Thinkin’bout Stuff

It is so refreshing to see Barack Obama’s new approach to Afghanistan, from the Boston Herald 1/26:

Karzai’s latest criticism follows a Saturday raid in Laghman province that the United States says killed 15 armed militants, including a woman with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, but that Afghan officials say killed civilians.

Two women and three children were among the 16 dead civilians, Karzai said in a statement.

In Laghman’s capital, hundreds of angry demonstrators denounced the U.S. military yesterday and demanded an end to overnight raids.

Obama lied, children died… has a familiar ring to it…

Not to worry, help is on it’s way, from the LA Times 1/25:

Saying that the Obama administration has inherited a ‘real mess,’ the vice president predicts ‘an uptick’ in casualties as more troops are deployed in Afghanistan in a stepped-up campaign.

Ah yes, any “uptick” in casualties due to Obama policies are not his fault… no, no, no… silly… anything bad between now and 2012 is all on George Bush.   Only good things will be recorded next to the name of the one, the only Baaaraaaaacccckkkk OOOOOobaaaaaammmmaaaa!

Side note… I actually saw, about a week before the inauguration, at an official “president elect” event, Barack Obama being introduced like he was a boxer entering the ring….

Obama has pledged to deploy additional troops in Afghanistan in an Iraq-like “surge” designed to impose security in cities and towns that have essentially gone lawless. The increase — at least 20,000 this year — will significantly bolster the existing force of 32,000. But it will be far smaller than the roughly 140,000 serving in Iraq and only a fraction of what experts say would be needed to dominate the region.

Interesting.  Obama opposes a surge in Iraq, which proved to be the right approach, then he proposes a surge in Afghanistan that military experts agree is a risky approach at best for that region.

Employing this risky tactic in Afghanistan will, as Joe Biden has warned us, lead to an “uptick” in casualties, but that will all be on Bush, even though the decision to send these troops into the region is Obama’s alone.

Sorry… that don’t cut it.  You send Americans into harms way, you carry that burden on your shoulders.

From the day he took over as president, any result, good or bad, of any decision he makes… he owns.  The economy is bad… if it gets better, three cheers for Obama; if it gets worse, that’s on him.

We can not afford to allow our leaders to hide behind their predecessors… we hired him to do a job, not tell us how hard it is.

You can’t handle that?  Don’t run for president.