OBAMA, MARCH 19, 2011 ‘Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world’…
BUSH, MARCH 19, 2003 ‘American and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger’… (By way of the Drudge Report)
Friday’s online Africa edition of the New York Times led with this headline, “Obama Takes Hard Line With Libya After Shift by Clinton”. (emphasis ours). The attack on Libya is being dubbed “Hillary’s War”.
Coincidentally, anti-war protests were held in several cities yesterday, including one at the White House where some were arrested. We say coincidentally because they were protesting the Iraq war, not the decision to launch an attack on Libya. Then it occurred to me why it is being framed as Hillary’s War. It’s the 2012 election, stupid!
The Make-Love-Not-War protesters are an important component of Obama’s core constituency. Anti-war, any war, voters are by no means limited to the radical element either. By deferring to the United Nations and the will of Europe, then allowing himself to be boxed in by Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama can claim the decision was taken away from him; that he had no choice but to authorize military action.