3 posts tagged “general”

The White House today undermined the argument that the John McCain Camp has been making that what the Iraqi government was supporting and Senator Obama’s troop withdrawal plan are not the same thing by publically coming out against what the Iraqi government has stated.

This is clearly no longer a “General Time Horizon” in the eyes of the Iraqi government, but is the actual goal they are pushing for.  The fact that an unpopular Whitehouse, is pushing against a timeline to withdraw from an unpopular war, while the government of that country is saying, “thanks, but it is time for you to go,” seems to completely undermine the Republican Parties attempts to help Senator John McCain.

If this had just been left alone by the Whitehouse it might have blown over in a few days, but now with all of the press getting ready to begin discussing how these statements angered the Whitehouse this story is about to begin to monopolize the airwaves. 

This stand by the Whitehouse is also likely to start a war of words with the government of Iraq and do even more to convince them that the Americans need to go soon.

Senator McCain had just mounted an offensive on Senator Obama with repeated talk and adds describing how he does not understand how to work with foreign nations and has been repeatedly wrong about Iraq.  Just as people were beginning to bite on that line, the Whitehouse begins to assault the government of Iraq and bring attention to the fact that the government and Senator Obama seem to agree.

The feeling one gets when hearing the Whitehouse response today is that they knew all along that the government of Iraq felt this way and were in negotiations about it,  but simply wouldn’t tell the American public in support of Senator McCain. 

If that is the case, it looks like the Iraqi government has grown weary of playing American politics the Bush Whitehouse way and has decided to hope on Senator Obama and to even support him publically.

I am not one to agree with all of the negative nonsense that is out there about President Bush and his Whitehouse, but this may leave him looking like the person who ticked off the Iraqi’s (again) and who undermined Senator McCain’s run just as he was gaining momentum.  I suppose it all depends on how far the Whitehouse will go with this media campaign against the Iraqi government.

I have to wonder, if the government of Iraq wants us out in that timeline, much of Capitol Hill wants us out in some kind of timeline, and a decent percent of the American population wants us out in a timeline, if it may not be a good idea to firm up the “General Time Horizon” and leave room to reexamine the state of the country near that time.

I guess if you are too busy trying to play partisan politics and get the person from your party elected, one may not see this as a reasonable option.  But, with all the talk of how well the Surge worked, it seems like the requests of the Iraqi government for us to set a date to leave would not be that far fetched. 

All this talk about how well the Surge has worked has backed the Whitehouse into a corner and may be the boomerang that went up to make Senator John McCain look like the better person on Iraq only to come back in his face when he says setting a timeline is unreasonable.

I mean either it worked or it didn’t.  If it worked, we should not need to be there much longer.  If it didn’t, work all that well, then a timeline is in fact unreasonable and Senator McCain’s assertions will be seen as lies (when they are in fact simply exaggerations).

I am still left with one huge question:  Did the Whitehouse think this through before they made these public statements?  

With this (unpopular) Whitehouse on your side, it must be hard to run for president!

There was that Charles R. Black Jr. person, a key advisor to Senator John McCain who stated  that a terrorist attack during the campaign would strengthen Senator McCain’s presidential bid. 

Then there was that General Wesley Clark person, a supporter of Senator Barack Obama that said “I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.” 

Then the camp of Senator McCain responded by arranging a phone interview with several military officers and Republican Senators to blast these comments and the terrible practice of Swiftboating.  Then the Democrats informed us all that one of those people who was so opposed to the “Swiftboating” and these comments, a certain Air Force Colonel, Bud Day, was one of the people in the original Swiftboat adds that coined the phrase “Swiftboating.”

After that there was a surprise curveball.  Independent Party candidate Ralph Nader informed the world that Senator Obama was “talking white,” and when questioned about it Mr. Nader informed us that he was afraid of sounding like Jessie Jackson.

Next, a Senator Obama supporter named Jessie Jackson, thinking somehow that whispering made him completely silent to the naked ear (even though he was in front of a microphone and cameras), told the entire planed that he wanted to castrate Senator Obama for “talking down to black people.” I guess maybe Mr. Nader and Mr. Jackson are on the same page.

Senator McCain, who for months admitted that the economy was not his strength took it on the chin for comments his top economics adviser, former Sen. Phil Gramm made.  You ready to hear from the guru of McCainonomics.  He said:  America is “"a nation of whiners" that there are no real economic woes or recession we are in a "mental recession."

The icing on the cake for Senator McCain, who finally appears to be overcoming the question of his age, came when female surrogate and possible Vice-presidential pick for Senator McCain, Carly Fiorina went into a public rant about Viagra and birth control funding.  This not only brought up the age question (and jokes) again, but also sent a shock through the conservative right of his party.

When Senator McCain was asked about the Viagra question he covered his face and with his hands but could not cover the incredibly obvious stress this line of questioning caused him.  The Senator was reduced to a mumbling mess.

