Fighting the Wrong War

His stumbling run to the center leaves the Democratic presidential candidate increasingly playing the fool and forced to explain his positional anxieties. His comments on gun control which first embraced the Washington DC disarmament of citizens and his votes condemning home owners who successfully defended themselves in Illinois when he was in that legislature now have to fit into his new embrace of the Second Amendment while still weasel-wording gun control rhetoric into the mix. It’s embarrassing.

The Inartful Consistency of Barack

His unbridled pacifism and enthusiastic embrace of the possibility of defeat for our nation in Iraq doesn’t seem to play well against John McCain’s clear record of military service and his very consistent support of the war effort. When McCain courageously bucked the tide of withdrawal advocacy by vigorous support of the surge effort of the last year, Obama repeatedly vowed to end the war immediately upon taking office and bring the troops home in defeat.

The surge is showing great results and Sen. Obama now needs to find a position that balances a constituency of cowards against some sort of demand for American foreign policy that defeats terrorism and global jihad. Not an easy act even for the most adroit contortionist of the language.

The Fear of Victory, The Agony of Repeat

So, by preying upon the geographic and historic ignorance of the American electorate, Barack now grabs the concept of Iraq being the wrong war and Afghanistan the right one. Yes, that’s the ticket. Pull our forces out of Iraq and their launch-pad for response to Iranian adventurism, and throw them into the mountains of stone-age Afghanistan.

Can somebody get the Senator a map? Show him, please where Iraq and the other place are. Get an overlay which shows the oil deposits. Fire up a few Excel graphs that show production of oil from the region as well as the trade routes and economic assets of the neighboring emirates. Be sure to highlight the loyal, stable, powerful ally of ours, Israel. Point out the location of NATO allies as well. Run some video highlights in the presentation of Ahmadinejad speeches, nuclear ambitions, and military blustering. Add some excerpts from Gen. Petraeus’ briefing to Congress on the successes of the surge.

Now, show him Afghanistan. Pop up some PowerPoints of their domestic product—remind him that their major export is illegal, even in Washington DC. No opium for the folks in the ‘Hood. Try a food-for-thought question, like what would happen if we never went to Afghanistan again? Finally get some news footage of the Soviet Union effort at a full-blown pacification of the country back in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. Run it side-by-side with our Vietnam experience on the ground in an unconventional war.

When it’s all over, maybe the fool will have a clue about the relevance of the two places. That’s just in case God decides to screw us over this November and Obama becomes our President.