Presidential Cojones
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The official story of the killing of Bin Laden still seems a bit incredible, and people like Bob Baer who have trained and worked with the Special Forces insist such a raid would be suicidal unless the intrusion into Pakistan’s airspace was either undetected or ignored by the Pakistanis. But there is also the possibility that “stealth” modifications on the helicopters worked and daring and luck played a role.
And after watching the president on “60 Minutes” last Sunday I think it is time to accept the obvious that Barack Obama has cojones. After specious and vicious racists attacks from the right and endless rebukes from the left that he is wimping out on hope and change, the Commander-in-Chief has shown that he does not play it safe, cave in to pressure and roll with the punches as his critics have concluded.
In spite of the apparent success of the SEAL team’s raid, the junkyard dogs at Fox News and on right wing radio are going through tortured mental gymnastics to criticize, downplay and dismiss a “mission accomplished” moment that was an actual accomplishment. Their poisonous hatred of our first black president is such that Sarah Palin could only muster praise for the failed, faux warrior George W Bush, who she congratulated for getting Bin Laden.
Imagine the cacophony of abuse and derision that would be all over the airwaves if Obama’s national security team had failed to get their man and ended up trapped in an embarrassing shootout with allied soldiers. After the helicopter crashed and the SEAL’s had to blow a hole in Bin Laden’s wall, little wonder there were tense moments in the situation room.
With explosions echoing in the night among the villas of retired military officers and near the barracks of Pakistan’s elite military cadets, it must have been a long forty minute wait for the replacement helicopter and a lucky break that whoever was on duty on the Pakistani side was either asleep or used to things that go bang in the night.
Now that the shadow of the Dukakis, Mondale, Gore, Kerry wimp factor has been lifted from the mantle of Democratic leadership and we have that rare quality in the White House, a macho liberal, it is surely time for Obama to turn his sights to the Republicans.
Their distain for him is as manifest as their racist calumnies about his birth religion and patriotism are, and he should give them no quarter. They have repeatedly spurned his earnest entreaties for bipartisanship and are so determined to destroy his presidency that they will sabotage the nation’s economic recovery to bring him down as Mitch McConnell has vowed to do.
While still basking in the afterglow of a patriotic bump in the polls from his display of real leadership, Obama should start defining what real patriotism is. It is patriotic to put people back to work and not to give more of the people’s money to the bankers who ruined the economy and the corporations who are ripping off the consumer.
It is patriotic to revive Main Street not indulge Wall Street. And it's the patriotic duty of those who have been the beneficiaries of increasing welfare for millionaires and billionaires, to give back a little to those who have been carrying the burden of funding the very government the rich are looting and the Republicans are starving.
It is time to isolate the Republicans as the hollow hypocrites they are and expose their shameless whoredom to America’s plutocrats. While faithfully executing their office for the benefit of their paymasters, how long can these godly “Christians” wrapped in the piety of defending “life”, get away with killing the American dream?
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5 August 2011
31 weeks 18 hours
President Obama was viewing the tornado hit states. He was negotiatiing with BP over the Gulf oil spill. He passes a health care bill that focus on middle age workers and young people with no jobs who would have been "kick-Off" their parent's health insurance. He drastically reduced our military presence in Iraq. He kept the country from going into default. No small help from Republicans or Tea Party. He did these actions in less than 3 years. Yet the Republicans and Tea Party hound him. Under the Republican Party in which they controlled the White House, Congress and Supreme Court for 8 years. We saw a massive outsourcing of jobs, The erosion of the middle class,the elimination of pension plan by many companies, less of money, which fulfilled with the help of paycheck loans, the elimination of women's rights and our involvement in a misdirected war(remember WMD).President Obama has worked for the U.S. people not the corporations. All the negative posting showed that we have many haters who would hate no matter what President Obama does. We can't pacify them; they are like a crying, whining babies who would be satisfied unless they get what they want. They don't care who they hurt or how unreasonable their request is.
13 May 2011
51 weeks 6 hours
I guess we should be grateful that we have a "rare quality in the White House, a macho liberal...", that is not afraid to circumvent the rule of International Law and not abide by international norms.
There is no question that Osama Bin Laden was a terrorist who brought untold suffering to humanity, but he was never brought to trial nor even given an opportunity to defend himself in court. Could it be that he knew things about the secrete world of the U.S. governments covert operations while he was in the service of the CIA.
I am not against capital punishment, nor even a liberal, but I am against blindly following any party or anyone just because they are Democrats and Republicans. Breaking International Law by both Democrats or Republicans is not acceptable. It puts us in line with our allies China, Saudi Arabia, Yemen etc... If we are true men of justice and conscience we have to be prepared to uphold that justice and conscience in difficult times, not when it helps us get someone elected.