General Discussion
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(2,978 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)One of the reasons being I visit Walter Reed every few months--I could be wrong, but I think his voice broke there.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)seem "great" -- in comparison to the others. I agree, Obama is "great." Thanks, Merrily, for the post -- TV and internet radio are down.
riversedge
(70,189 posts)has ordered into action.
RiffRandell
(5,909 posts)to Bushco. The latter of this post was mine, not Obama's.
gwheezie
(3,580 posts)I can't imagine how ridiculous a GOP president would sound now and how dangerous our response would be.
brer cat
(24,559 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)the difference.
France is not cowering in fear, why should America?....is essentially the question needing answering.
greytdemocrat
(3,299 posts)still_one
(92,138 posts)In fact, they are not even listening to his answers.
This would be a disaster if Romney or another bush was president
merrily
(45,251 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)effective against ISIL. Starting the dumbass media drumbeat for war all over again--and this time they cannot blame it on the administration or the President. Clearly, this is all their own idea.
zazen
(2,978 posts)Sending your sons and daughters to be burned alive on live TV might help reduce ISIL."
I mean, are we willing to take these measures and kill 2 million people, deprive everyone of rights through constant surveillance and suspension of all rights, and sacrifice our soldiers to the worst kinds of slow torture. Sure. Then we can "defeat" or "reduce" ISIS for the time being.
Dumbing it down to high school level might be necessary, since we're living in media world with Trump and other elementary schoolyard bullies dominating the airwaves.
Sadly, his calmness and rationality gets translated into weakness by dumb people.
merrily
(45,251 posts)He could be speaking like a Dr. Seuss book and the same questions would still be asked over and over.
zazen
(2,978 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...requires: Ask a question that will get them noticed/viewers. And they did. As President Obama said, they each asked the same question in a different way...more than four times.
He answered that question more than four times, but since they didn't like his answer, they labeled his response as 'weak.'
I think he was exceedingly STRONG. 🇺🇸
merrily
(45,251 posts)...
riversedge
(70,189 posts)Obama said he just spent several minutes responding to!!
Glimmer of Hope
(5,823 posts)So proud he is our president.
merrily
(45,251 posts)YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...🇺🇸
herding cats
(19,564 posts)It was wise then, and it's still wise now.
RKP5637
(67,104 posts)maryellen99
(3,788 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)I can imagine.
ecstatic
(32,685 posts)Because I'm not interested in "posing." LOVE it! Really gonna miss this prez.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Pisces
(5,599 posts)Obama: Large U.S. Ground War Against ISIS Would Be 'A Mistake'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-large-us-ground-war-against-isis-would-be-a-mistake_5649f541e4b045bf3defe6eb
http://ktar.com/story/763363/obama-says-us-is-not-underestimating-islamic-state-group/
ANTALYA, Turkey (AP) President Barack Obama is rejecting the notion that the United States has underestimated the ability of the Islamic State group in the wake of the deadly terror attacks in Paris.
Obama says the danger of the group is the reason the U.S. is operating in Iraq and Syria, and why it has mobilized 65 countries to go after IS.
Obama says one of the challenges of terrorism is to understand that a handful of people who dont mind dying can kill a lot of people.
The president says reducing the territory controlled by the group in Iraq and Syria will reduce the flow of fighters and lessen the threat it poses. He says disrupting the threat requires constant vigilance and communication. Obama spoke at a news conference Monday in Antalya, Turkey.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Chuck, you incredible a$$. He explained why like 17 times. An imflammatory tone -why?
ecstatic
(32,685 posts)zazen
(2,978 posts)I think his PR people are failing him here.
The media are obviously (including Christiane Amanpour, which is disappointing me) mis-reading him and acting like the Paris bombings are such a huge _new_ activity by ISIL. They weren't screaming about this when the Russian airliner went down.
They're underreported the successes we've had against them.
But American public perception is that "nothing" has been happening and this is an attack on the US to which Obama is under-responding.
merrily
(45,251 posts)NYCButterfinger
(755 posts)He looks compromised. It will be a long sell.
merrily
(45,251 posts)NYCButterfinger
(755 posts)This is why some people are laughing at progressives, saying that progressives don't understand military and national security. Obama should have been more clear in his goals.
countingbluecars
(4,766 posts)over and over again to the same question.
jpak
(41,757 posts)ProfessorGAC
(64,995 posts)Osama Bin Laden. He got him. The republican president let him escape.
YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...in pursuit of his foreign policy goals. Some just don't like his policy. 🇺🇸
And welcome to DU...
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Page three I believe. Right after Baby Killers and Bible Burners. And preceding Feminazis and Tree Huggers.
Good luck peddling that @#$% here.
NYCButterfinger
(755 posts)What do you want, more hell all over the world?
kydo
(2,679 posts)Strong is standing up for the right causes.
Weak is caving in and doing what others want.
Obama is a smart guy and we are very lucky he is President.
