Several years ago, while President Bush was still in office, Senator John Kerry made the following statement:
"I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it." - John Kerry, 3/16/04 (while speaking at Marshall University, referring to his voting record on supplemental appropriations for military operations in Iraq).
Kerry's comment brought new meaning to the term "flip-flop." His words came back to haunt him and contributed to Kerry's unraveling during the 2004 presidential election.
Inconsistency, or "flip-flopping," is not a very admirable quality. Yet, President Obama has surpassed John Kerry and has cornered the market on flip-flops.
First Obama vowed to end military tribunals while on the campaign trail. And he did once elected President. Now Obama is bringing military tribunals back.
First the Obama administration insisted there would be no prosecutions of the Bush administration lawyers who did little more than give advice on enhanced interrogation techniques. Then Obama decided to support such prosecutions. Later, he changed his mind.
First Obama promised to change the Bush policy in regards to Iraq. Now Obama's policy is an exact replica of President Bush's.
First Obama was enthusiastic about complying with the wishes of the ACLU to release detainee abuse photos to the public. After a few weeks, he changed his mind. Now he is against the release of such photos.
What can the American people learn about President Obama from his decisions (or lack of decisiveness)? For one thing, Obama is clearly inexperienced. "Amateur Hour" has come to the White House. Obama makes quick decisions based on his leftist ideology, without thoroughly thinking solutions through. Witness how quick Obama was to sign papers instructing Club Gitmo to be shut down. Now the Obama administration finds itself in a quagmire (love that word!). What to do with murderous terrorist prisoners that want to kill Americans? Where should they go? Well, that's the Democrats problem now. The Democrats found it to be much easier during the Bush years to be the party of obstruction and complaints. They are finding it much more difficult to lead and assume responsibility for their actions.
Concerning Obama's latest flip-flop on deciding not to release the photos of detainee abuse, it is easy to conclude that Obama did this more out of personal interest than concerns for national security. Obama didn't want to see his popularity decline, as it surely would, were he to open up the United States military to an even greater threat from terrorists due to the photos. Even though the military experts and other politicians were quick to point out to Obama the dangers of releasing the photos (which a child could probably figure out), it took Obama several weeks to do an about-face. Even after Obama was told over and over that releasing such pictures would further endanger our troops, Obama's knee-jerk reaction was to placate the ACLU.
At least Obama did eventually make the right decision, even if it is self-serving. It is just unfortunate that the American people have a very "green" leader (no offense to all you tree huggers out there). No experience equates to stupidity in many cases. How long a learning curve are the Obama supporters of the United States going to give the President before they say "enough?" Obama's mistakes are very damaging - and dangerous - to our national security. Our own president has succeeded in making our military men and women afraid to do their jobs. Afraid to question terrorist suspects. Many fear prosecutions by U.S. lawyers once they return to America. It is despicable that our own soldiers have to worry about being put on trial by their own country for doing their jobs and protecting American lives! And the President of the United States has set such attitudes in motion.
In addition, President Obama seems hell bent on apologizing to anyone or any country that will listen for all the ills of America. For it's perceived wrongs. Obama likes to wallow in the supposed "badness" of our country, ignoring the greatness. This viewpoint helps to contribute to Obama's poor decision-making process. As we have witnessed several times now, Obama's first instinct in addressing issues and problems always seem to be wrong. Obama's initial decisions always seem to benefit our enemies. Sure, show the detainee pictures! Sure, free the enemy from Club Gitmo! Sure, prosecute lawyers who made recommendations concerning enhanced interrogation techniques! Sure, tell the enemy all about our withdrawal plans from Iraq!
Obama seems to believe that by demonstrating to the world that America is awful, our enemies will forgive us. They will realize how great we are because we are humble. President Obama needs to wake up from his liberal pipe dream. The world doesn't work that way. Our enemies will only see us as weak and vulnerable. And if President Obama continues to provide erratic leadership when America needs a strong, unwavering commander-in-chief, our enemies will be right.


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