Shut up and Support the President!
I as a capitalist, a free enterprise devotee, a fiscal conservative, and a believer in a much smaller, less intrusive federal government whose primary roles are national defense, enforcement of a constructionist view of the Constitution for all of its’ citizens, and allowing free interstate commerce…have deep disagreements in many areas with the Marxist policies and “”one world” views of President Obama.
However, regarding the President’s speech last night on Afghanistan, I have a message for my colleagues who usually disagree with him. This is especially offered to those political leaders and pundits who call themselves conservatives, or view themselves as “loyal opposition”.
This message is (with all due respect): Shut up (the carping) and support the President. Leave the carping to the liberals, that’s what they do. This is War.
You wanted the President to stand up against terrorism, and commit to fight it to make us safer.
He just did.
You wanted the President to say that winning this war was vital to our national security, and that Pakistan and Afghanistan are important to us.
He just did.
You wanted him to “listen to the (military) commanders on the ground”.
He just did.
You wanted him to show courage and stand up to the left wing of his own party.
He just did.
Okay, we’re unhappy about setting a timeline (but with an out to assess conditions on the ground). And you’re not sure how he’ll deliver on his plan. But the President stood up, spoke up, and “manned up” in a difficult situation. We didn’t like it when others criticized the former president during war, showing the world and our enemies a divided country. There are legitimate arguments against being in a war in Afghanistan. There are legitimate arguments about how he will prosecute this war. But the President, for all intents and purposes, made the basic decision you thought he should make, and, so, if we're truly loyal opposition,…this is war…stand together, support the President.
The Old Man
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI generally agree with you. Obama’s Afghanistan strategy has the support of the Republican Party. (Why not. It’s basically their policy.) That some of the carping is over-the-top is to be expected. But if you’re referring to the talking heads, they are a lost cause. They need controversy to keep ratings up.
I am not certain that the media has read his non-committal timetable correctly. It’s really just another example of Obama’s thoughtful ambiguity that allows both sides to think he supports their position; the antiwar gang can focus on an exit strategy while those who support the war effort can hope that he really only committed to not adding more troops after a certain date (taking out even a small number fulfills his requirement, but changes nothing). This is a politician’s favorite ruse and nobody does it better. In this case, however, it seems to have accomplished the opposite in that both sides feel he is caving to the other side. Worse, our allies in the region seem to believe that this shows a lack of commitment which could prove harmful to the success of the endeavor. It would be encouraging if our President and Commander in Chief became less of a politician and more of a leader… but perhaps that’s just me carping.
Fred,
ReplyDeleteA good response, as usual. You are not carping, but you are asking Michael Jordan to play baseball. Michael Jordan decided by the time he reached college to focus on basketball. He put in an incredible number of hours building on his considerable skills with practice, the best coaching he could get, and the best team of basketball players to complement and highlight those skills.After becoming, arguably, the best basketball player ever, he tried, as you recall, to play baseball.
Pesident Obama decided in college, or law school, to be a politician. He put in many hours of practice to hone his considerable skills, and sought out coaches and political leaders to help him. He has become, arguably, one of the best and most successful politicians in the world. To coin a phrase..."that's what he does". He is doing the same thing on the economy, on health care, and any other number of things...talking in carefully crafted nuance that allows him to do what ever he wants and claim he did what he said, while having something in the "commitment" that appeals to most people. He is the master of the delivering the seeming oxymoron of a dramatic nuanced speech. He is the "velvet dictator", because that emotion and drama in his speeches are not calls to action, but rather, calls to follow. This is to say, cede power to him and do what he says, because we don't have time in a crisis to consider the action, or we little people don't have the ability to understand for ourselves, or a great enemy threatens us, and we need him to protect us.This is how dictators lead, through emotion and drama, by protecting the people from terrible enemies (real or improvised), during times when the populace is hurting, disillusioned and looking for leadership (or "change" if you prefer). President Obama uses healthcare, Wall Street (while being careful to quietly see that their nests are feathered...he knows, even if the public doesn't, where his big contributions came from), the economy, big business, H1N1 virus, etc. as the enemies, against whom only he (and his use of the federal government) can prevail to save the people. He's perfected his craft.
And now, after all the years of practice, training and success,...you want him to play baseball.
The Old Man