”Each of you, for himself, by himself and on his own responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press, government, or the empty catchphrases of politicians….”
Mark Twain
The Obama agenda – ill fortune headed our way?
I have copied and posted a partial text of following article written by columnist Frank Gaffney in today’s Washington Times; a great read in providing one more window into the thinking of Barack Obama; less an enigma than we previously had imagined. (The entire article may be read be following the link below.)
A battle of enormous portent is about to begin on Capitol Hill. One thing is certain: When the fight to fulfill President Obama’s oft-repeated commitment to repeal what he misleadingly persists in calling “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT) is over, either Mr. Obama’s presidency or the U.S. armed forces will be mortally damaged.
This fight begins against the backdrop of mounting public awareness of, and anxiety about, Mr. Obama’s inadequacy as commander in chief. Consider several illustrative grounds for such concerns:
• Team Obama is severely reducing the power-projection capabilities of the United States with program cuts and a just-announced change in strategy that will embolden America’s enemies and compound the distress felt by its allies about our growing unreliability. Banking on Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates’ Republican credentials and relatively robust reputation, the Obama Pentagon has formally abandoned the nominal planning guidance to size and equip the force to fight and win major conventional wars (originally two simultaneous ones, subsequently two nearly simultaneous ones, then 1 1/2 of them).
Instead, the new direction seems to be: Don’t worry about or prepare for any major wars. From now on, Team Obama thinks the U.S. military needs to be able to manage only “overseas contingency operations” along the lines of today’s counterinsurgency campaigns. Bad timing: China is responding to what it perceives to be our declining power by becoming ever more well-armed, assertive and contemptuous – a formula for serious and possibly major” conflict ahead.
• Then there is the problem of Mr. Obama’s protracted dithering about Afghanistan, which produced transparently half-hearted efforts to prevail there and now the prospect of a negotiated surrender of the place to the Taliban. Throw in growing evidence that our devil-take-the-hindmost abandonment of Iraq is translating into that country becoming little more than an Iranian puppet state, and the feeling is palpable: Confidence in presidential leadership is declining, among both the troops and those who truly support them.
• Finally, the public has been horrified by the succession of debacles on the home front as Obama’s team of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair and Homeland Security Adviser John Brennan seem ever more inept, if not actually mal- feasant. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/02/obama-versus-the-all-volunteer-military/?feat=home_headlines
Again we need ask how much longer do we have to suffer this fool? Just my opinion.
William McCullough
