the daily news from the Washington Post via email. I’ve spent a fair amount of time over the past few years with the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and various other local and national news outlets, but never the Washington Post. I thought I’d give it a try. Well, today I read a post from a guy named Charles Krauthammer who was lambasting President Obama for essentially “blaming everything” on George W Bush. Essentially, I have a good idea who this guy is, I just didn’t know he was a columnist for the Post. A couple years ago I canceled my satelite TV service, but they left a few channels on to keep me “connected” and one of them was Fox “news.” I remember seeing this guy on their channel a few times and wondering how could someone call themselves a journalist while CLEARLY being a Republican Party “water carrier.” I’m not saying a Republican (while I’m sure he is) – he was spewing the so-called “talking points” that come right out of the Republican caucus with the same “catch words” as the rest of them – the Limbaugh’s, the Hannity’s, the Colter’s, the Beck’s, and all the politicians who are in the same propoganda conspiracy that’s been ruining this country since the days of Ronald Reagan.
I read this guy’s column and two things came immediately to mind. First, he needs to do a little actual research before he does his writing, and second who the hell is the editor of this newspaper to allow CRAP like what Krauthammer wrote today to be published. WHEN ARE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY GOING TO AT LEAST STAND UP TO THE PRINCIPLE THAT PURPOSELY (AND DISHONESTLY) TRYING TO UNDERMINE OUR PRESIDENT IS ANTI-AMERICAN. (I’m sure he’d say the same things about some of what I’ve written about George W Bush/Dick Cheney – the difference: EVERYTHING I’ve written has been proven true by subsequent events or clear EVIDENCE). His column today went from complaining that Obama is blaming “everything” on Bush to attacking his thoughtfulness in making a decision regarding Afganistan. I’m not a professional journalist, but I’ll attempt to “undress” his comments one by one.
First Krauthammer begins with the normal Republican communist reference (unless it’s socialist or fascist) by making a stupid non-essential statement about Nikita Kruschev – these guys on the right are really idiots when it comes to their understanding of political philosophies. Based on classical definitions, Obama is far less in every regard to all those references than Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Paulson (remember it was Bush/Paulson who came up with the 700 Billion “giveaway” to the banks – of course, people like Krauthammer can’t remember back that far). Krauthammer then says, ” Is there anything he (Obama) hasn’t blamed George W. Bush for? The economy, global warming, the credit crisis, Middle East stalemate, the deficit, anti-Americanism abroad — everything but swine flu.” Well, let me point something out to Krauthammer. Bush/Cheney RUINED the economy, they denied global warming to the point where it is much more of a crisis than it should be, their invasion of Iraq TOTALLY destabilized the middle east and they did nothing except fuel the fire of discontent regarding Israel and the Palestinians, they inherited a $250 Billion surplus and turned it into a MULTI TRILLION dollar deficit – essentially in a matter of months once the Supreme Court had overturned the will of the people and put them in office, and they turned America from the moral leaders of the free world into the hated TORTURERS who think only about their own self interests and to hell with everyone else. So, if Obama is blaming Bush for all of that – IT’S WELL DESERVED.
That’s just for starters! Then Krauthammer – as if he knows what he’s talking about – says, “he (Obama) referred to “long years of drift” in Afghanistan in order to, I suppose, explain away his own, well, yearlong drift on Afghanistan.” OK, if you’re not one of those people who listen to Limbaugh or watch Fox “news” and believe what you hear, then you probably recognize the absurdity of that criticism on it’s face. However, if you’re not sure let me explain this to you – using the term “long years of drift” is a compliment to what the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld “team” did in Afganistan. Actually, it was far worse than that. Not only was there “drift,” there was an incompetency about EVERYTHING done in the 7 years the Bush administration was mired in Afganistan which should make most Americans (if they just knew what actually happened) cringe. That is, people who are not like Krauthammer and apparently willing to say anything to make the “wigs” of the Republican party happy. If Mr. Krauthammer would actually read about what took place because of American decisions (try “Descent into Chaos” by Ahmed Rashid, Charles) in Afganistan he’d also realize if all we did was drift we’d be a lot better off.
In FACT, what Americans did in Afganistan under the leadership of George W Bush was allow the man who orchestrated the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (not to mention the plane going down in Pennsylvania which was supposedly headed toward the White House) to get away SCOTT FREE. They also allowed the Taliban to escape into Pakistan and then spent SEVEN YEARS giving money to Pervez Musharraf who in turn was supporting the very Taliban and al Qaeda organizations we were supposedly fighting. That’s right – the American President was providing aid to the Pakistan President who was then funneling some of that aid to the people who were killing our troops! To me, THAT’S FAR WORSE THAN “DRIFT.” But wait, there’s more. Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and others under their authority authorized NATO and American troops to “look the other way” as the drug trade in Afganistan multiplied EXPONENTIALLY during the “Bush years.” By the time Bush was out of office Afgan farmers were producing in excess of 8000 tons of opium per year which translates into roughly 80 – 90% of the herion which ends up on the streets of America. Is that “drift,” or what Mr. Krauthammer?
And, how about putting Hamad Karzai in office and then funding all the individual war lords in Afganistan while failing to provide the promised aid to Karzai leading him to look elsewhere for survival. Sure, at this point in time the man is knee deep in corruption and a part of the drug market, but what other choice did the Bush administration give him. They totally destabilized the country and, while the Afgans were HOPING that America would help them establish a central government that could protect the population – WE ARE OFF TO IRAQ and to hell with them! Speaking of the increased drug trade which the Bush administration was TOTALLY AWARE OF and CONSCIOUSLY looked the “other way” from, it has also been a large component of the funding of the Taliban resurgence (over and above the money they’ve received from Bush via Musharraf and the other “allies” of the US, such as Saudi Arabia, etc.) Actually, I wouldn’t say the Bush administration was “drifting” in Afganistan, I’d say they were “drowning” and hopefully Obama can do something to save the situation.
