Buyers remorse. “Seller’s” Remorse.
December 7, 2009

 
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In 1959, the late great comedic actor Peter Sellers starred in “The Mouse that Roared” (watch Trailer. Full movie), a quirky comedy about a tiny bankrupt nation that decided to declare war on America for the billions of dollars in reconstruction funds they hoped to receive following their crushing defeat (ala The Marshal Plan). Comedy ensues when Sellers and his Python-esque “army” (dressed in medieval chainmail and armed with bows & arrows) unwittingly wins by attacking New York City on the day of a major American military exercise, allowing them to take possession of a “super bomb” capable of destroying the entire country. Unaware of what happened in New York, his countrymen laughingly ask him, “How did your attack on America go?” Seller proudly responds, “We won!” Of course, this is actually the worst news imaginable for them because now, not only will they not receive any reconstruction funds, but they’ve angered the U.S. into possibly destroying them. The law of unintended consequences strikes again.

For months now, Conservatives have been bemoaning the size of the deficit (that they racked up) and “rampant government spending” (such as “the stimulus” to create jobs, or “healthcare reform” needed to halt spiraling healthcare costs that are bankrupting this country and costing jobs), but when it comes to WAR, clearly money is no object. They want “more troops” to fight a war that should of ended 8 years ago. And ANY talk of bringing our troops home only “gives aid and comfort to the enemy“.

Senator John McCain, in his 873rd appearance this year on the Sunday talkshow circuit, after (once again) bemoaning “timetables”, actually said that the only way to win a war is to stay “until we’ve crushed the enemies’ spirit“. Well, if eight years in Afghanistan isn’t long enough to “crush the enemies’ spirit”, just how long DO we stay? 15 years? 30? 100? Actually, as all reports clearly show, the Taliban thinks that having held out THIS long against The Mighty American Military is an indication they are “winning“. The longer we are there, the more public support they receive as well. And it costs our already struggling economy $1million/year/soldier, adding billions to the deficit these “Conservatives” complain is “out of control”.

Hundreds of billions of our tax dollars are being poured into the two money pits known as Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost of the unnecessary war in Iraq alone could have covered the cost of heathcare reform for the next 20 years, and now the war in Afghanistan is growing to Bush-sized proportions (with nearly 100,000 troops once this latest SurgeTM is complete. Instead, Conservatives are quick to complain about the “cost of Obamacare”, but whine like spoiled children if anyone dare put limits on the size, cost, or duration of the war in Afghanistan.

I wasn’t very enthusiastic about Candidate Obama once he clinched the nomination. He had my vote as a Democrat, but my enthusiasm for him was always low as he never stood up for any Liberal ideals that we so desperately need. Since his election, I’ve watched as he REPEATEDLY tries to appease Conservatives that will NEVER support him, while alienating Progressives that may not do so again. He sends more troops into Afghanistan like the Republicans want, but it’s “not enough” or he’s “taking too long”. Meanwhile, he gets Democrats together to discuss passing a healthcare reform bill by Christmas, and not once mentions “the Public Option”. Very soon, President Obama is going to have to learn to dance with the ones that brought him as his “Job Approval” falls below 50% for the first time and his handling of Afghanistan approaches Bush-levels. If healthcare reform passes with a weak Public Option (or none at all) and the war in Afghanistan shows no sign of improving by the middle of next year, a whole lot of people that voted for President Obama are going to experience buyers remorse and stay home on election day.

Last week, President Obama in his primetime address explaining why he is sending more troops to Afghanistan, told viewers that he was aiming at mid-2011 for ALL U.S. forces to be out of Afghanistan. Yesterday/Sunday, Secretaries of State & Defense, Clinton and Gates were all over the airwaves walking back that target date, with Secretary Gates and General Petraeus both now saying that the “goal” is to have troops “starting” to leave “by mid-2011”.

As I’ve said many, many times before on here, “Conservatives are all a bunch of frightened little children” that think the world is out to get them. They’d rather spend $5000 on a machine gun than $5 on a deadbolt for the front door. Because being seen with a huge gun “sends a message to your enemies” while a $5 deadbolt makes you “a coward that’s afraid to leave your house at night”. Problem is (as Clint Eastwood has told us in any number of Spaghetti Westerns), that everyone eventually comes gunning for the fastest gun in the West.

A thought crossed my mind while listening to everyone discuss “war without end” Sunday. What if Native Americans started committing acts of terrorism across the U.S.? Would we send the military after them armed with bombs and predator drones, or would we send the cops in after them? Army’s are used to fight army’s. You don’t use tanks to fight bandits with AK47’s. And you don’t send in 96,000 troops with enough military might to conquer a small nation in after 100 rogue bandits.

100 sheep-herders declare war on America. “How’d you do?”, they’re asked back home. “We won!”, they answer not entirely sure after 8 years of bombing and thousands of lives lost what it is they’ve won.

Postscript: President Obama stops off in Oslo to collect his Nobel Peace Prize this week. One wonders if they might be feeling a tinge of “Seller’s Remorse” (pun intended).
 

 

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December 7, 2009 · Admin Mugsy · No Comments - Add
Posted in: Politics, War

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