Then comes the infamous magazine cover from the liberal magazine the New Yorker.  The picture shows Senator Obama dressed in the attire worn by Osama Bin Laden and his wife with a large afro, AK47 assault rifle slung over her shoulder.  The couple is “fist-bumping” in the Oval Office in front of a picture of Osama Bin Laden with a flag burning in the fireplace.   The paper says this picture was satire and was intended to show how ridiculous these accusations are.  The way that it actually looks is more like a clear attempt to attack Senator Obama and an attempt to be rude.

It is as if the candidates are running through a minefield of idiots hoping to survive the explosions of stupidity.  What it is not like is a serious campaign.  I have been forced to ask myself if every person who comes into contact with either of these candidates or who even mentions one of their names suddenly has a fit of stupidity. 

It is a shame that with all of these people around the candidates blurting out so much stupidity we hardly ever get a moment to hear the stupidity of the candidates.

I am going to call this “four ‘S’” sickness short for Supporter Sudden Stupidity Syndrome.  It is a disorder where supporters of the candidates running for president this year, when presented with a microphone or an audience suddenly have this uncontrollable desire to say something so stupid and damaging to the candidate that he or she supports that it will take weeks for the candidate to stop clearing it up and move on to other issues.

Again I say…With supporters like this, who needs enemies?

Swiftboating has been resurrected and again has raised concerns or at least questions.

Senator Barack Obama separated himself from a statement made by retired General Wesley Clark, while Senator John McCain went on the defensive against this comment. General Clark made several statements on the “Face the Nation” show on CBS’, but I must admit that that most memorable comment was “I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president.”  Although, rude, unnecessary, and possibly outright stupid, there is a valid question raised here. 

The real point of the conversation or the real question raised is:  “Does his individual military experience make him any more qualified to be president of an entire country?”

I have to say that in reality the question raised here for me is:  “Does any of the past actions of either of these candidates demonstrate their readiness to be president?”

From what I have seen the only thing that we have established about these candidates is that they may be schizophrenic and are terrible at choosing supporters to work with their campaigns. 

The person who is elected will as part of the job be Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the United States. 

What is there on Senator Barack Obama’s resume that qualifies him for this job?  Absolutely nothing!

On the other hand Senator John McCain at least was a military officer.  I do have a personal problem with his service however. 

He is in my view a great war hero and a better man than most for having lived through what he lived through in Viet Nam.

The problem I have is one of expecting more from the troops than you expected of yourself.  When I was a child (in a family where every man served this country during wartime for several generations) I was told that a good leader is on who does not expect more from his subordinates than he or she expects of him or herself.

When I was in the military I was taught that if captured, I was to kill myself rather than to talk or give in to the enemy.  The whole “Death Before Dishonor” thing!  I was repeatedly fed the fact that I was to remain “always faithful” (Semper Fidelis) to God, country and corps even if it meant killing myself rather that to be dishonored.

The truth is that I am not convinced I could have done this and think few could.  The thing is I was raised to believe in an ideal.  That ideal is the president should be the best of the best particularly in terms of military service.

While a great man, I do not think it fair to demand such service from those that are under you when you could not do it yourself. 

What I am getting at is that I do not believe that either candidate is even close to qualified to command our armed forces, but I do think that Senator McCain is far more qualified as he at least has some experience.

As a side note, I have to add that one of the biggest atrocities that has happened to our men and women in the armed forces was that a man who dodged the draft was allowed to be Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.  This actually was one of the main reasons that I left the military.   Think that president (Bill Clinton) was a slap in the face of all of those who have served and those that have died for our nation.

That all being said I think this is a valid discussion, but the punches needs to remain above the belt.  The candidates themselves are trying to give the appearance that they are above the fray and not participating in such tactics, but their respective camps are not so “above the fray.”

It seems that that role of Commander-in-Chief has been largely neglected over the past several presidencies and for the past several years.  This presidency, far more than most, will need a person of this understanding and that is a motivation to all of those asked to be willing to give their lives to do whatever their country asks of them through the president.  That means even if they do not agree with the battle, war, conflict, police action, or whatever.

P.S.  Just to make all of this a little more odd a group of Republican senators and military officers jumped to Senator McCain’s defense  on a phone call arranged by Senator McCain’s campaign.  This group stated that these statement s were “Complete silliness,” “Beyond comprehension,” “A very indecent thing,” and so on.  I suppose they wanted to make sure that we all know that the Republican Party is completely opposed to Swiftboating. 

The funny thing here is that the Democrats were quick to point out that one of those military officers, retired Air Force Colonel, Bud Day, was actually on the “Swift Boat” add that coined the phrase Swiftboating.  For those that don’t remember, those were the adds that cast doubt on the medals earned by Democratic candidate John Kerry in Viet Nam.  Now one of the people from that add is crying foul saying that these statements are “A very indecent thing”

Again, the McCain campaign has demonstrated that as a campaign, there is terrible problems in picking people to support Senator McCain publically.

I guess you have to love the irony.