In light of a comment received on my blog post entitled: Day Eleven: A picture of something I hate, I would like to react to the recent news of the heroic military efforts that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden. First, during the "30 Day Photo Challenge" that I have been working on, I prepare my blog posts in advance and schedule them for 8:00 AM posting. (No, I'm not awake in the wee hours of the day preparing these entries then flawlessly posting them at precisely 8 o'clock each morning . . . good as you think I am . . .) That being said, I did not hear the news of OBL's death then subsequently choose to express my negative opinions of President Obama. It was, contrarily, the opposite--unfortunate, bad timing. I won two superlatives my Senior year in high school: "Most Likely to be President" and "Most Opinionated." How can I live up to both of these titles . . . and run a public website . . . without looking like a jack a$$ every now and then?
Now, I would like to make a few things perfectly clear. I, like countless other proud Americans, tuned in to the late news yesterday evening. I jostled my snoring husband awake several times proclaiming "Look! Osama Bin Laden has been killed. Watch!" I experienced a bit of disbelief that it had finally happened as well as overwhelming satisfaction. Mostly, I considered the victory for the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and their families. How sweet it must have been to finally taste such overdue justice and closure. Nothing will ever resurrect their loved ones lost that September day, but OBL's death was surely a symbol that America has not forgotten these heros' sacrifice.
While I admit that my still-relavent opinions of Obama posted at a poor time, I would like to quote a friend's Facebook status from today:
Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. American Military Personnel, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found OBL and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!!
This statement is particularly dear to my heart. First because while United States Navy Seals risked life and limb to take down Al Qaeda's dangerous leader, I'd be willing to bet that Barack and Michelle still sat down to a nicely prepared dinner together that very evening . . . no blood, sweat, or tears lost. Please let's remember that while our President may have given the "go ahead," he most certainly did not GO AHEAD. So, God bless our miliatary servants who tirelessly give of themselves to ensure our American freedoms. And just think . . . if our greedy Congress members had not been able to essentially 'agree to revisit to save face' on our budget . . . those blessed Navy Seals would have killed OBL for free. I thought we say "Freedom Isn't Free"? That's an interesting thought, isn't it?
It also merits mentioning that these vigilent efforts to track down and capture or kill Osama Bin Laden began on September 11th, 2001 (or before) with a gentleman named George W. Bush. I recall his promise to the American people that our country would not stop until OBL and his followers were brought to justice. I certainly belive in giving President Obama credit for his continuing promotion of the search; however, I refuse to give him the all the credit. It was genuine political luck that OBL was killed during Obama's presidency. There were 7 years of ground work laid before he even stepped foot into the Oval Office. Let's not forget about that fact.
Lastly, while I take full responsibility for the terrible timing of my previous post, I do not apologise for its content. Osama or no Osama, I think our current President has disappointed the American people with the deafening lack of "Change" in the USA since he took office. I do not think the recent wonderful news has anything to do with frivolous government spending, socialized healthcare, and the like. The two are largely unrelated, and I maintain my strong opinion that the United States is in perhaps the worst financial and social state in which it has ever been.
No matter what breaking news airs, it would take a great deal of "Change" to silence that opinion.
6 comments:
so you imply that if george w bush were still president, he and laura would not have sat down to dinner yesterday just as the obamas did? that he would have somehow been on the front lines?
I respect your opinion, but truly it seems that you are blasting the obamas just for the sake of doing so. the killing of osama bin laden, you are correct, has little to do with the domestic policies you oppose. I do not see the harm, however, in supporting your president, especially at a time like this. I also generally enjoy reading your blog, but find little to appreciate in yesterdays post. to both democrats and republicans, that image is disgraceful. I like to think America is better than this.
No. I said that the thankless military men and women would have been and were. I said that Bush laid all the ground work for OBL's death. Perfectly clear.
I also say, it's easy to carry a big gun when you're anonymous.
One thing is for sure Bush would have been a lot more humbled by the mission carried out by our "guys" vs. I did this, I did that, I authorized this (with a since of pride being emitted). However he did change his tone a bit on Monday which my be due to the fact that the news of the use of Git-mo was what actually lead to the Osama raid!
Personally as a military wife, Obama is NOT the great Commander in Chef he made himself out to be in his self righteous and praising speech he gave on Sunday night. This is the same man who was going to let the very soldiers that carried out that mission go with out pay! The last time that happened was when Jimmy Carter was president, one of the worst in US history!
On top of that Afghanistan has been a mess since he has taken office!
The mission our men completed to take down OBL was a great one, but lets not be over zealous, as our own safety and the safety of our military places oversees is not sealed on this note and may be even more at risk!
One of my favorite things in the world is talking to people who are misinformed about politics, if only because there is a lot of utility in correcting that misinformation. So, to start:
"Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. American Military Personnel, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be the one in office when our soldiers finally found OBL and took him out. This is NOT an Obama victory, but an AMERICAN victory!!"
This is only true if you understand the military as acting autonomously from the civilian officials. Of course, that's not the case at all; the American military is an instrument of civilian officials (particularly the president), and their choices are guided by directives issued from the president.