The one thing I can agree with Krauthammer on is that Obama faces a similar decision to Bush’s when Bush decided on the “surge” in early 2007. Now, we could argue the value of the “surge” for days (well, I could) – I realize that American deaths and violence in general has declined markedly in the past year to year and a half, but – in my mind – the surge just put off the inevitable, which is Iraq taking care of Iraq. I’m not convinced that this “lull” in violence will be considered worth the 1500 or so American lives lost during the ensuing time period. People like Krauthammer don’t seem too concerned with all the flag draped coffins coming home from Iraq and Afganistan, but I can tell you for sure, I am and the “surge” didn’t solve the Sunni/Shia problem which has just been put on “simmer.” Even David Patreaus thinks we need to stay in Iraq for another 10 -20 years to have any chance of stabilizing the country Moqtada al Sadr is just waiting in the wings for the Americans to leave before making his return from Iran – the inevitable conclusion to this “war” will be the continued strengthening of Iran – and, of course, people like Krauthammer and the other Republican liars will CERTAINLY blame that on Obama as well. In fact, this becomes kind of a “blame game,” and I just have to tell you the Republicans HAVE NO CREDIBILITY in the game. Their only hope is that the American people have a short attention span and they forget who CAUSED ALL of the troubles we’re presently struggling through. (and, they’re making the struggle worse because the only thing that’s important to them is that Obama “fails” – figuring out Afganistan is a legit struggle, because al Qaeda and the Taliban are alive and well due to the generosity of the “drifting” Bush administration)
I’ll leave you for tonight with one more absurdity from this Krauthammer guy: “In each war, quick initial low-casualty campaigns toppled enemy governments. In the subsequent occupation stage, two policy choices presented themselves: the light or heavy “footprint.”
In both Iraq and Afghanistan, we initially chose the light footprint. For obvious reasons: less risk and fewer losses for our troops, while reducing the intrusiveness of the occupation and thus the chances of creating an anti-foreigner backlash that would fan an insurgency.”
If you’ve been following Iraq and Afganistan you see the absurdity of those statements on their merits. However, if you’re not clear let me try to help you out. In Afganistan, we had worse than a “quick initial low-casualty campaign,” we went in on the “cheap,” and thus let bin Laden escape. And to suggest we were worried about “an anti-foreigner backlash that would fan an insurgency” presupposes the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld crew was thinking about anything. In fact, the more I read about Afganistan the less I’m sure that we ever had any intent of actually capturing or killing bin Laden. The Bush administration CLEARLY had their eyes fixed on Saddam Hussein before the World Trade center had fallen to the ground. WHY IS THIS SO HARD FOR PUNDITS LIKE KRAUTHAMMER TO “GET?” Let’s call that a rhetorical question and I’ll tell you why – because he and the likes of him are just saying what they’re told by whoever is in charge of the “right (wrong) wing.” America was warned by the leading Generals to mobilize at least 400 – 500,000 troops before entering Iraq and they went in with 25% of that – not because of Krauthammer’s “obvious” reasons “less risk and fewer losses for our troops,” but because Cheney/Bush/Rumsfeld/McCain and the rest of them ACTUALLY BELIEVEED that the Iraqi people would “greet us as liberators” and the war might not last “6 days, 6 weeks, or certainly 6 months.” (remember, they “fired” the General who suggested more troops) They claimed that the invasion would be paid for by Iraqi oil which they evidently assumed the Iraqi’s would be glad to hand over in return for our getting rid of Saddam.
Nothing they did was for the purpose of “less risk and fewer losses for our troops,” and Krauthammer (and a bunch more of them on the Republican side) are TOTALLY DISENGENOUS, DISHONEST, and just plain LYING when they tell people otherwise. How does the Washington Post (Isn’t Eugene Robinson one of the editors?) allow propoganda – and that’s all it is – like this article of Krauthammer’s to be published? This just feeds into the “birthers” and the “deathers” as they obstruct everything that is being done to bring us out of the nightmare that was eight years of GW Bush. Today, it was reported that the Senate (with 40 Republicans plus Joe (Benedict) Lieberman leading the “charge.” couldn’t manage to get an extension of unemployment benefits through for about 150,000 workers who can’t find a job in the economy that Krauthammer thinks Obama shouldn’t be complaining about regarding Bush’s policies. Well, it’s the Bush supporters who don’t want these workers to have these basic benefits as they attempt to endure this near depression (I’m sure to the workers it IS A DEPRESSION) caused by Bush’s incompetency, these Bush supporters (including Krauthammer) don’t want the uninsured in this country to have health care, and MOST IMPORTANTLY TO THEM they don’t want President Obama to succeed. All of that doesn’t change the FACT that Obama is being too nice to President Bush, not only in how he puts proper blame on him for his incompetent policies, but in the way he has refused to allow investigations of the Bush administration. There not only should be more blame (as the result of investigations), but people in the Bush administration who commtted crimes should have to answer for them in a court of law. Earth to Charles Krauthammer: not only did George W Bush ruin the economy, exacerbate global warming, fuel the credit crisis, contribute to a Middle East stalemate, baloon the deficit, promote anti-Americanism abroad – he failed miserably in Afganistan and it will take a miracle for President Obama to fix the problem.