In his weekly video address, President Obama brags about the magnificent job he’s done in Afghanistan. “[T]he tide of war has turned in Afghanistan,” he says. “We have broken the Taliban’s momentum … The goal that I set – to defeat al Qaeda, and deny it a chance to rebuild – is within reach.” As it turns out, that’s not true – the US has been in direct talks with the Taliban; the goal of defeating al Qaeda was not Obama’s, but Bush’s; and most importantly, the Taliban, according to a Congressional report by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), has been strengthened over the past two years.
But all of this was lead-up for Obama’s big announcement: “After more than a decade of war, it is time to focus on nation building here at home.”
What this means is anybody’s guess. We have already spent trillions of dollars in a Keynesian attempt to “nation build” here at home. And Obama’s use of returning veterans to stump for more government spending is nothing less than politically tasteless:
As a new greatest generation returns from overseas, we must ask ourselves, what kind of country will they come back to? Will it be a country where a shrinking number of Americans do really well while a growing number barely get by? Or will it be a country where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules – a country with opportunity worthy of the troops who protect us?
Are we really unworthy of our own troops unless we pursue a more socialistic redistribution of wealth?
America doesn’t need rebuilding. It needs protection from the crushing hand of the Obama government.