In this case, President Obama -- at the beginning of his term -- issued a directive to rededicate American intelligence agencies to finding Osama bin Laden, after several years where said agencies were working to gather intelligence in Iraq. According to reports from journalists at The New York Times and National Journal, the killing of Osama bin Laden is a direct result of those directives, as well as President Obama's decision to order a ground assault last weekend. That's not to say that President Bush didn't have a part in the victory, but that you're understating the extent to which Obama-era reforms of intelligence gathering played a part. Remember, in 2008, it was Obama who promised to enter Pakistan if he felt it was necessary to find bin Laden, not McCain.
Yes, Americans should be pleased with the result, but in a very real sense, Osama bin Laden couldn't have been killed with Barack Obama making his death a priority. You might not like that, but it's the truth.
Next, there's this:
"Personally as a military wife, Obama is NOT the great Commander in Chef he made himself out to be in his self righteous and praising speech he gave on Sunday night. This is the same man who was going to let the very soldiers that carried out that mission go with out pay! The last time that happened was when Jimmy Carter was president, one of the worst in US history!"
In the speech on Sunday, Obama used some variation of "I" or "me" about a dozen times. He used some variation of "we" or "us" upwards of four dozen times, and directly praised President Bush.
As for pay; Barack Obama must work with an institution called Congress, which is Constitutionally responsible for passing a budget. That Congress was unable to pass a budget has little to do with Obama, and everything to do with the body's increasing dysfunction. It's fine to be upset with the possibility of service members working without pay, but it's also important to have an accurate focus for your displeasure.
Finally, there's this:
"I do not think the recent wonderful news has anything to do with frivolous government spending, socialized healthcare, and the like. "
I don't have a ton of time, so here's a quick summary of the misinformation: according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the vast bulk of the current deficits are a product of a few things: the Bush era tax cuts, which reduced overall revenues by $2 trillion over ten years, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Medicare expansion of 2002 and the economic collapse of 2008. Taken together, these resulted in a net revenue loss of $7 trillion. Obama-era policies -- mostly automatic stabilizers that came as a result of the recession, in addition to the stimulus -- account for $1.7 trillion of current debt.
Reasonable people can disagree about the content of the president's policies, but let's be clear: chief responsibility for the current debt and deficit lies with the previous administration, which squandered a Clinton-era surplus of a $500 billion.
Continued from above:
As for health care reform, the Affordable Care Act can be summed up like this: Congress passed a bill to keep health insurers from discriminating on the basis of preexisting conditions. For that to work, however, everyone needs to have health insurance, so that insurers don't begin a "death spiral" of rejecting older people for insurance. As such, Congress also passed a bill mandating the purchase of private health insurance. Of course, if you're going to require that people purchase private health insurance, they must also be able to afford it, and so Congress passed subsidies to help people afford it.
There is no government control, only private insurers, a few new regulations, and subsidies. Again, you're free to have your own opinions, not your own facts.
I also found this curious, "I maintain my strong opinion that the United States is in perhaps the worst financial and social state in which it has ever been."
Worse than the Great Depression? Worse than the century of discrimination and state-sanctioned violence against African Americans? Worse than the widespread disregard for women's autonomy in the first half of the 20th century?
I'm genuinely curious, do you view the United States in 2011 as a uniquely terrible place, or is this just partisan hyperbole?
Thanks for reading!
Jamelle...To make it perfectly clear along political lines and guaranteeing military pay in the presence of gov. shutdown, the democrats did absolutely nothing to secure military pay. The Republicans or should I say Sen. Hutchinson introduced S. 724 which democrats lagged in signing onto the bill which had NO riders or reason for opposing, it was cut and dry, period. There is a reason a majority of military members prefer a Rep. CIC and this is one of them! Which says a lot about a "boss". We are in another era of Carter, yay for us.
On a side: Now can I have my change back to pay for gas that has interestingly enough been on a constant/consistent uphill climb since were promised that "change"... http://gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx
Not to mention Obama is now floating the idea of taxing drivers by the miles they drive, what a prefect time to even consider such a thing! (not to mention that we are already taxed like this, drive more-buy more gas-pay more taxes, nothing like the dems wanting to tax us twice...!)
On the subject of deficit lets take a quick look at the real picture form 2000 into 2020 (great little comparison chart here): http://blog.heritage.org/wp-content/uploads/obama_budget_deficit.jpg
And just an FYI While Bush was in office he did authorize attacks on Pakistan, however strategically you can not go into a country with Nuclear Arms blasting away...and unfortunately for Bush and fortunately for Obama the information gained by interrogation including water-boarding took years to piece together, leading to his ultimate capture, and you better believe Bush would have done the same! The mistake that Clinton made in allowing Osama to walk free was a mistake that was hopefully and surely not going to happen again! That one decision on his part ultimately cost thousands of lives and eradicated that budget that he so-called balanced with billions/trillions in the cost of capturing him.
Aww, but alas, a breath of fresh air!!! http://www.hermancain.com/inner.asp?z=2
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