Democrats are praying that very few people watched Obama\u2019s speech from the Oval Office.\u00a0 This speech was not merely bad, it was world class bad.\u00a0 Obama looked like an undertaker reading a eulogy for someone he despised.\u00a0 The speech started out bad, and then got worse.\u00a0 At every step it was flat and boring.\u00a0\u00a0 He literally sat there staring at his TelePrompter, with his hands folded and a blank stare on his face.\u00a0 I have no idea why he thought he needed to do this.\u00a0 The only time he showed anything resembling enthusiasm was when he was blaming Bush.<\/p>\n
\u00a0He started out by describing this as a historic milestone.\u00a0 No victory.\u00a0 No achievement.\u00a0\u00a0Not even any goals.\u00a0 The closest speech to this was when Ford took over for Nixon and said our long national nightmare was over.\u00a0 But, Obama didn\u2019t say that the Iraq war is over, he just said we were dumping the problem on Iraq and while we might continue to help a little, very little, we are out of there.<\/p>\n
\u00a0He started by blaming everything on Bush and basically reminding us that he thought the whole war was a huge waste.\u00a0 Then he explained why he thought George Bush was wrong about everything, but Obama had to admit Bush probably was just as much of a patriot as Obama.\u00a0 Some people\u00a0misinterpreted this as an act of class.\u00a0 It was pathetic.\u00a0 I am sure Bush would have prefered being ignored.\u00a0 Please!<\/p>\n
\u00a0It is clear that the primary goal of this speech was to avoid any potential for giving Bush credit for anything.\u00a0 Sometimes this resulted in statements that, upon reflection, are bizarre.<\/p>\n
\u00a0For example:<\/p>\n
\u00a0They (American troops) defeated a regime that had terrorized its people.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Apparently the unnecessary war \u201caccidentally\u201d removed Saddam from power?\u00a0 Hmmm!\u00a0 Bush gets no credit for defeating Saddam; it was apparently an accidental byproduct of a failed policy.<\/p>\n \u00a0Together with our coalition partners, who made huge sacrifices of their own, our troops fought block by block to help Iraq seize the chance for a better future.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>For years Democrat\u2019s have complained that Iraq was the war where the U.S. went alone with absolutely no support from anyone.\u00a0 Who were these strange people who made huge sacrifices of their own?\u00a0 This actually shows that one of the big Democratic arguments against the war is and was a lie.\u00a0 Obama is right; there were many countries that stood side by side with us at great cost, because they believed in our cause.\u00a0 Its too bad Democrats only recognize this after over 6 \u00bd years of sacrifice.\u00a0 Also too bad that Obama seems equally willing to toss them under the bus along with the people in Iraq.<\/p>\n \u00a0Then he is careful to give all the credit to the troops and ignoring the man who made it possible:<\/p>\n They (American Troops) shifted tactics to protect the Iraqi people, trained Iraqi Security Forces and took out terrorist leaders<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0There was no \u201cthey,\u201d there was only George Bush.\u00a0 A President who refused to bow to political pressure from people like Barack Obama who were confident this change in tactics could not work.\u00a0\u00a0Barack Obama kept telling people the surge couldn\u2019t possibly work even after it was abundantly clear that it had worked.\u00a0 Apparently Obama thinks that our troops got together in a huddle and just decided on their own to shift tactics.\u00a0 Amazing!<\/p>\n Then Obama pretended that he had developed the plan to withdraw our troops.\u00a0 That is absurd.\u00a0 The plan to withdraw our troops was developed by George Bush and there was a signed agreement with the Iraqi Government before Obama even took office.\u00a0 The only difference was that Bush refused to set an inflexible arbitrary deadline since he knew that would be very harmful for our troops.\u00a0 Something like giving sustenance to our enemies.<\/p>\n \u00a0Then Obama flat out lied, but of course we are used to that:<\/p>\n \u00a0Even as Iraq continues to suffer terrorist attacks, security incidents have been near the lowest on record since the war began.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>The opposite is true.\u00a0 Violence has surged since our troops started to withdraw and the following article from CBS describes the situation as chaos:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0http:\/\/www.keyc.com\/node\/41105<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0The author, Joel Brown, CBS New, The White House ends with the following:<\/p>\n \u00a0Iraqis officials are hoping the violence is just a temporary spike . They say they’re confident the nation’s 650,000 security forces will eventually regain control.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Either Obama was too busy golfing on Martha\u2019s Vineyard to notice what is happening in Iraq, or he just decided to lie about it.<\/p>\n At this point, it is important to understand what Bush got right and what he got wrong in Iraq.\u00a0\u00a0 The campaign to remove Saddam Hussein was brilliant.\u00a0 All of the military experts, like Wesley Clark, were predicting a long bloody conflict.\u00a0 Instead the U.S. moved with lightening speed and threw Saddam out of power with record low casualties.\u00a0 This Bush made a major mistake.\u00a0 He listened to Democrats.\u00a0 People like Hillary Clinton and John Kerry were telling him he needed to win the hearts and minds of the people.\u00a0 They were recommending that the U.S. military keep a low profile and instead we should invest billions in building infrastructure, avoid combat and invest primarily in training the Iraqi police and military.\u00a0 We were also going to send in civilians to show how nice we can be.\u00a0 It was a disaster, because al Qaeda just moved in full force and launched wide scale terrorist attacks against civilians and literally set off a civil war by blowing up a mosque.\u00a0 Civilians soon learned that Iraq was death zone.\u00a0 Al Qaeda didn\u2019t view them as anything other than easy targets.\u00a0 Iraq descended into near chaos.<\/p>\n Democrats were calling for us to just quit without regard to consequences.