On bin Laden anniversary, Obama, Romney campaigns come out swinging
“ one year later, with the presidential campaigns in full
swing, the Navy SEAL operation that killed the al-Qaeda leader has found its way to the center of
a quickly intensifying political battle between Obama and the GOP presidential
front-runner Mitt Romney (R)…
“…
sparring over the Obama campaign video comes as some influential voices —
including former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) — have spoken out against politicizing the raid that
killed bin Laden.
“I do worry a great deal that this
time of year that somehow this gets spun into election politics,” Mullen said in an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams set to air
Wednesday night. “I can assure you that those individuals who risk
their lives — the last thing in the world that they want is to be spun into
that. So I’m hoping that that doesn’t happen.”
Cassi Creek:
As do McCain
and Mullen, I sincerely hope that the men and women engaged in the defense of
this nation, do not find their selves becoming
politicized by the various political machines and campaigns that saturate the
media with just such unjustifiable behavior.
Every POTUS I
can recall since FDR has trucked off to the then-current battlefields for
planning, instruction, morale, or other purposes. Of course, it is political in nature. Everything a first-term POTUS does is
political. Obama is behaving just as
Bush did when the opportunity presented.
He is combining his formal job with campaigning. As a sitting president, his appearance in a
combat theater is a huge morale booster for troops who have had to withstand
multiple deployments. Promising them
support as they return home addresses the realities they all know they will
face. For those taking off their uniform
to retire or to return to a nearly non-existent job market. Those promises may
not be easy to fulfill. Congress will
have to get off its collective ass and work for something, for a change. The economic conditions that nearly blew the
world economy apart are still uncorrected – the same people who did the damage
are still able to manipulate the financial system. They will pay their puppet Congress to
preserve the status quo.
In the
meantime, the troops should be off limits to the propaganda machines. No elected official and no candidate should
involve active duty or reserve troops in campaign ads.
Coming back
to the political cartoon above – it may be low class to gloat about this
matter. But after sitting mostly quiet while
the GOP/teavangelists belittled and blocked every effort Obama has made, it
must feel wonderful to be able to rub their noses in it. Where can we buy one of those t-shirts?
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