No, Sir. You’re quite right. It’s not Vietnam. It’s northwest a few thousand miles. Other than that? You just dug yourself further into the deepest hole around, Sir. And you know what they say about steps to take when you find yourself at the bottom of a deep pit, yes? Your pitiful waste of tax payer money bailing out Wall Street and your failed attempt at health care reform will be mere footnotes in history compared to the legacy you now leave: like Johnson, you took over a failure of a war, and like Johnson you decided to listen to the generals instead of using common sense and ending what should never have been.
I am at once saddened and proud that the only loud and clear voice of reason and constraint at this time appears to be that of my dear Senator Sanders, perhaps the only sane man left on the Hill these days. Let’s see now: six years ago, millions of us demonstrated against the start of the Iraq war, and we were roundly mocked by the GOP and the mainstream media as out-of-touch leftie loons. Shortly afterwards, we were proven right: the US should never have invaded Iraq.
Now, some of us (albeit a smaller number, since the Obama Kool-Aid drinkers continue to delude themselves that their Savior knows what he’s doing) predict that Obama’s “you get 30,000 more, and then get out” ridiculous pseudo-commitment in Afghanistan is going to be a quagmire than only a Russian could fully appreciate. And we will no doubt again be mocked. And we will no doubt again be proven right. And the question then becomes: WTF? Where does it end if those who are clueless continue to call the shots in spite of their repeated failures, while those who see the folly are marginalized and ridiculed?
It’s not that I think any of us want credit for having been right again and again; I think more than anything, we’d simply like rational thinking and facts to enter into the equation more often. Apparently, even Obama is more concerned with sucking up to the Pentagon brass and placating the hawks on the Hill. I’m sure Rahm Wormtongue Emanuel has warned him against being seen as “weak” on foreign policy — and since his re-election campaign is just around the corner he no doubt listened intently…
Update: Greenwald does us all the favor of pointing out how the rhetoric used to sell this brilliant strategy that’s not at all like Vietnam is surprisingly entirely almost completely word for word the same as that used by Bush to sell Iraq. Also: not many are in love with his Commander-in-Chiefing.
(Photo from here)
