Alas, I have little hope that we can expect competence out of Barack Obama.
Your turn, Barry. pic.twitter.com/a6si6jb8K4
— Ben Howe (@BenHowe) August 12, 2014
Moe Lane
PS: I understand that it is fashionable – more accurately, a fad – to assert that George W Bush was a horrible bungler who prosecuted the most disastrous war in American history. I do not ask that sufferers from that delusion read more broadly on American military history; I simply note that said sufferers should.
The Iraq war certainly gave the buzzing nest of hornets that is the Muslim Mideast a healthy kick, and we really don’t know yet what the end effect of that will be. That may take twenty or more years to play out.
If you are going to fight a war of convenience, and there are times when it’s appropriate to do so, you must get it over with quickly and successfully. The buck stops at Bush’s desk, to be sure, but he was badly served by Rumsfeld and the rest of the DoD brass who sold him on too few boots and a ‘force protection’ strategy intended to minimize casualties at the cost of minimizing the odds of success.
Compared to Lincoln’s war so ineptly fought for so long, though, or the Koreans and Chinese demonstrating just how hollow the American military had been rendered barely five years after WWII, or the end result of the Vietnam quagmire being the carpet-bombing of American civil society, well…
To the extent that Iraq could be considered the ‘most disastrous war in American history’, that’s largely because it begat the Obama presidency. But perhaps there’s still room for our current President to channel his inner James Madison and redeem himself.
Recall that we once had a President and a party that thought that a few badly-trained militia would be enough force to grab Canada; for this bit of misjudgment he got DC burned; our fate as a nation was saved – once again – by the French, or at least one Corsican, who was keeping the British a little too busy a little too close to home.
Given that the Canadians have blundered into sane leadership while we fumble around looking vainly for competence, perhaps a fresh invasion of Canada would be appropriate. Followed by swift collapse, surrender, and a demand to be incorporated into the Dominion.
They have to promise to burn DC again, though.
Don’t worry, by the time we get competence in the White House again, Canada will have booted Hunter out and replaced him with a Trudeau wannabe, And the rest of the world will be disliking us solely because we have a right winger as president.