President Obama's Lack of Vision Is not a Partisan Political Issue

On December 14, 2011, President Obama spoke to troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. To read the speech today is enormously painful, for its mix of bravado, self-agrandizing credit-taking, innuendo attacking President Bush, and outright disconnect with reality. I want to point out, as you read, that to the extent that President Obama is praising US military actions and successes, I do not quarrel with him. It is, rather, his inability to recognize and properly evaluate the reality of Iraq and the wider Middle East that is so dismaying. Here are some excerpts from that 2011 speech.~~~~ “It’s harder to end a war than begin one. Indeed, everything that American troops have done in Iraq -– all the fighting and all the dying, the bleeding and the building, and the training and the partnering -– all of it has led to this moment of success. Now, Iraq is not a perfect place. It has many challenges ahead. But we’re leaving behind a sovereign, stable and self-reliant Iraq, with a representative government that was elected by its people. We’re building a new partnership between our nations.” ~~~~~ “We remember the grind of the insurgency -– the roadside bombs, the sniper fire, the suicide attacks. From the ‘triangle of death’ to the fight for Ramadi; from Mosul in the north to Basra in the south -– your will proved stronger than the terror of those who tried to break it.” ~~~~~ “We remember the specter of sectarian violence -– al Qaeda’s attacks on mosques and pilgrims, militias that carried out campaigns of intimidation and campaigns of assassination. And in the face of ancient divisions, you stood firm to help those Iraqis who put their faith in the future.” ~~~~~ “We remember the surge and we remember the Awakening -– when the abyss of chaos turned toward the promise of reconciliation. By battling and building block by block in Baghdad, by bringing tribes into the fold and partnering with the Iraqi army and police, you helped turn the tide toward peace." ~~~~~ “And we remember the end of our combat mission and the emergence of a new dawn -– the precision of our efforts against al-Qaida in Iraq, the professionalism of the training of Iraqi security forces, and the steady drawdown of our forces. In handing over responsibility to the Iraqis, you preserved the gains of the last four years and made this day possible." ~~~~~ “Part of ending a war responsibly is standing by those who fought it. It’s not enough to honor you with words. Words are cheap. We must do it with deeds. You stood up for America; America needs to stand up for you. That’s why, as your Commander-in Chief I am committed to making sure that you get the care and the benefits and the opportunities that you’ve earned. For those of you who remain in uniform, we will do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our force –- including your families. We will keep faith with you. We will help our wounded warriors heal and we will stand by those who’ve suffered the unseen wounds of war. And make no mistake -- as we go forward as a nation, we are going to keep America’s armed forces the strongest fighting force the world has ever seen. That will not stop." ~~~~~ “Because of you, in Afghanistan we’ve broken the momentum of the Taliban. Because of you, we’ve begun a transition to the Afghans that will allow us to bring our troops home from there. And around the globe, as we draw down in Iraq, we have gone after al-Qaida so that terrorists who threaten America will have no safe haven, and Osama bin Laden will never again walk the face of this Earth.” ~~~~~ But, it was not only Barack Obama's words that defy reality. His friends joined in. “Remind them that this is the President that ended the war in Iraq.” (Michelle Obama.) “He has taken good care of our men and women in uniform, he has ended the war in Iraq.” (Bill Clinton) “We ended the war in Iraq.” (Joe Biden.) But, above all, there is the sheer egoism in the Obama boast : “You know I say what I mean and I mean what I say - I said I’d end the war in Iraq, I ended it.” ~~~~~ Dear readers, we can all cite the unraveling of each Obama statement, from sectarian violence to ISIS to Iran ascendancy in Iraq to the disastrous care sometimes given to veterans in VA facilities. But, today, I don't offer these quotes as partisan attacks on President Obama. It is not about Democrats vs Republicans or conservatives vs progressives or Obama supporters vs Obama skeptics. It is about vision vs the lack of vision in the most powerful leader in the world. This lack of vision has put President Obama in deeper and deeper waters as he tries to maintain his self-anointed position of being right about Iraq and the Middle East when he has been wrong --- simply wrong. It has led to his blaming President Bush or the Iraqi government or the military or intelligence for every error that belongs on his own shoulders. In June 2014, when asked if he had any “regrets” about not leaving a residual force in Iraq, Obama told reporters : “Keep in mind, that wasn’t a decision made by me. That was a decision made by the Iraqi government.” Back in 2011, when he was crowing about his victory, it was a different story. Obama proudly touted the small number of troops remaining in Iraq as one of his major accomplishments : “When I came into office,” he boasted at the time, “I pledged to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end. As Commander in Chief, I ended our combat mission last year and pledged to keep our commitment to remove all our troops by the end of 2011. To date, we’ve removed more than 100,000 troops from Iraq." It is never easy for Congress to do battle with any President, and in this case, it is exceedingly difficult because President Obama seems prepared to reject constitutional constraints on his powers whenever it helps his position. It is also difficult because Obama has eviscerated the Democratic Party. There are no elder statesmen who might quietly restrain him. Vice President Biden is good only for gaffs and snoggling women. Harry Reid, who may have been, early on, more of an influence for presidential restraint than we recognized, is no longer on good health. Nancy Pelosi has always been merely Obama's voice and vote in Congress. Hillary Clinton is not able to weigh in -- tainted as she is by colluding in Obama's excesses, and in fighting for her own political future as her political past threatens to sink her. So, America holds its breath and counts the days to November 2016. But in Iraq -- and in Israel, Egypt, the Gulf states, Jordan, Saudi Arabia -- the luxury of waiting for a new American President is problematic in the extreme. King Abdullah of Jordan said today that the fight against ISIS "unites Moslems, Christians and Jews." That is absolutely true. But how much more productive that unity would be with an American President to lead it.