How shocking is the Bergdahl prisoner swap?
Nothing about the Bergdahl/Taliban affair should have surprised me—or, for that matter, you. Nothing.
Not Obama’s audacity, nor his disregard of prior bipartisan warnings in Congress or from the intelligence community, nor his aides’ attempts to discredit those from Bergdahl’s unit who are calling Bergdahl a deserter or worse, nor Obama’s refusal to offer any apologies whatsoever for his actions in this affair, nor his lies and broken promises, nor the fact that many Democrats are lining up to defend him like the good party hacks that they are.
But an intellectual reaction is one thing. Intellectually, I’m not surprised. But there’s still an emotional reaction—what Peter Wehner referred to as a visceral reaction—which is to be stunned, disgusted, outraged, and full of trepidation about both the long-term effects of this move and what Obama will be doing for a series of encores.
I’ve been wanting to know what the American electorate thinks of it all. Today I read that the results of a Fox News poll showed Americans evenly split on the subject, and that news surprised me, too, although it probably shouldn’t have.
But turning to the poll itself, I see that it was taken June 1-3, which would be the second, third, and fourth days after the story broke. If I understand these things correctly, that would mean that approximately a third of respondents were questioned June 1, and another third on the second. That makes the results of the poll as a whole nearly meaningless, since so much of importance in the story hadn’t come out at the beginning.
The poll is a curious document, as these things often are. It is one of those general things with tons of questions about many topics, and Bergdahl was hardly one of the main issues it probed. That was one of the very last questions asked, number 45, and its phrasing went like this: “Do you approve or disapprove of the United States releasing five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in exchange for the release of a U.S. soldier who was being held as a prisoner of war in Afghanistan?,” with 45% approving, 47% disapproving, and 8% uncertain. Note that Bergdahl’s name isn’t even mentioned.
So I don’t think we can conclude much about public opinion of the Bergdahl exchange from this poll; subsequent ones will tell the tale. The poll did measure a fairly high level of dissatisfaction with Obama about the VA scandal that had been dominating the news prior to the Bergdahl incident. Hmmm. And I found the response to this question interesting, too: “Do you think the Obama administration is more or less competent than the George W. Bush administration?” Only 42% said more competent and 48% less competent. Interesting, no? And yet Obama’s approval rate in the poll was 40%, which seems to represent the percentage of Americans who will not desert him no matter what.
[NOTE: One other thing really did surprise me, and that’s Krauthammer’s defense of Obama in the Bergdahl affair. To be sure, I don’t always agree with Krauthammer. But this is inexplicable.]
If the poll question asked if the respondent is in favor of trading for a “deserter” rather than a “prisoner of war” I believe that those in favor would be far fewer.
That will change as the news gets out.
And President Obama will still refuse to admit a mistake.
And the press will still cover for him.
Krauthammer’ statements were awful. And just wrong. As a matter of policy, as far as I know, only Israel has made trades of prisoners. And I doubt that even Israel, with its valuation of human life as motivation, would have made this trade of one screwball (at least) private for five top leaders. Consider this: In the “emirate” idiot soldiers are a dime a dozen. Smart ones who can lead, organize, think, and get results are much more rare. And Obama just gave five of the best they’ve had.
neo: ” But there’s still an emotional reaction–what Peter Wehner referred to as a visceral reaction–which is to be stunned, disgusted, outraged, and full of trepidation about both the long-term effects of this move and what Obama will be doing for a series of encores.”
Describes my reaction perfectly. I’m experiencing feelings of helpless rage. Something like I had when the 1975 democrat Congress pulled the rug out from under the South Vietnamese. It isn’t TEOTWAWKI, it just feels like it. The price we’ve paid in blood and treasure – down the drain.
This has set the table for people being kidnapped and held as bargaining chips. It has been a huge boost to the morale of the jihadis. They see it as a big win over the Great Satan and it points the way to future wins.
Way back in 2002,(It seems so long ago!) I encountered two of the dead enders (Dead Men Walking) like the five who are being released. They thirst for death. We love life. And they want to kill or maim as many as possible on the way to
their death. To encounter such men is to see evil up close and personal. It’s one of the most chilling, sobering experiences of my life. I wish we could lock Obama, Kerry, Hagel, Reid, and Pelosi in a room with these five for a couple of hours of friendly chit chat. It might change some attitudes. Releasing such barbarians so they can continue their murder and mayhem is wrong on so many levels. Doing it in such an underhanded way is…………well, I guess it’s what we have come to expect from Obama and company. AAAAARRRRRGGGHHH!!!
Now I have to go pump some iron and calm down a bit.
I disagree with him even while I think I understand where Krauthammer is coming from. There is, however, a logical error in his explanation. Assume for a moment that his contention is true; that the West always comes out the loser in such an asymmetrical prisoner exchange. That doesn’t mean or justify that such an exchange should still be done, but that such exchanges should still be done is precisely what he implies.
T:
Krauthammer has no understanding of what’s going on with Obama here, IMHO. Krauthammer still thinks Obama’s main goal was to rescue Bergdahl. That would have been Krauthammer’s goal had he been making the decision.
But that was not Obama’s goal. It was merely a secondary benefit. Obama’s primary goal—as I indicated in one of my first posts on the Bergdahl story—was to free the Taliban Five (I explained why in this post).
Neo,
“Krauthammer still thinks Obama’s main goal was to rescue Bergdahl.”
I think your correct interpretation is revealed by Krauthammer himself. He used Netanyahu as an example of a most hawkish leader who, nevertheless, was willing to swap thousands for one Israeli soldier. Clearly Netanyahu’s goal was, indeed, the rescue of a single Israeli soldier.
