Friday, November 27, 2009

How Long Will All American Presidents Be War Presidents?

From Fabius Maximus:

The Presidential campaign rolls on in the seventh year since 9/11, with the only debate about the Long War being in which nations America should fight. We see this even the speeches of the most “liberal” candidate, Senator Barack Obama.

I recommend reading “The World Beyond Iraq”, his speech about national security given at Fayetteville, NC on 19 March 2008. He describes his plan for withdrawal from Iraq, but only to focus our efforts on Afghanistan … and Pakistan. This is doubling down when losing, known as the “gambler’s ruin.” {revisions to this are in red) This speech is a rhetorical masterpiece, providing strong and specific promises. He gets right to the point…

Read more ....

My Comment: This is an interesting question, because from my vantage point I have always viewed every U.S. President .... from George Washington to Barack Obama, as Presidents who were involved in some war and/or military action. In short .... a war President.

I mean .... name me one who was not. From The American Revolution to the Indian Wars of the 1800s, the U.S. Civil War, followed by more Indian wars and skirmishes with our neighbors in Latin America, there has been nothing but war. The 20th century has also turned out to be just one big time period of war and conflict ... World Wars followed by the Cold War followed by small conflicts too numerous to count .... and now the 21rst century is turning out to be the same way.

Yup ..... it appears that U.S. domestic/foreign policy and war has walked hand in hand since the beginning of the Republic, and will probably be that way into the next century.

1 comment:

el chupacabra said...

Better question: when will we have a war vet?