Barack the Warrior
*********************************************************************
Candidate Obama the dove is thankfully not President Obama the realist
*********************************************************************
It’s difficult to recall now but a mere 4 years ago the war on terror was an issue that the citizenry gave thought to, albeit well behind the financial and economic collapse. During the 2008 presidential campaign, candidate Obama was an unabashed dove and critic of virtually everything the Bush administration did regarding the war on terror.
That was then.
In the 4 years since Mr. Obama has occupied the oval office, he has been (rightfully) brutal in liquidating terrorists, predominantly through drone strikes. Last week was yet another example in which Pakistani militant Mullah Nazir was killed by a drone strike. Many other Taliban and Al Queda leaders and operatives have been cashiered in such manner from the Arabian peninsula to Pakistan thanks to Mr. Obama’s firm grasp of the reality that people sworn to the destruction of the west generally, and the U.S. in specific, are best ushered out of this world and into the next one, post haste. The crown jewel of Mr. Obama’s terror war has been the killing of Osama bin Laden, which he deserves full credit for taking the chance despite that the operation could have gone badly, especially as it was on Pakistan soil.
President Obama the hawk beats candidate Obama the dove
______________________________________________________
Good arguments can be made that a better course of action would be to apprehend terrorists whenever reasonably possible for the purpose of information-gathering and it’s not a stretch to think that, ironically, the liberal Mr. Obama is more comfortable with a dead terrorist than having to figure out where to imprison a live one, especially given Liberals’ dyspepsia over Guantanamo. But the next best thing to a live terrorist in our possession is a dead one.
And the President’s war strategy of neutralization does not stop on the battlefield.
Realizing and accepting that this is not your conventional war fought just with guns, the president signed a bill last week that renewed the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that were due to expire at the end of 2012, with no substantive changes to a law that had Liberals howling was a slippery slope into George Orwell’s 1984. It preserves one of the country’s most important post-9/11 anti-terror tools: wiretapping
With all the wailing about broken government and a lack of bi-partisanship, it can’t be missed that the House passed the five-year extension that the White House desired, 301 to 118 and the Senate approved it 73-23 before Mr. Obama signed it with no fanfare at all.
Perhaps it’s easier to pass this kind of legislation when the public is ostensibly focused on economic issues (despite re-electing the president). But a better read is now that we are 4 years displaced from the anti-Bush fever swamps, politicians are beginning to look at this very serious matter and realize it requires the urgency and approach that the Bush administration gave it. No longer having Dick Cheney to carry the spear on this matter also puts the onus on congress to act like grown-ups.
For anyone who doubts Mr. Obama’s hawkish views, last week President Obama also signed a defense-policy bill into law, The National Defense Authorization Act, which amongst other things keeps Guantanamo Bay open. This caused a predictable response by human-rights advocates that he was breaking a promise to close the terrorist-detention system set up by his predecessor, George W. Bush. (Note to such advocates: find candidate Obama to convince as President Obama is a realist)
All of this shows that while Mr. Obama, not unlike presidential candidates of all stripes, will say whatever it takes on the campaign trail to win an election, he will do whatever necessary to protect the country even if he steps on Liberals’ toes.
-I.M. Windee
