As Barack Obama wrote in his biography, “Dreams from My Father”:
Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man.[2]
Is he using again . . . or is he simply pathetic and a bad joke? In his televised speech to the American people, he announced that “all U.S. troops will leave [Iraq] by the end of next year.”[3] This artificial deadline may snatch defeat from the jaws of victory; and if so, the anti-war, far-Left Obama will be responsible personally. Among other things, Iraq is still without a coalition government months after its election, and political compromise remains elusive.[4]
The Wall Street Journal was correct when it stated in an editorial prior to the speech:
The U.S. kept hundreds of thousands of troops in Germany for decades after World War II, and it still has tens of thousands in South Korea and Japan. It would be a tragedy if after seven years of sacrifice, the U.S. now failed to assist Iraqis as they try to build a federal, democratic state in an often hostile neighborhood.[5]
He is bringing our troops home to no jobs, or to poor jobs with little or no financial security once they leave the military. Obama’s central responsibility as president—which is true of all presidents—is to protect the United States and the American people against our enemies. It is not, as Obama stated, to put the millions who have lost their jobs back to work. This is the task of private enterprise, not any “big brother” government.
International terrorism and other very real national security concerns still loom, which might produce flashpoints at any time. We have enemies who seek to destroy us—a fact that seems to escape Obama[6], and is sometimes forgotten by many Americans as 9/11 recedes in our memories. While it might be attractive for the president and the Democrats to take a “meat ax” to the Defense Department, it would be foolhardy to gut our military precisely when it has been performing magnificently and its continued strength is needed most.
America’s economic and military strength go hand in hand. Both are indispensable ingredients of our great nation’s future strength. Obama is naïve and out of touch with reality—almost as much as Joe Biden, which is scary. He spoke of “record deficits,” but failed to mention that he created them; and he is pandering to the American people (aka his far-Left constituency) in the hopes that the approaching political “blood bath” in November’s elections will not materialize.
At best, it is wishful thinking, devoid of attachments to reality, because a political tsunami is building that may engulf Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and their minions. America and other nations are in uncharted waters; and their politicians may face backlashes from disillusioned and angry constituents that are unprecedented in modern times.
The facts are that we are in the midst of the “Great Depression II,” and there is nothing that Obama can do about it, except to make things worse. It will run its course, probably toward the end of this decade—although it has been suggested that it might take a generation. Between now and then, the carnage in America and worldwide will be mind-boggling.[7]
Also, Obama is caught in the “tar” of his Afghan war.[8] Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has noted that the full complement of additional troops ordered to Afghanistan by the president is only now arriving.[9] However, when President Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 American troops to Afghanistan, he said the U.S. would begin pulling out by July of 2011—just before his reelection campaign might begin in earnest, which is a recipe for defeat.
It is a political decision, and tantamount to conceding the country to our enemies sometime next year. Obama is apt to be a one-term president who is unable to run for reelection, like Lyndon Johnson in 1968. No amount of flowery rhetoric or contrived puffery by the president will change these facts.
Throw in the Tea Party movement, as well as a majority of Americans who support the wholesale repeal of ObamaCare—and other crises to come—and the president is engaged in “Mission Impossible,” or certainly close to it. He can give all of the speeches he wants, until the cows come home, but they are unlikely to make any appreciable difference. His goose is cooked, and the following observation may prove to be prophetic:
Jimmy Carter may be heading to #2 on the [list of] all-time worst presidents in American history, thanks to “O.”[10]
What will be clear, crystal clear, is that Obama was the wrong man for the presidency. He had feet of clay, which he and his handlers hid from the American people—before he was elected. He was a fad and a feckless naïf, and a tragic Shakespearean figure who will be forgotten and consigned to the dustheap of history. His naïveté was matched by his overarching narcissism; and he was more starry-eyed and “dangerous” than Jimmy Carter. In the final analysis, his presidency is likely to be considered a sad watershed in history.
© 2010, Timothy D. Naegele
[1] Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass), the first black senator since Reconstruction after the U.S. Civil War. He practices law in Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles with his firm, Timothy D. Naegele & Associates (www.naegele.com). He has an undergraduate degree in economics from UCLA, as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University. He is a member of the District of Columbia and California bars. He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal. Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years. See, e.g., www.naegele.com/whats_new.html#articles
[2] See Obama, “Dreams from My Father” (paperback “Revised Edition,” published by Three Rivers Press, 2004), p. 93; see also pp. 120, 270; https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/is-barack-obama-a-racist
[3] See, e.g., http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/08/31/text-of-obamas-remarks-on-iraq/
[4] See, e.g., http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463563467541850.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_news
[5] See http://www.naegele.com/documents/ThePresidentonIraq-WSJ.com.pdf
[6] See, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/emp-attack-only-30-million-americans-survive/
[7] See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/the-great-depression-ii; see also http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/173_212/-365185-1.html and http://www.realclearpolitics.com/news/tms/politics/2009/Apr/08/euphoria_or_the_obama_depression_.html and http://www.philstockworld.com/2009/10/11/greenspan’s-legacy-more-suffering-to-come/
[8] See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2009/12/26/obama-in-afghanistan-doomed-from-the-start; see also http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Uncle_Remus%3A_His_Songs_and_His_Sayings/The_Wonderful_Tar-Baby_Story
[9] See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467004575463563467541850.html?mod=WSJ_hps_sections_news
[10] See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/the-end-of-barack-obama
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