Let’s hear it for change
It’s political campaign season again, and President Obama, the Great Campaigner, is back in front of us making even more promises. As other columnists have pointed out, he’s back on television campaigning for change, but this time it will be different. Common people, haven’t we all seen this before?
Let’s play a game called “Name That President.” Here’s how it works. Read the quote and name that president:
• “And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: we will defeat you”
• “We will defeat global terror”
• “We will defeat the terrorists”
• “We will defeat our enemies”
• “[E]xcept the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy”
OK, the last quote is from George Orwell’s “1984,” but it’s hard to tell which one was made by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning President Obama, or the evil war monger, President Bush. Just in case you weren’t sure, the first one is President Obama’s. You may remember that last time the Great Campaigner made us promises, he told us: “And I have seen no information that contradicts the notion that we can bring our troops out safely at a pace of one to two brigades a month.” He later explains he’ll have the “troops out in 16 months’ time.” Well folks, that date would have been July 2010, and as we all know, that didn’t happen.
So, do you remember the timetable that was negotiated by President Bush? Here is a refresher. On Nov. 17, 2008, U.S. and Iraqi officials signed a security agreement, often referred to as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), stating that “All the United States Forces shall withdraw from all Iraqi territory no later than Dec. 31, 2011.” The agreement also called for all U.S. combat forces to withdraw from Iraqi cities no later than June 30, 2009. Yup, that was all combat forces, not some combat forces by the middle of last year.
It looks like the Great Campaigner, who told us we’d be out last month, is going to ignore the SOFA agreement, and keep troops in Iraq indefinitely. That’s right. Obama and the Democrats now want troops in Iraq with no timetable to leave. President Obama even has the audacity to now say, “As promised and on schedule” to the starry eyed Obamaton bobble heads. So, Bush would have had us out by the end of this year, while Obama and the Democrats won’t give us any timeline at all!
President Bush based his strategy in Iraq on the advice of Gen. Petraeus. President Obama has now put Petraeus in charge of Afghanistan. It smells like another trillion dollar repeat of Iraq to me. So what did the rest of our elected Democratic Party officials believe the Great Campaigner was going to do if he became our president?
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), an advisor of President Obama, supported drawing down U.S. forces in Iraq. Sen. Reed is a West Point graduate, and a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, so he understood the situation well. Reed told delegates at the Democratic National Convention in August 2008: “Barack Obama will work with our military commanders to begin the phased withdrawal of our troops out of Iraq in the first 16 months.” So everyone understood why President Bush was wrong, and all the Democrats supported 16 months. Well, July 2010 has already passed, and now we will be in Iraq forever.
“The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq,” Obama said in a speech to the national convention of the Disabled American Veterans. “But make no mistake, our commitment in Iraq is changing — from a military effort led by our troops to a civilian effort led by our diplomats.” Right, except for the fact that 50,000 combat troops will be in Iraq forever, which is longer than the Bush SOFA agreement, and against our commitment to the Iraqi people.
Do you remember President Bush telling us about Weapons of Mass Destruction? Last month I was shocked to hear President Obama talk about possible WMD’s in the hands of terrorist. Here we go again.
So now the campaign season is here, and he’s making more promises. Guantanamo Bay is still open for business. If you’re in the military “don’t ask don’t tell” is still the law of the land. The Defense of Marriage Act is going strong. We did not sign the Kyoto or Copenhagen agreements, so I guess “My presidency will mark a new chapter in America’s leadership on climate change” was just another lie.
What I’m hearing is that now the Democrats are supporting big business. The Great Talker is now telling us: “We’re going to have to make sure the government, business, everybody is working in the same direction.” I’ll have to look it up, but I think he copied a speech given by Ronald Reagan or George Bush.
Democrats and President Obama now support war without timelines, increased war spending, big business, are against climate change agreements, are keeping Guantanamo Bay open, are against gays and created the healthcare plan after having private, non-televised meetings with big healthcare companies and drug companies.
How’s that change working for you?
Buddy, can you spare a dime?
David Alsabery is not sure what a Democrat is these days but is still an all around nice guy. He can be reached at alsabery@gmail.com.
