A World Turned Upside Down

Mike L.



It wasn't all that long ago that I was marching with thousands of others toward San Francisco's city hall against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Throughout the Bush administration me, and millions of my fellow progressives, despised the "cowboy" George W. Bush.  We thought that he was arrogant and reckless and harming the country for the political and personal and financial betterment of himself and his friends.

For us, at the time, Republicans and conservatives were the enemy because we believed that they were warmongers and laissez-faire capitalists who didn't give a rip about the well-being of their fellow Americans.  FOX News, of course, was Faux News and was widely dismissed as a Bush administration mouthpiece.

My, how times have changed.

In the above clip, FOX News analyst Jeanine Pirro essentially hands Barack Obama his tushky on a platter.  I don't know that I agree with every syllable, but she certainly deserves kudos for standing up strongly against this feckless and dithering administration.

If the tables were turned, however, and if this were the mid-2000s and she were talking about the Bush administration, Democrats and "progressives" would absolutely adore this person.  If she were not talking about Syria in 2013, but Iraq in 2003, they would have orgasms.

The hypocrisy is all over the place, left, right, and center.  Today we have conservatives pointing the trembling finger of blame at progressives and calling them hypocrites for often supporting military action against Syria under the Obama administration, despite the fact that they were snipey doves under the Bush administration.  At the same time, we have progressives pointing the trembling finger of blame at conservatives, many of whom have suddenly transforgramized themselves into peace activists.

I have come out against military action in Syria because I do not believe that the United States has any pressing need to get involved in a fight, however ugly and brutal and bloody, between secular Arab autocrats and theocratic Arab autocrats.

As of this morning, however, it is looking like Vladimir Putin may have, to use a colorful phrase, pulled Obama's chestnuts out of the fire.  All Obama is trying to do at this point is save face and not embarrass himself more than he has already, as many of his supporters tie themselves up in knots justifying potential American aggression.

For my part, I am merely keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.  I do not want to see the US government spilling foreign blood on foreign soil without a compelling national interest and I do not want to see the Obama administration dragging Israel into this mess as an excuse to attack Syria.

One could make a humanitarian case for US action in Syria, but any such case is neutralized by the fact that so many of these "rebels," perhaps a large majority, are Jihadis and Islamists and the Obama administration - despite his sympathies - absolutely must get out of this habit of supporting those who despise the United States, oppress women, kill Gay people summarily, and seek the genocide of the Jews.

The bottom line is that Barack Obama has no clue when it comes to American foreign policy in the Middle East.

It would be better for everyone if he would just stay out of the region entirely until clearer heads take the reigns of power.