Krauthammer is operating from a false premise; must be too much of that rarified Washington air.
Neo, this is exactly what you said it would be…an administration unbound by the need to win re-election, and therefore free to do whatever it wants. It looks like he will yet close Guantanamo, by just releasing all the prisoners held there.
Shocking!
http://michellemalkin.com/
as a visceral reaction–which is to be stunned, disgusted, outraged, and full of trepidation about both the long-term effects of this move and what Obama will be doing for a series of encores.
People who have hardened their hearts and resolve against evil, don’t even get that visceral reaction.
Emotions are easy to control, when your will is steel.
Krauthhammer is said to be intelligent. He has no real grasp of the tactical and strategic nature of this war in the US. Being smart is quite useless in that context.
Gee, thanks, Krauthammer, you couldn’t have helped Obama more — your comments are perfectly in sync with his latest: “I make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents, and that the American people understand that this is somebody’s child,” [Obama] said. “We don’t condition whether or not we make the effort to try to get them back.”
That approach, along with Harry’s Reid’s Hillaryesque “what difference does it make” when asked exactly when he was told of the swap, looks to be how the Dems are going to handle this. The results of that poll fill me with dread about the prospects of it working.
On the subject of the inexplicable and polls can anyone explain why Rasmussen has Obama at a +6 favorable rating, the highest its been in months if not years? All the other polls have him in solid negatives since last June. Now one of the biggest foreign foul ups of his administration and he is more popular with likely voters.
Is there is something amiss over at Rasmussen?
Also Krauthammer chose a bad analogy. There are some prisoners the Israelis absolutely will not release. Furthermore the deals are always bad as the murders inevitably go back to killing more Israelis than were redeemed. Thirdly, retrieving captives is one thing, losing a war to do it is another. Furthermore all members of the military know that they are expendable for the goal of mission accomplishment. As James Jones noted, you cannot be a good soldier until you accept the idea that you will be killed.
Ymarsaker is right, Krauthammer’s lack of a military background shows.
Bob from Virginia,
Scott Rasmussen left Rasmussen Reports last year. Who knows what kind of smoke and mirrors (if any) the new management is employing.
http://therightscoop.com/founder-scott-rasmussen-out-at-rasmussen-reports/
“And yet Obama’s approval rate in the poll was 40%, which seems to represent the percentage of Americans who will not desert him no matter what.”
It would be interesting to know how many of that 40% are reluctant to give BHO a down thumb out of guilt/fear of being thought RACIST. I suspect it is at least 5%.
Ymarsaker is right, Krauthammer’s lack of a military background shows.
That’s not what I meant. Krauthammer lacks a spine for much of anything, whether it’s fighting a guerilla war or a conventional war.
This has little to nothing to do with backgrounds and more to do with character flaws. Especially being too near the toxic corruption of DC for so long.
The news is getting out that Bergdahl is a Muslim convert and jihadi of some good standing with his ‘captors.’
And that he used to play with AK-47s along with the other jihadis.
Obviously, his father is a convert, too.
Bowe ought to be on trial for treason in wartime.
His old buddies are not helping his cause. Apparently they’ve got plenty of video footage that’s ready for YouTube and Facebook.
It’s also now apparent that Barry has contemplated this swap for more than two years. It took four-months to pull off.
Releasing the Taliban ‘Pentagon’ was ALWAYS at the heart of Barry’s thinking.
I find it disturbing that so many pundits and commentators who are obviously very intelligent don’t seem to understand who and what Obama is. They appear to assume that he is a typical politician and view him through that lens.
In addition to Charles Krauthammer, I also consider Bill Bennett and Michael Medved in that group. They are in denial that Obama is a Marxist revolutionary, a Muslim sympathizer (if not an outright Muslim), and obviously an enemy of America.
When Obama was elected in 2008, I said, “Now I know how the average German felt in 1932.” I still feel that way, and now we’re several years in, and Obama has filled federal government agencies and courts with fellow travelers, and is purging the military of patriots and replacing them with sycophants.
It is maddening that so many ostensibly intelligent people can fail to see where we are headed, or are unwilling to publicly admit it. This is why I like Mark Levin so much. He clearly understands the extreme danger we are in.
Now “Muslim Traitor Emperor Bozo” (hat tip, another commenter on another blog) has doubled down:
Comrade Hussein has declared he will make “NO APOLOGIES” for releasing the Taliban commanders to prey on our troops.
One of Comrade Hussein’s administration idiots has this to say about the honorable American soldiers who did NOT defect:
“What if his platoon was long on psychopaths and short on leadership?”
Psychopaths. So the poisoned seed of the loathsome Oliver Stone bears fruit. Remember “Platoon”?
Rick, the smarter people are (or think they are), the easier they are to fool.
Y…
That starts with hubris.
They arrogantly assume that they can’t be fooled.
They assume that they’d never fall for a preposterous lie.
Then, over they go.
A lot of experts think their expertise in their narrow field, translates 100% to everything else they see in life.
They aren’t polymaths. Only a few people are autodidactic and polymath in the bargain.
Inter disciplinary study has long been killed in academics.
Hubris will thus lead to Nemesis. The Christian true believers call it anti-Christ and the Beast. Whatever, same concept.
http://a.disquscdn.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/1068/4219/original.jpg
“You Can’t Spell Progressive Without ‘SS””
Krauthammer was one of those looking down their noses at Sarah Palin’s accent, lack of education, etc.
So my judgment of K, there, started a long time ago. He’s merely sealing the deal. No clue, as Neo said of K.
K has no idea what is going on in this country, tactically or strategically. He doesn’t see jack.
The true name of the Democrat party is the Demon + Rat party.