June 27, 2008
We Must Still be Losing
Tell the Democrats we're running out of people to which we can surrender.
Abu Khalaf (a pseudonym) was the top al Qaeda leader in Mosul, al Qaeda's last reputed stronghold in Iraq, until American soldiers shot him full of holes. Further south, al Sadr's Madhi Army may be falling apart, with perhaps as few as 150 military members.
So, will someone please bring me up to speed on Barack Obama's position this hour? Is he still insisting that it is 2006 in Iraq, that the situation is untenable, and that the best thing we can do is withdraw all our forces in an expensive, resource-abandoning retreat that many experts suspect could trigger a regional war that makes today's gas prices look like a bargain and trigger a worldwide depression?
I ask, because it's rather difficult to keep up with his positions these days as he continues to throw his principles, campaign promises, friends, mentors, and supporters under the proverbial bus to bow at the alter of political expediency.
I kid, of course.
I don't seriously think Obama will change his position on Iraq being lost, as that is the only viable issue of his campaign once you eliminate his Carteresque economic schemes, head-in-the-sand energy policy, his Clintonian heathcare plan, and his beautifully empty platitudes. What he and his allies will try to do is attempt to redefine losing and winning, and try to cast obvious developing successes as defeats. If he can't successfully redefine success into failure, Barack Obama is finished as a viable candidate.
Update: Dr. Krauthammer is equally unimpressed with Obama's constantly shifting positions, and the media's unwillingness to challenge him.
It's an odd relationship Obama has with journalists. He treats them with the arrogant disdain of last night's 2:00 AM hookup, and still they pine over him, happily used, as they're shown the door.
'...it's rather difficult to keep up with his positions these days as he continues to throw his principles, campaign promises, friends, mentors, and supporters under the proverbial bus to bow at the alter of political expediency.'
Please would you stop talking about your fearless leader GWB, IN THIS TONE!
Give him time .. Obama will Hope and Change
Posted by: Neo at June 27, 2008 10:05 AMInterestingly enough, I accepted the invitation to take a phone survey that had to be taken by a Democratic challenger to my district's House incumbent (Ohio-Jean Schmidt).
What I couldn't get over was the incredible slant that the responses took when it came to Iraq. The one that has stayed with me was, when asked about what the representative's priorities should be, one of the choices I was given was "to clean up the mess in Iraq."
It wasn't the only question with alternatives phrased in the same or a similar fashion. Come hell or high water, some or all of these Democrats are intent on running on losing the Iraq war.
The Democrats got a script in 2006 for Iraq and a script for energy in 1980--and they ain't letting go of either. And I say have at it. Quibble all you want with McCain, but if we can just get through 2008, I think Republicans/conservatives have a lot of good young people in the pipeline.
With the Democratic Congress enacting a lending-industry bailout that suffers from extraordinary conflicts of interest involving Senator Dodd, I can possibly see where the Democrats lose the presidential election and also blow their chance at big victories in down-ticket races. It's kind of like watching the Keystone Kops run for election. Are they really THIS stupid?
Posted by: SAM at June 27, 2008 10:39 AMActually, BrotherBoneHead, GWB's main problem is that he stays loyal to people long _after_ he should have tossed them under a steamroller.
Posted by: SSG Jeff (USAR) at June 27, 2008 11:09 AMThe Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 06/27/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
Posted by: David M at June 27, 2008 11:54 AM"It's an odd relationship Obama has with journalists. He treats them with the arrogant disdain of last night's 2:00 AM hookup, and still they pine over him, happily used, as they're shown the door."
And this surprises you? Experience will teach you that insecurity trumps all, and they'll keep coming back for more, be it journalists or a significant portion of women.
John
Posted by: Sgt. York at June 27, 2008 12:23 PMI'm gonna miss W. He really is the opposite of Obama - he was smart enough to go to Yale and Harvard and learn as little as possible there.
The deep problems with Yale and Harvard are evidenced both by the tone and content of this article:
http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su08/elite-deresiewicz.html
I think you'll find that there's a deep sense that certain people think their very being graces the world.
W. actually is aware that power means responsibility, that it isn't a game to keep getting more power or make people feel like you're doing a good job all the time. Power isn't an entitlement.
So yeah, we're winning in Iraq, and there should be credit given, esp. given how "militaristic" our President is depicted as. If you're gonna blame him for everything that goes wrong, then he has to be given credit for what goes right, esp. when things he's indirectly responsible for are used to blame him.
I have a serious problem voting for Senator Obama, because I have doubts about his maturity simply. He looks to me like someone that really believes politics is about being the most popular kid in school. He doesn't seem aware that the second you get the job, the Executive Branch controls you for the most part, not the other way around.
Note to self: there was a President who did know how to be prudent, but good luck getting the Right in this libertarian age where we believe slaves can be freed without a shot fired to accept the full consequences of serious leadership.
The problem is us, the media only tells us what we want to hear. We created the environment where Senator Obama can thrive, we created the environment where President Bush is put down for any exercise of power. Until we change, we're not going to hear the truth fully. We can't even accept we're winning a war, or that terrorism is bad. Elite education isn't just the crafting of a class; it's a statement of what we feel is best in life.
Posted by: ashok at June 27, 2008 02:41 PM
