“America, it is time to focus on nation-building here at home,” said President Obama during his speech outlining his plans for troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. First, I’m not the President of the United States and all, but I’m pretty sure we’ve been a nation for a good long while. And as Jonah Goldberg said on Twitter “Just get it over with and declare Tom Friedman the King’s Hand.” But, I suppose we should at least give President Obama credit for his honesty in admitting that he can’t handle the job; I mean, shouldn’t a President be able to multi-task? Shouldn’t the leader of the free world be able to handle domestic issues and foreign policy, you know, at the same time? What happened to that whole ‘I can answer that 3:00 am call’ thing? They must not teach that in Community Organizing seminars.
They also don’t seem to teach the what should be obvious idea of “do not tell your enemies when you are leaving” because his plan is as follows:
President Obama plans to announce Wednesday evening that he will order the withdrawal of 10,000 American troops from Afghanistan this year, and another 20,000 troops, the remainder of the 2009 “surge,” by the end of next summer, according to administration officials and diplomats briefed on the decision.
These troop reductions are both deeper and faster than the recommendations made by Mr. Obama’s military commanders, and they reflect mounting political and economic pressures at home, as the president faces relentless budget pressures and an increasingly restive Congress and American public…
Two administration officials said General Petraeus did not endorse the decision, though both Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who is retiring, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reluctantly accepted it. General Petraeus had recommended limiting initial withdrawals and leaving in place as many combat forces as possible for another fighting season, to hold on to fragile gains made in recent fighting. [my emphasis]
Note, this is a far greater reduction than military commanders advised, but when did that ever stop him? His surge approval, over which he dithered for months, was for far less than they wanted. I’m sure he’d just remind us all how he is the one with the ‘gutsy calls’ and all. Who needs military experts or the advice of people on the ground? That’s for mere mortals. President Obama once again proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only is he woefully incompetent as an Executive, but he is also dangerously irresponsible as a Commander in Chief.
During his speech, he claimed that we can leave now because we met commitments and there are “new opportunities being created for women and girls.” Yet, he then also said “America will join initiatives that reconcile the Afghan people, including the Taliban.” Um. We spent a decade fighting a war to oust the Taliban and now we are going to return them to a governing role again? So these new opportunities for women and girls are what? New methods of stoning and permanent ‘vacations’ from school?
He also had the audacity to discuss the ‘principles upon which our union was founded’; principles he clearly either does not understand or he holds in utter disdain. Then, during the course of his stump speech preview which, make no mistake, this was, he uttered the phrase – with a straight face, unbelievably – “all human beings deserve to live with freedom and dignity.” Really, President Obama? First, the Taliban exemplifies neither freedom nor dignity.
Secondly, how about you start practicing that preach here. That’s what we Americans want, actually. Leave us be and get out of our way. Our nation was already built and we like it. We do not want, nor need, your ‘nation-building’, which is in actuality tearing us down. I know reality is hard for you to see from your ivory tower perch, but hopefully you’ll get the hint soon enough. Come election time. He ended, in part, by saying “Let us responsibly end these wars, and reclaim the American Dream that is at the center of our story.”
Then why do you keep doing everything in your power to interfere with the American Dream? Why does your Presidency feel more like a nightmare? And just as important: why does the media help?