I'm clinging to memories of Howard Dean, the last Democrat front-runner who imploded in the end to avoid nightmares over candidate Clinton. But Mr. Obama, your ill-run campaign and ill-advised handling of the Iraq War vote is reflecting in the polls and making it harder to hold the demons away in my sleep
Obama was my big hope: young, energetic and possessing an almost Kennedy-like charm. He's well-spoken, polite....an "acceptable" black American for Democrats who would love to have the first black President be from their party.
But the blush is starting to come off the rose. He alienated twenty million + American cigarette smokers when he instantly caved to criticism of his habit and quit (more likely, he's now a closet-smoker). His recent decision to remove and not wear the American Flag lapel pin to protest the war is extreme and a slap in the face of pretty much every (legal) American, especially Veterans. He is going way to far in highlighting his "no" vote against the war in Iraq. If he thought this was going to make Hillary look like a flip-flopper and hurt her campaign, he was and is wrong.
Let me let you in on a little secret, Mr. Obama: Hillary was right for supporting the war AT THAT TIME. So was George Bush and so was I and millions of other Americans.
Monday morning quarterbacking is easy: think back to that time. We were living in a post-9/11 world. A madman who had used chemical weapons on his own people was yelling at the top of his lungs to anyone who would listen that he was creating more...and now biological and nuclear weapons too. Imagine you're George Bush. You call the CIA: what's the intel? The CIA replies "uh, we don't have any except maybe some yellow-cake uranium sales and satellite photos that kind of look like mobile bio labs. But we just don't have any Muslim agents in Iraq (or pretty much at all).
Meanwhile, Saddam is getting more aggressive in pushing the no-fly zone limits and actually shooting at our aircraft. And all the while, he keeps yelling "I'm making weapons of mass destruction"! Pre-9/11 there may have been more time for intel gathering but post 9/11? Do you RISK America that Saddam may be telling the TRUTH? The answer for George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Me, and a lot of other people was a resounding NO, Don't Risk It!!!"
So we attacked Iraq, won, and couldn't find the WMD's. There are stories of long truck convoys to Syria in the weeks prior to the attack so who knows. Personally, I hope that's garbage: the thought of Syria with a huge stash of WMD's doesn't make me sleep any easier either.
George Bush and those who voted to support him were right to attack Iraq. But where George Bush completely and utterly failed was in the aftermath of the war.
Iraq is not Germany or Japan (who we occupied for many years after WWII). Take away the oil, and most Middle East nations are living in the 14th century. Clan, Tribe, Family Honor....all of these mean more than a created nation called "Iraq". What's Democracy? They have no understanding of the concept. They NEED a (hopefully benevolent) dictator. WE needed to install a later-day Douglas MacArthur to be Supreme Leader of Iraq......until they could be educated and weaned onto democracy. But with the Iraqi Army foolishly disbanded; with the Iraqi Sunni government bureaucracy foolishly dismissed, the country quickly fell into chaos. Shites and Sunnis who had lived side by side for years because Saddam told them to began killing each other and blowing up each other's mosques. They would blow up their own power plants and then complain to CNN that they had no electricity. George Bush won the war and then lost the "peace".
Like Hillary, I (God, it pains me to see those three words next to each other) supported the war and now want out. How we get out is where we differ (that feels better) with Hillary wanting to cut and run, leaving some "advisers" while I feel the only viable solution is to partition Iraq into Sunni, Shiite, and Kurd regions with a weak central government whose only real job is to ensure each regions shares equally in the oil revenues so they won't start killing each other over it.
But I'm not running for President, Mr. Obama: you are. And if you continue to disrespect the American flag and throw your "I voted against the war and you're a flip-flopper" at Hillary in a debate, she will mop the floor with you. Then she'll start comparing her experience in Government to yours (conveniently forgetting her husband was only the Governor of a back-water state), you'll start fumbling for words, and it's all over.
Remember, Hillary has been preparing her entire life for this chance to be President of the United States. You're just a guy who was in the right place at the right time.
I REALLY hope your campaign cleans up it's act and closes the gap between you and Hillary in the polls. My home state of Texas has open primaries and for the first time in my life, I'll be voting in the Democrat primary. If you're ahead of Hillary in the polls or the second place challenger, I'll be voting for you. Otherwise, I'll voting for whomever is. But in the primaries and in the general election, I'll tell you exactly who I'm voting for: ANYONE BUT HILLARY!!!!!!!!
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