Our Child-Like President and His Speech
President Obama was disingenuous with his speech Wednesday night concerning not just the end of combat operations in Iraq, but also the cost of those operations relative to the national deficit and his call that we all now focus on our economic problems that that those combat operations have ended. He also displayed his child-like inability to recognize when he has been wrong and someone else has been right.
President Obama said after successfully jamming national health care down our throats that it was then time to concentrate on our economic problems. He then said the summer of 2010 was going to be the Summer of Recovery. Now – now that combat operations in Iraq have formally ended he says it is time to concentrate on the economy. It seems like he keeps trying to make excuses about why he hasn’t been able to “fix” our economy despite 19 months in office and trillions upon trillions of deficit dollars in so-called stimulus spending. Okay, got it? Now that combat operations have ended in Iraq we really-really mean it (this time); now we’re going to concentrate on the economy. Got it.
President Obama always opposed the war in Iraq – which I don’t call a “war” at all but a battle in the War on Terror. Even before he became a United States Senator, according to his own words, he opposed the war – unlike John Kerry who was either for or against the war before he was for or against the war – Obama always opposed the war. Here are some of President Obama’s own words relative to the war in Iraq and the surge of troops which eventually won that war – or battle.
As reported by Josh Rogers for New Hampshire Public Radio on July 20, 1007;
“Here’s what we know. The surge has not worked. And they said today, “Well, even in September, we’re going to need more time.” So we’re going to kick this can all the way down to the next president, under the president’s plan.”
Now, according to Glen Johnson writing for the Associated Press on July 15, 2008, President Obama also said overall American interests have been hurt rather than helped by the Bush administration’s decision to increase troop strength in Iraq. . .
So here we have a sitting president willing to criticize his predecessors for personal political gain and blame others for that which he has had time to fix himself, but like a little child unable to give credit where credit is due. Senator Obama was criticizing the surge before it was really even underway and had time to succeed. Here’s the deployment list for the surge courtesy of Wikipedia:
- 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (Infantry): 3,447 troops. Deployed to Baghdad, January 2007
- 4th Brigade, 1st Infantry Division (Infantry): 3,447 troops. Deployed to Baghdad, February 2007
- 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Heavy): 3,784 troops. Deployed to southern Baghdad Belts, March 2007
- 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker): 3,921 troops. Deployed to Diyala province, April 2007
- 2nd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division (Heavy): 3,784 troops. Deployed to the southeast of Baghdad, May 2007
Now remember, President Bush announced the surge in January, 2007. Troop deployment began in January, 2007 with 3,447 troops. But the actual deployment was completed, and therefore the surge not in progress until the end of May, 2007. So again, like a little child, then Senator Barack Obama and his ilk expected immediate gratification, or were trying to use war for personal and party political gain.
In a statement concerning President Obama’s speech Tuesday night wherein he could not find the honor within himself to compliment President Bush and acknowledge that his predecessor was right and he – President Obama – was wrong, White Officials have said that “other factors,” such as Sunni Muslim leaders deciding to stop fighting had as much to do with victory in Iraq as did the surge.
Gee, why do you think those Sunni leaders decided to stop fighting? Maybe, just maybe, because the United States proved its commitment to the war by surging some of the world’s finest, most honorable and most lethal military forces into the fight.
Now the truth is the surge was a phenomenal success according to any measure and the former Bush administration is to be congratulated.
