To hear him tell it, even the Republicans aren’t right wing enough. The dude has some serious personality issues, easily disguised behind a uniform and a herd of similar uniformed attitudes.
There’s a hippie parlor trick, you run some quotes by some of the “Get behind the troops or get in front of them” crowd… and say that two of the three come from Adolf Hitler and one from Doug MacArthur… the trick is, they’re ALL from MacArthur. But that’s the mentality that “wins” wars, even if we’re still fighting Big Mac’s wars 4 generations down the line.
So, is Obama a shill, standing in pretending to be working toward peace, just to give Big Mac Jr an excuse for a military coup?
To hear the Fox Noose Nutwerks folks tell it, he’s either a soft-headed Liberal Hippie or a Bolshevik Dictator.
Not much room for anything to the right of that, far less to the right of center. But, that’s their perception or at least, the one they’re pushing on their Fanatic Cult Followers.
“Bolshevik” by the way is Russian for Populist, Democrat, Republican, etc. Basically “Man of the People”.
The basic reality is that both the wars against iran and Afghanistan are being run by a Democratic Party Administration now. Jonah, you want us all to keep silent about that but why? You cannot oppose the wars by refusing to attack any of the current architects and directors of them. If you stay silent about who’s running the show you become complicit with what they are doing.
DEJA VU- Didn’t we already see this act? McChrystal says something untoward in a magazine interview, gives Obama cover to be seen as both against and for the war.
It worked like a charm the first time, they’re simply pulling the scam again. Instead of holding Obama to his supporters’ expectations that he would end the wars, even the progressive voices are defending him from accusations, prompted by McChrystal’s antagonism, that Obama is not tough enough to fight.
It is good to hear these words coming from you now, Eric. Unfortunately, it you temper just a few words of this type and put them on a blog that you have made into a literal storm flood of invective against Republicans, the message you send sounds quite muted. Yes it does.
Below is how Kathy Kelly reports on Obama’s get tough to kill supposed Mr. ‘Masculinity’ act….
‘Americans Don’t Flinch’ – They Duck!
by Kathy Kelly and Dan Pearson
Yesterday, accepting General McChrystal’s resignation, President Obama said that McChrystal’s departure represented a change in personnel, not a change in policy. “Americans don’t flinch in the face of difficult truths or difficult tasks.” he stated, “We persist and we persevere.”
Yet, President Obama and the U.S. people don’t face up to the ugly truth that, in Afghanistan, the U.S. has routinely committed atrocities against innocent civilians. By ducking that truth, the U.S. reinforces a sense of exceptionalism, which, in other parts of the world, causes resentment and antagonism.
While on the campaign trail and since taking office, President Obama has persistently emphasized his view that attacks against civilians are always criminal, unless the U.S. is the attacker, in which case they are justified. We heard this again, yesterday, as the President assured the U.S. people that we will persevere in Afghanistan…..
I agree with Kathy Kelly, Jonah and Eric. Let’s not duck the truth about what this Administration and the Democrats really are all about. And it ‘s not Justice and Peace.
I don’t silence anybody. Or demand than anybody keep silent. I DO notice that the Silly Sarah Brigade are using this in THEIR propaganda. And have been. Also those in the top tiers of the military who might be considering (like Petraeus) cutting out ALL civilian oversight in their killing spree.
Also those in the Republican Party who would see any electoral victory as validation of the war effort, validation against health care and validation of their extremely toxic and getting worse Energy Non-Regulatory Policy.
If the people at the “top level” of the Democratic Party can’t or won’t do anything to stop that, at every level, not just the wars, then we’re fixing on seeing what exactly totalitarianism looks like without even the mask of democracy.
I also don’t count on either the Tea Party or the Libertarian Party to do a damn thing about stopping the war, they are, as noted, violently in favor of continuing the war.
I’d say this is more collusion between Petraeus and McChrystal and aimed at making McChrystal look like a martyr, and to make a strong political front in favor of never pulling out.
Whether Mr Obama ever intended to would suddenly be irrelevant. The people McChrystal and Petraeus look upon as their Commanders got run out of office, If Only Symbolically and apparently want to nail down their so-called “authority” to make war on the entire world.
IF that is the case, then the lack of support from the American People to continue the war is wearing on them. And they apparently still feel a need to pander to the people. They’re feeling some kind of heat and have a gnawing fear that they’ve failed. How much longer can that last?
Having a strong showing in an election would be a powerful tool in their kit.
Not that they would win a war or even be able to keep it going beyond this year. That would leave them frustrated, not running anything outside our borders… but with lots of guns and a lot of pissed off people who are angry not that they had an unwinnable war foisted on us, but that the war wasn’t won.
And, they’ll be HERE, as a heavily armed political force IN AMERICA. The death throes of an empire are felt most harshly by the subjects of that empire.
Especially if they have any kind of significant support from civilian groups like the TeaBags. Who already blame anybody who isn’t to the right of Vlad the Impaler for everything.