Obama Rescued From a Nonexistent Meme « The Washington Independent
Jul 31, 202053.1K Shares1.4M Views
Michael Shear of The Washington Post assesses that the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips from the Somali pirates — a commenter points to this apt cartoonabout the discrepancy between the pirates’ aims and the way they’ve been treated as a joke — is an “early victory that could help build confidence in his ability to direct military actions abroad.” That seems to be the early conventional wisdom. But what’s its utility? Shear:
“„Nonetheless, it may help to quell criticism leveled at Obama that he came to office as a Democratic antiwar candidate who could prove unwilling or unable to harness military might when necessary.
And that’s a meme that just … doesn’t exist beyond some of the more fevered conservative imaginations. And not even that manyfevered conservative imaginations!
Since President Obama came to office, he announced the deployment of 17,000 new troops to Afghanistan; expanded the scope of U.S. strategy in that war to include Pakistan; and then announced an expansive recommitment to both countries. His CIA director unequivocally announced, in public, that drone strikes are going to continue in Pakistan. He’s winding down the Iraq war in a way that has the support from the commanding general. Obama is, accordingly, being accused by some of being a warmonger.
(And let’s not forget that Obama chose the riskyoption of parachuting the SEAL team into the theater and having them work their ninja skills on the pirates to rescue Phillips. That suggests someone with not just a comfort level with using force, but an ability to distinguish between wise and unwise applications of it.)
It’s a stale trope of the media that a president who opposed the Iraq war is a rigid antiwar ideologue, but one unlikely to die from lack of evidence. “I don’t oppose to all wars,” Obama famously tolda 2002 rally against invading Iraq. “What I am opposed to is a dumb war.” Fancy that.
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Paula M. Graham
Reviewer
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