Obama's Speech for the Ages
We are rapidly approaching the anniversary of one the most historic speeches ever delivered by a U.S. President. No, it’s not President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or President Regan’s Berlin Wall speech or even President Kennedy’s inaugural address. October 21st will mark the 4th anniversary of President Obama’s “I Don’t Have a Clue” speech.
On that date, in less than 900 words, our President took to the podium of the White House Briefing room and proceeded to deliver a statement proving just how misguided his foreign policy is. It stands an incredible combination of incompetence and incorrectness and should never be forgotten.
Let us begin in the 5th paragraph (official transcript here) where the President lectures the world about the conclusion of the Iraq War.
Over the next two months, our troops in Iraq -- tens of thousands of them -- will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home. The last American soldier[s] will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success, and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops. That is how America’s military efforts in Iraq will end.
I do believe “America’s military efforts in Iraq” will be continuing for some time to come. Not that anyone could have foreseen or in any way predicted what a rapid removal of all US forces from Iraq might lead to in the region.
Actually there was someone, standing at the same podium of the White House Briefing room 4 years earlier. In July of 2007, then President Bush spoke of the Democrats opposition to his Surge strategy in Iraq and their calls for immediate troop withdraws.
BUSH: It'd mean that we'd be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It'd mean we'd allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven in Iraq to replace the one they lost in Afghanistan. It'd mean we'd be increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous.
Now returning to October of 2011, President Obama continues his lecture on world affairs.
And finally, I would note that the end of war in Iraq reflects a larger transition. The tide of war is receding.
Unfortunately for President Obama, someone forgot to pass that word over to the “JV” team. And I think Mr. Assad in Syria and Mr. Putin in Russia might disagree that the tide of war is receding. Clearly Iran and Hezb’allah never got that memo.
He continued:
Meanwhile, yesterday marked the definitive end of the Qaddafi regime in Libya. And there, too, our military played a critical role in shaping a situation on the ground in which the Libyan people can build their own future. Today, NATO is working to bring this successful mission to a close.
I could be wrong, but I can’t remember hearing the President, VP Biden or Mrs. Clinton doing much bragging about how great things are in Libya these days following this “successful mission.”
But he wasn’t done yet:
The long war in Iraq will come to an end by the end of this year. The transition in Afghanistan is moving forward, and our troops are finally coming home…And as we welcome home our newest veterans, we’ll never stop working to give them and their families the care, the benefits and the opportunities that they have earned.
I’m sorry, did the “care and benefits they earned” include being seen by a doctor? Apparently not if you’re one of the 800,000 vets who have their records stalled in the VA system or one of the 307,000 vets who died while waiting for a VA appointment.
The President then concluded with what might be the most incorrect thing of the entire speech.
Because after a decade of war, the nation that we need to build -- and the nation that we will build -- is our own; an America that sees its economic strength restored just as we’ve restored our leadership around the globe.
Somehow it fits perfectly as an ending. “We’ve restored our leadership around the globe” -- it doesn’t get more inaccurate than that.