NeoConMan Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Flip-Flops and Governance Our president isn't quite as advertised. Barack Obama inherited a set of national-security policies that he rejected during the campaign but now embraces as president. This is a stunning and welcome about-face. For example, President Obama kept George W. Bush's military tribunals for terror detainees after calling them an "enormous failure" and a "legal black hole." His campaign claimed last summer that "court systems . . . are capable of convicting terrorists." Upon entering office, he found out they aren't. He insisted in an interview with NBC in 2007 that Congress mandate "consequences" for "a failure to meet various benchmarks and milestones" on aid to Iraq. Earlier this month he fought off legislatively mandated benchmarks in the $97 billion funding bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Obama agreed on April 23 to American Civil Liberties Union demands to release investigative photos of detainee abuse. Now's he reversed himself. Pentagon officials apparently convinced him that releasing the photos would increase the risk to U.S. troops and civilian personnel. Throughout his presidential campaign, Mr. Obama excoriated Mr. Bush's counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, insisting it could not succeed. Earlier this year, facing increasing violence in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama rejected warnings of a "quagmire" and ordered more troops to that country. He isn't calling it a "surge" but that's what it is. He is applying in Afghanistan the counterinsurgency strategy Mr. Bush used in Iraq. As a candidate, Mr. Obama promised to end the Iraq war by withdrawing all troops by March 2009. As president, he set a slower pace of drawdown. He has also said he will leave as many as 50,000 Americans troops there. These reversals are both praiseworthy and evidence that, when it comes to national security, being briefed on terror threats as president is a lot different than placating MoveOn.org and Code Pink activists as a candidate. The realities of governing trump the realities of campaigning. We are also seeing Mr. Obama reverse himself on the domestic front, but this time in a manner that will do more harm than good. Mr. Obama campaigned on "responsible fiscal policies," arguing in a speech on the Senate floor in 2006 that the "rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy." In his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, he pledged to "go through the federal budget line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work." Even now, he says he'll "cut the deficit . . . by half by the end of his first term in office" and is "rooting out waste and abuse" in the budget. However, Mr. Obama's fiscally conservative words are betrayed by his liberal actions. He offers an orgy of spending and a bacchanal of debt. His budget plans a 25% increase in the federal government's share of the GDP, a doubling of the national debt in five years, and a near tripling of it in 10 years. On health care, Mr. Obama's election ads decried "government-run health care" as "extreme," saying it would lead to "higher costs." Now he is promoting a plan that would result in a de facto government-run health-care system. Even the Washington Post questions it, saying, "It is difficult to imagine . . . benefits from a government-run system." Making adjustments in office is one thing. Constantly governing in direct opposition to what you said as a candidate is something else. Mr. Obama's flip-flops on national security have been wise; on the domestic front, they have been harmful. In both cases, though, we have learned something about Mr. Obama. What animated him during the campaign is what historian Forrest McDonald once called "the projection of appealing images." All politicians want to project an appealing image. What Mr. McDonald warned against is focusing on this so much that an appealing image "becomes a self-sustaining end unto itself." Such an approach can work in a campaign, as Mr. Obama discovered. But it can also complicate life once elected, as he is finding out. Mr. Obama's appealing campaign images turned out to have been fleeting. He ran hard to the left on national security to win the nomination, only to discover the campaign commitments he made were shallow and at odds with America's security interests. Mr. Obama ran hard to the center on economic issues to win the general election. He has since discovered his campaign commitments were obstacles to ramming through the most ideologically liberal economic agenda since the Great Society. Mr. Obama either had very little grasp of what governing would involve or, if he did, he used words meant to mislead the public. Neither option is particularly encouraging. America now has a president quite different from the person who advertised himself for the job last year. Over time, those things can catch up to a politician. - Karl Rove in the Wall Street Journal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Good Lord man give it a rest already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mick Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Go here http://www.usmessageboard.com/politics/ Or here http://www.usmessageboard.com/religion-and-ethics/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AXE® Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Neo. You need a 12 step program. I realize I'm a hick, but I too have access to the media. With love. The yellow line guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killyridols Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Be grateful Gordon Brown ain't your leader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichCI Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 I too have access to the media. +1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted May 21, 2009 Author Share Posted May 21, 2009 Neo. You need a 12 step program. I realize I'm a hick' date=' but I too have access to the media. With love. The yellow line guy.