Remember When Lofty Rhetoric Was All Obama Had?
Peggy Noonan says it’s past time for President Obama to sit down, address the nation, and tell us what the hell we’re doing in Libya:
I cannot for the life of me see how an American president can launch a serious military action without a full and formal national address in which he explains to the American people why he is doing what he is doing, why it is right, and why it is very much in the national interest. He referred to his aims in parts of speeches and appearances when he was in South America, but now he’s home. More is needed, more is warranted, and more is deserved. He has to sit at that big desk and explain his thinking, put forward the facts as he sees them, and try to garner public support. He has to make a case for his own actions. It’s what presidents do! And this is particularly important now, because there are reasons to fear the current involvement will either escalate and produce a lengthy conflict or collapse and produce humiliation.
Here’s the thing, Peggy. Obama has now waited so long, and spent so much of the intervening time traveling and doing other things, that the American public has pretty much made up its mind about Libya. We’re pretty sure that “the current involvement will either escalate and produce a lengthy conflict or collapse and produce humiliation.” Exactly, yes.
We’re pretty sure because the President didn’t sit us down beforehand and tell us what we were in for. Instead, we saw on TV and read on the innerwebs that our war aims are confused, our war means are too little, and our allies are disappearing. We saw that China and Russia were kind enough not to use their UN veto, but cruel enough to turn and snarl once the shooting began. In other words, they helped dress up that tar baby real nice. We watched our President get snookered — again — while talking up green jobs in Brazil.
So maybe President Obama will sit down behind the desk and in front of the cameras and give us the little talk he should have given us two weeks ago. But what good will it do? He didn’t lead us to this place; he kind of wandered in and around and now is looking to wander back out. We get that already. A speech now won’t bring the soft gauze of the Libyan War into any sharper focus — not even if it’s written by Peggy Noonan.
The general assumption abroad is that he waited so long so he wouldn’t have to ask Congress for approval. (Wasn’t it on recess when he finally announced it, or something?)
Now, that makes no sense as he’d probably have gotten permission if he asked, but it’s not reassuring that no one seems to know what’s going on. Even the thought that Iraq was a “war for oil” was reassuring, because it at least implied that the Americans were fighting like wildcats for their own self interest. Hell, it implied that America knew what its interests were.
This is just…confusing.
“Why can’t I just eat my waffle?”
- Candidate Obama in 2008, President Obama in 2011
That’s Operation Why Can’t I Just Eat My Waffle.
FTW!
Isn’t it Operation Odyssey Waffle at Dawn?
As opposed to “Odyssey Waffle All the Live Long Day”?
Lisette, “Sorry, but you’re wrong.” There’s no verbiage anywhere in the Constitution or the War Powers Act that allows the President to act unilaterally after “a certain amount of time.” And Congress is definitely in session.
As for things not making sense, welcome to ObamaLand. Remember, he’s the guy you Europeans wanted.
This is not the first time that Europeans have made a bad decision. Don’t look at Instapundit, or he’ll call you a “rube” (roughly, “an ignorant peasant, easily fooled.”)
Had he involved Congress, he might have had to have thought up something coherent to say about it. Not only is this boob the worst president I’ve ever seen or heard of, he’s got to be the fucking dumbest. Has there been anything more incoherent in foreign policy ever?
I can’t for the life of me see how a columnist could be so willfully blind to what The Whine is during the election and now has the temerity to criticize him. Peggy, before you want us to read you again, apologize for foisting an incompetent anti-American jackass off on us as president.
I’m not even upset over the Libya “kinetic military action,” what ticks me off is that you thought that someone with such a thin political record and no executive experience would be a better president than a hard working governor would make as vice president. Was it all because he has a certificate from Harvard?
The Harvard certificate of authenticity was just icing on the cake that his handlers promoted. How he managed to snare all those independent voters really baffles me altho’ John McCain was no choice at all? It was painful to watch those debates.
The thought occured to me this morning: what if the Libyan action is just a back door to import thousands of Libyan immigrants that are going to be flooding into Europe?
I’m not really going to fault The Whine for not going for a no fly zone earlier. It did look like Gaddafi was going to collapse, so why bother about it. Plus we do kind of have our hands busy. Not to mention we didn’t have an aircraft carrier in the Med. I will fault him for not ordering an aircraft carrier task for there when it was simply Tunisia & Egypt in flames. Plus the speed with which we implemented it once we got the UN resolution tells me they were planning this for a while.
What really puzzles me is why France so quickly embraced the rebels. We don’t know much about them.
And you can’t have a stated US policy that Gaddafi must go, and have him remain. Once you use the word “policy” you either give him an incentive to flee (as much money as you can carry, plus we won’t pursue you for crimes) or you take him out by bombing and killing him. Dear Liar may think he’s taking America down a notch or two, but really all he’s done here is take himself down a few notches.
Oh, and I’m not sure Europe wants anymore violent Muslims. And bringing them to the US isn’t going to work either. If they lose, do they go to Egypt? I doubt Egypt wants them, so would the Egyptian army take on Gaddafi’s forces?
I disagree with Peggy. Laying out the reasons and desired outcomes is futile. This was well established when Bush engaged Iraq. People ignored him, invented their own reasons and claimed he lied. Obama took advantage of this himself. He knows better than to waste his time with the public and the media on this.
What Peggy doesn’t get is that the US is, and should be, about the lowest priority of his Target audiences. His priority should be being coherent for Libya.
Look out, our Br’er Rabbit wrote “tar baby.” I know, Sarah Palin made him do it, but that won’t stop a Justice Dept. investigation.