The Billings Gazette, a Montana newspaper that endorsed President Obama over John McCain in 2008 (but went with Romney in 2012) admitted Friday that they were wrong — Obama is in fact worse than his predecessor, George W. Bush. Apparently, the potential collapse of Iraq (and the disastrous worldwide consequences sure to follow) was the last straw.
“[W]e were wrong,” the editorial page notes,”We said things couldn’t get much worse after the sub par presidency of George W. Bush. But, President Barack Obama’s administration has us yearning for the good ol’ days when we were at least winning battles in Iraq.”
According to the site Left in the West, this is what the “Billings Gazzette” wrote about Obama in its 2008 presidential endorsement:
At this extremely challenging time, America needs a uniter, not a divider. In this economic turmoil, America needs a thoughtful, cool-headed optimist who envisions a bright future for all citizens. After several years in which worldwide respect for America has been diminished, our great nation needs a new leader who can inspire confidence at home and abroad.
Obama is that leader. As Gen. Colin Powell said last week, Obama is the president America needs now “because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities. … He has both style and substance.”
In their reversal today, the Billings Gazette editorial board does not stop with Iraq. The laundry list of their disappointments is wide and deep: Obama’s un-American surveillance state, the Bowe Bergdahl swap, the mishandling of the VA, the “boondoggle” of ObamaCare, and the administration’s many sins against the media.
Without even getting to the economy, the editors sum it up with, “[T]aken in completely, these demonstrate a disturbing trend of incompetence and failure.”