He is also a very strong President.
It's really easy to say "we will hunt you down and kill you" or "bomb them" or "war war war". But it takes a strong person in a strong position to show restraint and forward thinking. Meaning yeah, it will make us feel better to bomb the crap out of isis right now but in the long run bombing will prove to be the worst thing we could have possibly done. And it takes a strong person to not be tempted into giving in to impulse.
Damn I am glad he is our President!
It's kind of like this, you can either be right or be happy, have peace or take vengeance, serve justice or take revenge. Rarely do you get both, to be right and happy, have peace and still take vengeance, or have justice and get revenge.
YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...what so many of us have thought for a long time. 🇺🇸
YvonneCa
(10,117 posts)...in his policy. 🇺🇸
bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)Here's what I'd like to see him say and do:
Stop being so defensive. Man up. Yes, I screwed up. I underestimated this threat this insane religious cult presents, sorry, I'm a rational human being. I am not underestimating them any more. Here's what we're doing going forward.
Explain the complexities. People aren't stupid--well at least most of them. If your political opponents are blabbering morons show it.
If our strategy is working--show proof--don't just tell us that it is working. No one believes it.
Call out the Isis enablers: Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Nations at first in private then if they stop helping them call them out in public.
Bomb their freaking oil fields into a fiery hell. Take out their ability to fund their war.
Call on Americans to make some sacrifices. If we go after Saudi funding of Isis, they may cut off oil production to punish us. If we bomb Isis's oil fields, there will be less oil on the market. Prices will go up. Get this out in front so that when prices rise people will be prepared.
Isis wants to be a country--an "Islamic State" if you will. Well treat them like a country. Call on Congress to actually declare war on Isis. Make those whiners and losers take a stand or shut up.
Finally, people in this country and around the world are frightened and he needs to address that. We need a little less Spock and a little more Kirk.
merrily
(45,251 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)It makes me sick to see a DU'er swallow the media/republican framing.
bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)I don't think that Obama or anyone else ever thought that Al-Queda in Iraq, which was formed in the wake of Bush's disastrous war in Iraq would morph into this sort of multi-headed monster. I also don't think that he or any of his advisors foresaw the abject collapse of the Iraqi army, the degree of secular and tribal division in the area and the lack of willingness and sometimes active collusion with Isis on the part of countries like Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
That in my opinion is screwing up and he should own it and go forward aggressively but intelligently. If we go into a protective crouch, it will end very badly.
I say this because I fear that if he does not do something and do it soon, then the Republicans will win the White House. If you don't believe it look at the 2004 Presidential Campaign where Bush, the man who unleashed hell in the middle east was able to convince enough Americans that he, the draft dodger, the most inept commander in chief in our history was better able to protect this country than Kerry, the genuine war hero.
I wish that logic and rationality prevailed. I really do, but we live in a world where far to many people are easily frightened into doing something that is not in their best interest or the interests of the world.
Oilwellian
(12,647 posts)You attack Obama for not responding in a knee-jerk fashion, like republicans would do. Then you say this:
bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)Maybe Obama's strategy is working, maybe this Paris attack and the downing of the Russian plane is the lashing out of a wounded animal. Or maybe it isn't and if it isn't then it is time to rethink what we are doing.
There is a big difference between going after a ruthless enemy with strength and determination, i.e. the allies vs the Axis powers during World War II and blundering blindly into a war the way that Bush did. I voted for Obama twice. I believe that he has the capacity to what needs to be done but I reserve the right to criticize him when I think he's making mistakes.
We should never have been involved in this mess to begin with. Republican presidents created Al-Queda, trained and armed Bin-Laden and destroyed Iraq. If Obama does not deal with the reality on the ground and the perception of that reality among American people then we will have yet another Republican president. I do not consider that "attacking" the president.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)bklyncowgirl
(7,960 posts)Should we not disrupt Isis's oil convoys and production facilities?
Should we not push the Saudis and the Turks to stop their tacit support of Isis?
Should we not make those Republican cowards in Congress put their reputations behind their bluster?
Just what did I write that you would define as "knee jerk" anyway? I voted for Obama twice but I reserve the right to criticize him when I believe that he is wrong and I do believe that his tone, at least does not match the level of fear. Perception is reality.
By the way, I've been a member here since the early days of the Bush administration. I believe that Bush and Cheney should be prosecuted for war crimes for their invasion of Iraq and lighting the match that started this whole mess. That being said a Democratic president has play the hand that was dealt him or her. If he doesn't the next president will be a Republican who will vow to "keep us safe". So yeah, I am on the right site.
Dawgs
(14,755 posts)Until then, no thanks.
merrily
(45,251 posts)or faux macho. He could have given bumper sticker responses, like "Bring it on." He could have gone for applause lines like "we shall fight on the beaches" (Churchill). Obama did none of those easy things and he explained why.
I am sufficiently ideologically ambidextrous to praise him for that while simultaneously saying TPP is bad.