really obummer...

Please step away from the political race before the God damn Republican nominee has even been selected. I'll be honest--I didn't watch one minute of President Obama's speech. Obummer has me so frustrated at his political wranglings that I'm ready to move to Europe. (Just kidding...) But seriously, I decided that I would just wait for the print version and read it--which was a very enlightened decision on my part. Yes, he wants to pull out of Afghanistan. Yes, now he wants to focus on the economy. Yes, we, the American public, have spent a fortune on good will trips for the First Lady and daughters to explore the world (I know no different than previous Presidents, although I seem to see more and more of these ladies trips than the previous--either they're taking more or the media is over sensationalizing the whole thing--oh right, that's just me b*tching. That wasn't in the speech.) Yes, even though we are going to draw down in Afghanistan, we will ultimately build up along the Libyan border. Yes, even calling for Afghanistan to negotiate with the Taliban. (This would've shocked the hell out of me if I hadn't heard it last weekend. Thank God for small favors.) But really, as I read some of it, I just can't help thinking "campaigning already?"

Honestly, yes, I would like some focus on the economy, but Americans are "sick" of war? We definately don't want the war going on and on and on. However, let's consider "sick" in relative comparisons: During WW2, everyone was on rations. A household could only have so much butter and milk for crying outloud. Women couldn't have silk stockings because the material was used for parachutes. Women, everyday average housewives, were becoming Rosie the Riveters because all the men were at war--drafted and volunteered. We shoved Japanese Americans into camps, because we were afraid that they would turn on us. During Vietnam, the draft was full on. The protests were often ugly and deadly. Vietnam was horribly altering to the American psyche. We were defeated and not even definitively. There was no real winner--Vietnam was split, and many looked at it as us intervening in the last of the European colonies, on behalf of a dying empire (the French in this case--let's not even broach the concept considering that by then France was certainly not anywhere near an empire....a debate for a warm summer evening over bourbon with fireflies flashing by). But how "sick" are we? The military is still completely voluntary. There's no draft. We aren't on rations. Hell, the last time our country rationed something was in the 1970s when we could only buy gas on certain days of the week, and we weren't at war. I'm not sure any of us are really "sick" of the war, per se.

Maybe I would just prefer a more exact sentence like: "Americans are no longer at a point where we can afford the resources for a war." That's probably a more honest statement. We are well passed the trillion point for our deficit. We give and give and give. Why the heck are we always giving? Europeans and Americans give and give and give. Per a previous blog, we give to countries that can't or won't take care of their own. The truth probably is more like this: we're "sick" of giving and then finding out that half the world thinks that we are the bad guys, even after taking millions to billions of dollars of aid from us.

"When innocents are being slaughtered and global security endangered, we don't have to choose between standing idly by or acting on our own. ...(protecting) people and giving them the chance to determine their destiny." Ok, yes, the quote was in reference to President Obama's stance in regards to Libya and Libyan people. But really, how are the Libyans any different than the Afghans, the Iraqis or the slew that I tooted off in my last blog? Our being there is helping the people in the area--even in countries that we have no conflictual involvement with. They are finding their strength and giving collective voice to that strength. I have to agree with President on this one, but then, why doesn't it apply to Afghanistan? I know there are the arguments that Afghanistan has always been so divided, that even the Russians in the 70s and 80s couldn't get it under control. However, we are not the Iron Curtain of the USSR and we are NOT trying to control the Afghans. We want them to be able to have the same freedoms that we expect to be afforded to any human being.

President Obama cannot seem to understand that there is no distinction between what we want for the Libyans versus the Afghans, or Iraqis or Egyptians for that matter. I don't see the distinction. I'm sure those Americans that want us out of the Middle East don't see the distinction either. Either we're there in the Middle East (Northern Africa) or we're not. (Honestly, I read recently that some people don't realize that Libya and Egypt are in Africa...which is a whole different blog about the sinking of what used to be the greatest public education in the world...) I believe that we have to fight and defend those that cannot for themselves--I don't believe that Afghanistan is to a point where the average Afghan citizens will be able to keep control from the Taliban, some other extremist religious organization, or some wacked out dictator. They are just regaining their own footing. To leave them now, well, could be disastrous--not just for Afghanistan or the Middle East, but for the world.

President Obama isn't worried about the opinions that think we need to stay or go, to the best of my observations. He's a little self-absorbed. It's a good idea to be in North Africa, bombing Libya, but not so good where we already have started to help democracy entrench itself? I'm confused. (I know I'm not the brightest bulb, but I don't think it would be hard to confuse someone with this one.) Like I've stated before Obummer is worried about re-election, not the Afghans, not the Middle East, probably not even Libya--at least not at this point. But, act Presidential damn it and forget about the damn media, polls (yea, it worked for Billy Boy Clinton, but he was almost impeached for crying outloud so it wasn't working that well), and hell even my opinion. Don't draw down troops in Afghanistan just because of some campaign promise. Draw down because it's the right thing to do (which I'm pretty sure even President Obama isn't convinced of). Don't worry about the election--the damn Republicans haven't even begun their mud wrestling. Stay out of it. Don't get me wrong; I really don't want to see you re-elected. However, you start acting like a damn President instead of a politician and you may win my vote. Until then, I just sigh, "Obummer."