Obama’s Limited Military Experience

Back in the day when Obama was still hanging out with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers he made the decision that he would be against the war. He made this point clear when he announced his campaign from the Ayers’ home. But it was also clear that it was a political decision. Not just because of the logic of it, but also because Obama asked one of his advisers if the position would damage him politically. You cannot get much clearer than that. Now that he is in charge Obama is still making military decisions based on politics. There were red-flags everywhere during the election cycle that Obama would not make a good Commander in Chief, but most were ignored. Maybe now while we are still waiting on an Afghanistan decision is a good time to review some of these red flags.

Speaking of Afghanistan, one of Obama’s first responsibilities was his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was a subcommittee chairman on this particular committee. Of course he was not given this position because of any kind of expertise, but rather the opposite. They were grooming him to run for President and like all those AP classes I took my senior year, it looks good on the resume. During his time on this committee, they held 3 hearings on Afghanistan. A war Obama said we should have been concentrating on instead of Iraq. Hearing in 2006. Obama did not bother to show up. Hearing in 2007. Obama was there and asked one question, but the question was not even about Afghanistan. Hearing in 2008. Once again Obama did not bother to show up. The best part is my source. None other than Joe Biden. Biden was right in criticizing Obama for this lack of responsibility. The rest of America should have picked up on it as well. Maybe then our Generals on the ground would not be waiting 5 plus weeks for decisions that were supposedly made back in March.

Picking Joe Biden as Vice President should have been another red flag. One, Obama had to pick him because he was so obviously weak when it came to military issues and foreign affairs. Second, Biden is a pathological liar. And third, Biden is not quite the expert he claims to be. Before the election cycle began, Joe Biden said that leaving Iraq in disarray would lead to a more widespread Middle East conflict. He even wrote about it in a book. Then as things got tough he and his new running mate Obama advocated the very thing he himself warned us about. Making decisions based on political popularity is a dangerous proposition, but once again we find ourselves in this position. Obama has not made a decision on Afghanistan because what he has to do is politically unpopular and he does not want to hurt his chances of socializing health care. He is putting American soldiers at risk for politics.

“There were generals at the beginning of the conflict that said this is going to require many more troops, will cost us much more … those generals were pushed aside.”

This statement was made in March of 2008. Boy, does he have a short memory. Less than a year before this statement Obama himself was ignoring these same Generals. General Petreaus had the troop surge strategy and Obama would not listen to him. He refused to believe that such a strategy could possibly work despite the fact that Obama had not been to Iraq to discuss the strategy with the commanders on the ground. Even when Obama had the opportunity to speak with Gen Petreaus here in the states, he chose to try to sharp shoot him publicly instead of discuss why he thought the strategy would or would not work. Obama even went as far as to say that even the officers he talked to did not think it would work. That very well might be the case when talking to the likes of retired Gen Clark , who was fired for judgment and integrity issues, but not with current commanders who are putting soldiers at risk. These men would not knowingly put our sons and daughters in danger with a plan they did not believe would work. The worst part of the whole ordeal was that once it was obvious the surge worked Obama would not admit it. Finally after much pressure Obama purged his campaign website of all his critical statements of the surge and lied on TV about his position. Our Commander in Chief. Not good.

There are other instances of Obama’s policy of politics over substance. A very obvious example was the canceling of a visit to wounded troops in Germany. They did their best to spin it, but I was not born yesterday. (Although I did get carded this weekend at HEB when I bought a bottle of wine) But I like to look at less obvious examples as well. In this pre-election post I looked at answers given during a VFW interview with both McCain and Obama. The answers Obama gave should have been given much more scrutiny than they were. His answers illustrated that he knows too little about the military to be a Commander in Chief. They also illustrated a man that will give the popular answers to get votes despite the adverse affects on our mission.

But all these red flags were not picked up on by the media and now Obama is the Commander in Chief. And now this inexperience is really showing. In March Obama gave his new strategy on Afghanistan. A few weeks ago General McChrystal gave Obama the specifics to implement this plan. Obama knew what was coming. There is nothing more to analyze. He just expected his government takeover of healthcare to be done by now. The longer the healthcare debate carries on, the more excuses we will hear out of the White House. But it does not change the obvious.

Iran prayer guide, Iran30

Day 9 - Pray for Families