[/quote'] Yeah Axe, I understand you're on top of your game. I'm posting this as a service to those poor souls who have access to only the most Liberal and Defeatocrat information. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoConMan Posted May 21, 2009 Author Share Posted May 21, 2009 How about less of the political stuff their Neo? I'd sooner give up oxygen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homz Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 I'd sooner give up oxygen. You could try that giving up oxygen thing. 5 min. to brain damage. You wont even notice that. 6 to 10 min. to taps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bscott Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Neo CONMAN. Tiresome and becoming increasingly irrelevant - my bad spelling not withstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 I like you Neo, really I do. But sometimes paste, after paste, after paste, after paste, after paste, after paste, after paste... well you get the idea. It just gets old. I'm serious when I beseech thee to please just give it a rest for a bit. Everyone here knows your stance. Just take a breath and give us all a chance to chill a bit after the recent dust ups. Not everything has to be a challenge or a conquest. I ask this with the utmost sincerity. I would never attempt to censor you so please don't misunderstand. Frankly I don't think anyone could anyway. But for the sake of keeping the lounge I ask nicely to please give it some time. I have asked as nice as I know how. Now it's up to you. Do as you will. If there are those that disagree, so be it. But this is how I feel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bol316 Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 I like you Neo' date=' really I do. But sometimes paste, after paste, after paste, after paste, after paste, after paste, after paste... well you get the idea. It just gets old. I'm serious when I beseech thee to please just give it a rest for a bit. Everyone here knows your stance. Just take a breath and give us all a chance to chill a bit after the recent dust ups. Not everything has to be a challenge or a conquest. I ask this with the utmost sincerity. I would never attempt to censor you so please don't misunderstand. Frankly I don't think anyone could anyway. But for the sake of keeping the lounge I ask nicely to please give it some time. I have asked as nice as I know how. Now it's up to you. Do as you will. If there are those that disagree, so be it. But this is how [b']I [/b]feel. When you know it all it's hard to stop telling people. Any questions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 While Neo was the person I addressed, please understand that this request goes for everyone who feels the need to copy and paste political news story after political news story. It really is not my intention to call Neo out in a singular fashion. Lord know he is only one of many. He just happened in my mind, to be the most prolific. So let's not stir the pot by calling him a know-it-all. I really petitioned hard for the creation of this forum, I just don't want to lose it over what I consider a petty reason. I have been here long enough to consider everyone here family. I don't want to lose any family members, or our home. As corny as it sounds, all of us make up this dysfunctional family. Even Neo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieman15061 Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Neo CONMAN. Tiresome and becoming increasingly irrelevant - my bad spelling not withstanding. That's B.S. cott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSG_Standard Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 That's B.S. cott. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLiveSoundGuy Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 While Neo was the person I addressed, please understand that this request goes for everyone who feels the need to copy and paste political news story after political news story. It really is not my intention to call Neo out in a singular fashion. Lord know he is only one of many. He just happened in my mind, to be the most prolific. So let's not stir the pot by calling him a know-it-all. I really petitioned hard for the creation of this forum, I just don't want to lose it over what I consider a petty reason. I have been here long enough to consider everyone here family. I don't want to lose any family members, or our home. As corny as it sounds, all of us make up this dysfunctional family. Even Neo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bscott Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 lol HoHum. Most people gave up that when they turned 11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 Reminds me of a dog I once had that chased cars. He caught one one time. Then... got the weirdest look on his face, as if to say, "Now that I caught this thing... what do I do with it?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSG_Standard Posted May 21, 2009 Share Posted May 21, 2009 HoHum. Most people gave up that when they turned 11. I'll be 13 next year! Are you saying I'm slow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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