\u00a0 But then Bush did something remarkable.\u00a0 He refused to quit because he said that to quit would be to throw away the sacrifices of those who had fought there.\u00a0 On numerous occasions he said he could not let those people die in vain.\u00a0 Even the Joint Chiefs of Staff thought the situation was hopeless, so Bush keep searching until he found a General who thought he could win.\u00a0 General Petraeus said we needed to reverse course.\u00a0 He said we could not win the hearts and minds of the people until they felt secure.\u00a0 He said we needed to send in more troops, relax the rules of engagement and take on al Qaeda and the insurgents.\u00a0\u00a0 Bush, in defiance of almost everyone with the possible exception of John McCain said he ordered the surge because he could not and would not settle for less than victory.\u00a0 That is what a real President does.<\/p>\n \u00a0Here is Obama\u2019s \u201cnew\u201d plan:<\/p>\n \u00a0As our military draws down, our dedicated civilians, aid workers and advisors are moving into the lead to support Iraq as it strengthens its government, resolves political disputes, resettles those displaced by war, and builds ties with the region and the world.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>He is going to adopt the original Bush plan, that was a complete failure.\u00a0 Perhaps it will work this time.\u00a0 Perhaps our military has bought enough time so that Iraq can exert self control\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps\u00a0al Qaeda will avoid killing our civilians.\u00a0 Perhaps aid workers won\u2019t mind getting blown to pieces for the greater good, but somehow I doubt it.\u00a0 But this time there is a big difference.\u00a0 This time al Qaeda knows that Barack won’t fight back.\u00a0 Unfortunately, that may be a fatal difference.\u00a0 I sincerely hope that Iraq will be ready, willing and able to stand up to al Qaeda.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Obama, who ignored giving credit to Bush for the surge in Iraq, announces that he is going to win the war in Afghanistan by ordering a surge similar to the one that worked in Iraq.\u00a0 I wonder if anyone in the main stream media will notice that this is the height of inconsistency.<\/p>\n Finally, Obama goes completely over the top.\u00a0 His speech is so bizarre it borders on delusion.\u00a0 He says:<\/p>\n One of the lessons of our effort in Iraq is that American influence around the world is not a function of military force alone.\u00a0 We must use all elements of our power \u2013 including our diplomacy, our economic strength and the power of America\u2019s example \u2013 to secure our interests and stand by our allies. <\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Really?\u00a0 We tried that approach in Iraq and should have learned the real lesson.\u00a0 The best way to defeat terrorist is to kill them.\u00a0 It was only when we did choose to use our military force effectively that we began to make real progress in Iraq.<\/p>\n \u00a0The following line is delusional:<\/p>\n Today, old adversaries are at peace, and emerging democracies are potential partners. <\/strong><\/p>\n What planet is Obama talking about?\u00a0 What old adversaries are now at peace because\u00a0of anything Obama did since coming into office?\u00a0 Where are those emerging democracies, other than\u00a0Iraq?\u00a0 Liberals keep saying you cannot create democracy with military force.\u00a0 I wonder if any of them have ever heard of Germany or Japan?\u00a0 And where is there democracy today, in South Korea, where we won or South Vietnam where we lost?<\/p>\n \u00a0Finally, Obama had to once again blame all the problems in the world on George Bush:<\/p>\n Unfortunately over the last decade we\u2019ve not done what\u2019s necessary to shore up the foundations of our own prosperity.\u00a0 We spent a trillion dollars at war, often financed by borrowing from overseas.\u00a0 This, in turn, has short-changed investments in our own people, and contributed to record deficits.\u00a0 For too long we have put off tough decision on everything from our manufacturing base to our energy policy to education reform.\u00a0 As a result, too many middle-class families find themselves working harder for less, while our nation\u2019s long-term competitiveness is put at risk.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>With Obama, everything is Bush\u2019s fault.\u00a0 There is never any other option.\u00a0 Just this week the CBO published a report showing that Obama\u2019s failed stimulus plan spent more money in one year than the cost of the entire Iraq war to date.\u00a0 In addition, Bush only increased military spending to 4% of GDP, the percentage many bi-partisan experts feel is appropriate to sustain our military at the appropriate level.\u00a0 Of course Democrats blame our entire deficit on the Bush tax cuts.\u00a0 The same Bush tax cuts that are due to expire this fall, resulting in the largest tax increase on the middle class in history.\u00a0 Now if the Bush tax cuts only impacted the wealthy, why does reversing them result in a big tax increase on the middle class?\u00a0 Democrats couldn\u2019t have been lying about that, could they?\u00a0 Now, of course, even Democrats are talking about extending the Bush tax cuts.\u00a0 I wonder if Obama noticed that?<\/p>\n \u00a0The problem is that although this is pure hog wash,\u00a0Obama believes every word of it.\u00a0 That is why we have no hope of economic recovery as long as he remains in power.\u00a0 He lives in a delusional world none of us can even recognize.\u00a0 I believe the Republicans will win the House and the Senate this fall.\u00a0 However, I doubt they will win a veto proof majority in the Senate.\u00a0 The good news is that it is going to be much harder for Obama to do more damage after November 2.\u00a0 The bad news is that he is likely to remain clueless and delusional and will continue to think he is right regardless of evidence to the contrary.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Democrats are praying that very few people watched Obama\u2019s speech from the Oval Office.\u00a0 This speech was not merely bad, it was world class bad.\u00a0 Obama looked like an undertaker reading a eulogy for someone he despised.\u00a0 The speech started … Continue reading