some kudos
President-elect Obama is smart to retain Defense Secretary Robert Gates. With two wars, continuity matters. And the President-elect and Secretary Gates agree that more troops are necessary in Afghanistan.
I'm not too pleased with the idea of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano heading the Department of Homeland Security. This signals that Obama is not going to fight terrorism the way Bush has. Instead, he's going to have a border Governor focusing on illegal immigration, which I support, but I don't want the Feds to drop the ball on tracking, hunting and killing al Qaeda.
The silver lining in the Napolitano appointment is that the Republicans will pick up a Governor's seat with the elevation of Lt. Governor Jan Brewer.
I'm not too pleased with the idea of Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano heading the Department of Homeland Security. This signals that Obama is not going to fight terrorism the way Bush has. Instead, he's going to have a border Governor focusing on illegal immigration, which I support, but I don't want the Feds to drop the ball on tracking, hunting and killing al Qaeda.
The silver lining in the Napolitano appointment is that the Republicans will pick up a Governor's seat with the elevation of Lt. Governor Jan Brewer.
posted by Kent at 10:44 PM
9 Comments:
I'm just disappointed that the appointments are not signaling the illuminati's promised change.
Okay. But could you have reasonably expected him to fulfill all that he promised? It was wildly out of all proportion.
Facts are stubborn things. The landscape looked mighty different on the campaign trail.
Which is why President Bush called in both Hillary and Barack some eight months ago, sat them down in the Oval Office and recommended to them that they not allow their rhetoric to trap them into untenable positions if they became President.
Continuity we can believe in eh?
Continuity is what I voted for when I voted for John McCain. What a sham.
So far so good for Obama, but he's not gonna be able to keep both us and our ideological enemies (the far left) happy for much longer.
Isn't keeping Gates Obama's way of saying Bush is right?
BTW, Bush should be getting huge accolades for the ease of the transition. Once again evidence of the greatness of the man and his laser like focus on what is best for the country.
I have and will always continue to have the greatest respect for the man.
Right. Bush getting accolades. I'm not gonna hold my breath,
I applaud the man. Nobody else is gonna.
Don't you think that at least some of Bush's policies have been counterproductive? We can't appropriately respond to al-Qaueda until we realize that it is an ideology more than it is an organization. Every time we kill civilians, even when it is unintentional, provides a hundred new terrorists. We need to recognize that fighting terror is about more than pulling a trigger. When force is used it must be as part of a broader strategy. Humanitarian aid is an equal, if not more valuable, tool in com batting terrorism, yet it has been virtually nonexistent in the breeding grounds of terrorism. So long as those vulnerable to recruitment by terrorists see only the hard side of American power they will only be further inclined to become terrorists. We need to be more sensitive to civilian casualties and we must spend more on development aid, not only for humanitarian reasons but also for our own national security interests. A first step would be to build schools and train teachers in the areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan where a radical Saudi Madrassa is the only alternative to no education at all.
The soft power we exert is visible to these folks too, but you're not gonna hear the media talk about it. Trust me, we've seriously improved the lives of nearly every single person in Iraq, and we did it in a way that favors no ethnic group over another. That's a big part of why they want to help us, and why their government wants us to stay until the job is finished. Are there Iraqis protesting the occupation? Sure. But most of them quietly support it. How much interest do you think the media has in telling their story?
As for building schools in Afghanistan, we've built them, repaired even more, and provided funds for them to purchase textbooks, computers, and other supplies for the students. Again, no hard-hitting story in Newsweek is gonna cover that facet of the war.
I think the people of Iraq might disagree with you. Almost all of the infrastructure is at or bellow pre-war levels, there is more violence now than there was under Saddam, occupation forces are out on the streets, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even a million Iraqis are dead, there are over 2 million IDP and an additional 2 million refugees, the middle and upper classes have all fled the country, and the politics have been divided along sectarian lines.
Our aid is miniscule by comparison to the military expenditures. Afghanistan's "democratic" government is a clique of warlords, led by a man who has described himself as an American puppet, that controls, according to the U.S government, only 30% of the country. How is that nation being rebuilt under such dismal conditions? The aid we provide to Afghanistan will never make up for, in the eyes of the population, the suffering we have unleashed on that nation.
None of President Bush's policies have been 'counterproductive.' Need we remind people that many countries of the world now have center-Right governments? This is a direct result of President Bush's leadership on the global stage.
And this is what kills me about ignorant, uninformed Liberals. The United States is all about 'humanitarian aid.'
Do they really think we're not? Do they really think President Bush, this supposedly bad, evil man, isn't providing food and medicine all around the world?
Foreign aid under President Bush is the most in American history. More than any other President. And he's also done more -- given more money, and time and drugs and human resources -- to combating HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Really, Young Activist, do some homework.
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