Obama and the blame-Bush game
Charles Krauthammer is tired of Obama’s blaming Bush for his own dithering in Afghanistan:
I want to point out one thing about what Obama had said when he talked about “the long years of drift.” There is something truly disgusting about the way he cannot refrain from attacking Bush when he’s being defensive about himself. I mean, it’s beyond disgraceful here.
I’m with Krauthammer on this. And although Ed Morrisey comments that the issue of when to stop blaming previous administrations and start taking responsibility for one’s own has been an “eternal question in the American context,” I cannot think of a single president in my lifetime who engaged in blaming a previous administration to anywhere near the extent that Obama has.
During campaigns, perhaps, especially when running against the previous president (which Obama successfully did, even though McCain was his actual opponent). But not after taking the oath of office.
This tendency to blame Bush is, as Krauthammer (a psychiatrist) points out, reflexive and repetitive on Obama’s part. I believe Obama cannot help himself; the temptation is just too strong. It says a great deal not only about his failure to take responsibility and his lack of alternative strategies, but about his mean-spiritedness on a very personal level.
I believe Obama cannot help himself; the temptation is just too strong.
Exactly. It’s of a piece with the “Skip” Gates fiasco. To anyone of normal intelligence the issue was an obvious loser with no upside and the potential for serious embarrassment, but…he just couldn’t help himself.
Let’s not forget that Obama, per VP Cheney, also implemented a strategy that was given to him by the outgoing administration, with regards to Afghanistan. He took credit for that back in March. Funny that he can blame the former administration while implementing their policy recommendations.
What does that speak to?
He’s just not a very nice person.
∅bama’s biggest successes in life, his outstanding achievements, are related to his campaigning. What was his campaign mantra last year? “Hopey changey, I am the anti-Bush.” What ∅bama has recently said about Afghanistan is simply more of the same.
∅bama reverts back to campaign mode because he is most comfortable with it. ∅bama certainly has no previous managerial or executive accomplishments to reflect on.
While I have done no current research to back it up, I suspect that FDR got a lot of mileage out of his predecessor.
Self-will/self-pity.
Obama needs to find a Power Higher Than Himself. Islam? I hope not.
Francesca: “He’s just not a very nice person.”
This has to do with his excessive narcissism. To Barack, humans are mere means to his ends, and nothing more. This is a cold, cold way to go through life. This is Barack Obama’s way.
Also, I reference a recent neo post and comments about Barack only caring about what can and must be said and done to accomplish his ends. My paraphrase of the post and comments: Barack does not care about time honored (across cultures) moral concepts such as the Golden Rule/Silver Rule/Ethic of Reciprocity.
From Barack’s perspective: is it true, accurate, or fair to blame Bush? Who cares? Barack only cares about: Does it accomplish my ends?
Question: What is Barack’s goal?
Answer: Glorification of Barack.
Dictionary.com:
If Barack’s goal was:
then Barack would not reflexively blame Bush.
The President’s predisposition towards blaming others for his own failures is obviously the fault of George W. Bush.
-G
I think that many people quietly hold Clinton responsible for not doing enough to prevent 9-11.When he was questioned after the attack ,he said: “Oh,that’s Bin Laden,” with this big grin,as if knowing that was a great achievement.
I don’t recall Pres.Bush ever blaming Clinton and his father was most gracious to him despite Clinton’s bad mouthing his son.
“Three things always come out;the sun, the moon and truth”-Buddha
The I Won is in office now longer than Bush was when 9/11 struck and that was all dumped on GW.
BO is a crybaby.
In a Spiegel interview this week, Krauthammer probably gave the lowest blow to Obama. The headline reads, “Obama ist durchschnittlich” (Obama is average). That must be harder for him to take than being called a demon. Krauthammer also predicts that Bush will be rehabilitated. Maybe 15 years down the road Obama will have to deal with Bush having a better legacy.
It’s true, FDR blamed Hoover — almost everyone did.
A benign reading of Obama’s efforts is that he is carrying out FDR’s big government approach and seeking to extend FDR’s legacy of positive rights.
However, listening to FDR’s fireside chats and comparing them to Obama’s speeches is enough to make you weep.
FDR was so much more a whole, decent man with a respect for the country and the people he governed.
Seriously, give a listen to one of FDR’s fireside chats.
I never heard them before, but I listen to them now, and I understand why FDR was revered and how he could inspire and comfort a wounded nation.
Today one can argue with much that FDR did, but not with the man’s patriotism, his strength, or his ability to make the hard decisions and lead.
