Dec 02 2009

Obama’s War Escalation Impresses Republicans

(11 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Okay folks, here’s the money quote that says it all:

Republicans generally gave Obama high marks for deciding to send 30,000 more troops.

“If you would have told me a year into the president’s administration (that) he would have doubled our presence in Afghanistan … plus not reduce our troops meaningfully in Iraq … I would have a hard time believing it,” Dan Senor, who was a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq under former President George W. Bush, said in a conference call arranged by the Republican National Committee.
“So I’m pleasantly surprised!”

              –Dan Senor, former Bush Administration Official, CFR-Neocon

Link: Congress Reacts

When Neocons are “pleasantly surprised“, the whole World has a problem here.

But that is Obama’s true governing constituency (regardless of his totally disingenuous campaign theatrics). And to think they gave this guy a Nobel Peace Prize….for what???…..buying a dog?

Photobucket
“Look at me George, I’m the WAR President too!”

I sure hope Russ Feingold runs for President in 2011-2012.

It is very clear, despite the GOP having been banished away to a minority Party, that Barack Obama will not have one single remotely progressive large accomplishment to his name when he faces down the Democratic Primary voters again the next time around. Who then will possibly believe his empty and insincere rhetoric of “change” the second time around (and with Robert Gates leading the way)-?  It won’t work a second time.

Obama is destined to be a one-termer, because given a choice between a pro-War President, and a Republican-pro-War President, the public inevitably will go with the Republican — because the pro-War “opposition” is just making all their arguments for them anyway.  Like LBJ, Obama should be and deserves to be challenged in 2011.  

The grassroots should start planning for this, and appeal for a new voice now.  There do exist good politicians with positive track-records (Russ Feingold, Howard Dean, Alan Grayson, Al Gore, Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Boxer, etc.)

We don’t have to just take 8 more years of War and Foreign Occupations and Economic Bankruptcy lying down…

24 comments

Skip to comment form

  1. Out of Iraq!!

  2. Talk about channeling Cheney:

    So, no, I do not make this decision lightly. I make this decision because I am convinced that our security is at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is the epicenter of violent extremism practiced by al Qaeda. It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. This is no idle danger; no hypothetical threat. In the last few months alone, we have apprehended extremists within our borders who were sent here from the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan to commit new acts of terror. And this danger will only grow if the region slides backwards, and al Qaeda can operate with impunity. We must keep the pressure on al Qaeda, and to do that, we must increase the stability and capacity of our partners in the region.

    Of course, this burden is not ours alone to bear. This is not just America’s war. Since 9/11, al Qaeda’s safe havens have been the source of attacks against London and Amman and Bali. The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered. And the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them.

    Mushroom cloud, anyone?

    • Inky99 on December 2, 2009 at 07:08
    • #

    I’m not joking.

    Obama must be feeling pretty good!  He’s finally pleased Uncle Karl!

    Whew!

    Bush Officials, RNC Praise Obama’s Afghan Knowledge And Surge Strategy


    Two prominent Bush administration officials are publicly praising President Obama for his decision to send additional troops to Afghanistan.

    In an incredibly rare occurrence, the Republican National Committee hosted a conference call on Tuesday in which the featured speaker, Dan Senor, a former Bush spokesman in Iraq, applauded the White House and said he was “quite encouraged by the president’s decision.”

    “It sounds to me based on what we know that it is a very good decision and I applaud him [for it],” Senor said. “If you would haves said to me that a year into this administration that he would have doubled our troop presence in Afghanistan… Plus not reduced our troops meaningfully in Iraq. And if you had told me he would have fired General [David] McKiernan and replaced him with General [Stanley] McChrystal (a surge proponent)… I would have had a hard time believing it. So I am pleasantly surprised.”

    Senor wasn’t finished with the flattery. While stressing that he would have preferred that Obama had made his decision sooner, he ventured to call the president “an expert” on Afghanistan, owing to the length of deliberations. “He is clearly educated about it,” Senor said.

    Senor also urged critics of the president to be patient in allowing his Afghan policy to play out — a proposition that will definitely be tested in the months and years ahead. “There will be a rush to compare 2010 to 2009 and say it is not working,” Senor predicted. “The real comparison should be to compare the summer of 2011 to the summer of 2009.”

    Noting that the additional 30,000 troops will reportedly be deployed to Afghanistan by May 2010, Senor said: “If that is the case that is terrific. I think you will see improvements in Afghanistan quite quickly.”

    The former chief spokesperson for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq wasn’t the only one-time Bush hand to lavish praise on the current president. Appearing on NBC’s “Today Show” Tuesday morning, Karl Rove said that if reports of a 30,000-plus-troop surge were true, it constituted “a definitive action.”

    “And if the president does do that, I’ll be among the first to stand up and applaud,” Rove said.

  4. …while Rove applauds!

    Obama needs to wash his mouth out with soap…

    As he brings us audacity but no hope…

    He took us all for dopes…

    And snookered us…

    ………………………indeed……

    Without muss or fuss

    With his suave and crafted lies…

    We didn’t go to the Phillipines to dominate either, just to help them become a democracy…

    Same old lies again and again, over and over.  

    SICKENING!

    Stop it.  Obama is hurting my ears and my soul.

    • TMC on December 2, 2009 at 08:18
    • #

    can call Obama a “liberal” or “progressive” ever again. What happened to the promise that he would have the troops out of Iraq in 16 months from the day he took office? He already exceeded the number of troops he said he was going to send to Afghanistan last spring. Now he is more than quadrupling that number. The man lies, his supporters lie and they all swear to it. He’s nothing more that a Chicago machine snake oil salesman. I would love to know what Cheney has on him.

  6. It’s all just show business.

    g.

    • allenjo on December 2, 2009 at 17:58
    • #

    It is all a circus!

  8. and inconsistant.  He did recommend Obama when he decided not to run two years ago.  He was willing to vote for antichoice judges.  He was once quoted as saying that McCain would be a great President.

    Also somone posted on openleft about Grayson’s record of support for Aipac’s policies.  Has Grayson revised his views, since endorsing the Gaza campaign and the bombing of Lebanon? http://www.openleft.com/showQu…

    I would vote for Dean, or Kucinich.

  9. . . . to forestall exactly this.  It was a gesture born of desperation, and the Nobel committee made the mistake of thinking Obama has a better nature to appeal to.  Nope.  This guy is perfectly crass enough to grab the Peace Prize with one hand and drop bombs with the other.

    If Obama doesn’t switch parties by 2012 (which would be the smart thing for him to do), Democratic primary voters will, I hope, kick him the fuck out of ours.

Comments have been disabled.