Then it’s heartbreaking to consider the weasely impostor who now occupies the White House.
FDR if you read about the side not presented to the public, was anything but what he presented to the masses.
he is preserving the base who still think that way (and you all may be very surprised at how many do). you would be surprised how many remember carter as a good president and his period was a good time for america.
the ones that realize or get tired of it are nothing in numbers that would change if he dropped that message (the big lie over and over becomes real), and went to something else.
for those smarter and tired of it, and not in that level of maintaining a reality, other things get directed.
many many people have no idea whats really going on, they are just looking for key messages to change for them to pay attention. that is, as long as they hear the message, they dont pay attention.
socialism is a game in which you appeal to the lowest common denominator, not the more intelligent people in which a argument based meritocratic republic depends more on. the lowest common denominator doesnt think they respond more to emotions. they are the ones who think el duche was talking to them, they are the ones that think that whatever they find difficult in life is evidence of the truth of such rhetoric.
the lowest common denominator responds to arguments that its bushes fault. to them it wouldnt stop being his fault now he is out of office, and that the more at fault he is, the bigger the problem and the harder it is to fix, and so they can simply shrug and stay on message.
“In 2009, roughly 47% of households, or 71 million, will not owe any federal income tax, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
Some in that group will even get additional money from the government because they qualify for refundable tax breaks.
killing enemy combatant = arbitrary extrajudicial execution
One reason Zero gets away with the blame Bush routine is that there are many in both parties who still buy it. Many on the left lead off any political conversation with the “disastrous Bush years” meme. And most of the time it goes unchallenged.
Republicans need to be assertive too. I can’t defend everything Bush did, but in terms of disaster just wait until WE can second guess the Obama years…
What I find additionally disgusting is that Obama continues to do this knowing full well that Bush is too decent to fight back. I’m glad Bush won’t let himself be drawn into a war of words with Obama (lord knows he could have been more aggressive in defending his policies while in office), but I love that Cheney is calling Obama out on his homeland security and Afganistan war policy.
By all accounts President Bush mounted an effective campaign in Afghanistan. None of the “experts” imagined such a swift campaign. We drove both Taliban and Al-qaeda into Pakistan, but out of the civilized parts of Afghanistan (yes, they ended up in some of the caves).
And then President Bush did something else that the “experts” claimed must be done. We outsourced the war efforts to our allies in the NATO. And the situation gotten worse since then. This was the most tragic error. Now he is being blamed because he listened to the “experts” from the left. Isn’t it the incompetence of our NATA allies who refuse to arm their soldiers and soldiers who refuse to shoot that got us into this situation.
Isn’t this the story world over? Remember Kosovo?
While there’s no excuse for Obama acting more like a petulant child than a President, I’m sure this plays well to his base. BDS has become so ingrained with some people that they will still be blaming him when they’re old and gray. If the US gets nuked five years from now, they’ll find a way to blame it on Bush. Anything to avoid facing reality.
maneocon,
I remember an undercurrent sentiment in Germany that they were somehow being dissed by not being included in Afghanistan by go-it-alone Bush. Then, after their troops were there, to rebuild schools, mind you, we got a report that they didn’t have enough armored vehicles. It seems that some vehicles were being sidelined because they were overdue for emissions inspections.
That’s just one horror story of war by bureaucracy. Who knows how many more are unreported.
Reflexive and repetitive, you say? Doesn’t this sum up Obama behavior in general, not only in Bush-bashing and need to be permanently defensive in blaming somebody else about his own faults? Looks like obsessive-compulsive neurosis to me, with a distinct streak of paranoia.
If you read “Pravda” editorials for decades, you could not miss how reflexive and repetitive they were, too. That is what ideology always does, replacing real thinking with a set of pre-packed cliche. When Marxist surround you from infancy, it is hard to avoid this degeneracy of a mind.
Giles wins the thread.
Obama’s only reason for being in office is to fix the ‘mess.’ It is therefore in his interest that the ‘mess’ be continued indefinitely.
Sergey,
your right, but all of that falls on deaf ears to people who really dont understand that there ARE fundemental ways to live that are completly alien to them. they may even pay lip service to the concept by declaring they get it. but in truth, they dont. if they did, they would not even like the potential of such, let along accept the potential and not think the end will occur when its unopposed.
Not only is he blaming Bush, but also McCain and Palin (especially Palin). The only other president I know of that obsessed so much about defeated eletoral opponents, almost as if he considers them enemies or even traitors… was Richard M. Nixon.