Trying to Make Obama as Stupid as Bush

The recent spate of talking points centering on calling President Obama out on his supposedly wimpy backing of the protesters in Iran are obviously trying to pressure the President to act as recklessly and impulsively as their own albatross-in-chief, George W. Bush. By pulling a Bush and inflaming the country even more, turning the Muslim world against us once again and probably going into another pointless war would conveniently divert attention from their disaster in Iraq. Republicans like Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham suddenly care more about the protesters cause in Iran than they did the Americans who protested during the run up to the war in Iraq. In case you forgot, Republicans, conservatives and neo-cons laughed at the hundreds of thousands of American citizens who took to the streets to correctly protest the reckless bloodlust that killed over 4,000 troops, untold hundred of thousands of innocent Iraqis and destroyed the American economy. Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could force Obama to make the same stupid mistakes? You betcha!

The talking points also mention that Ronald Reagan never ran from a fight when he dared Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall" in Berlin. What fight? Unfortunately the simplistic Republicans conveniently forget that glasnost was already taking place, other countries, most notably Germany itself were already doing the heavy lifting in regard to uniting the east and west and Berlin wasn't the war zone that Tehran is right now. It was a good speech but it was just stating the obvious. Of course looking through the gauze of Republican revisionist history, the media seems to believe that the speech was the sole reason the cold war came to a close and Reagan was the Abraham Lincoln of Western Europe.

President Obama's carefully worded statements and levelheaded handling of the situation obviously is not enough for the right. They want impulsiveness! They want fighting words! They want misinformation. They want another Christian Crusade! No wimps here! Rattle those sabers! Bomb-bomb-bomb Iran! More war! More terrorism! More Bush-like only without Bush! More blame to throw on the Democrats! Yeah, that's the ticket!

Apparently the Republican playbook is to make sure that Obama is pushed into repeating all the mistakes George W. made, no matter what the cost. Then they will be free to voice their righteous indignation at the ineptitude of the Commander-In-Chief. However Frank Luntz, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele and the other poobahs in charge of the message have overlooked one important difference. Barack Obama is no George W. Bush. Thankfully.

Stu Kreisman is the author of Dick Cheney's Diary available here, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

Comments

[atlanta1962]

Yes he is

[victor the crab]

So you're telling us that Obama is as bad as your hero Dubya? How low are you trying to go to discredit Obama, huh?

[TommyMcCarthy]

Make Obama as stupid as Bush??


Heh..... as they say in Kennebunkport...
"Ah....yuh cahn't GET they-ah from hea-yah"

tm

[wayicit]

The Right wing have nothing more in their tank but fumes of criticism.
They are falling into a deep hole, and they know it.

[theman575757]

I just hope Obama does not fall into the Republicans Trap of saying to much in the Iranian troubles. Then the Republicans which they always do will turn and spin and say Obama was meddling and should not have been involved in Iran. Just another code for the Rush Limbaugh "I want the President to Fail". Wake up Mr Obama and Democrats.

[GreatNews27]

They're not having to push that hard, are they? Detention forever with no charges, state secrets, no accountablity, no investigations of blatant crimes, no prosecution for obvious crimes. Looks like their playbook was written by Obama.

[victor the crab]

Let's also not forget that when terrorists bombed the barracks of sleeping U.S. Marines stationed in Lebanon in 1983, the great Ronald Reagan, who never backed down from a fight, pulled them out of the region. That's something Reagan's bumlicking sycophants on the right never seem to mention.

[RepugsOut08]

Bravo! Well done!

[MarianneEvans11]

Agree! BRAVO! Thank you very much! Say it again, Barack Obama is no George Bush! Thank God!

[vargoz1]

You're absolutely right about Obama not being George Bush. Bush actually got things done the 6 months he was in office. What has Obama done???

[e4phil]

Democrats attacked and tried to sabotage Bush for most of his presidency. Now republicans are returning the favor. Hopefully Obama can handle the nonstop criticism he'll be getting for at least 4 years

[citizensrus]

I remember the reactions of the White House to criticism. Even his own administration were of afraid of retaliation if they criticized Bush. All criticism of Bush was quickly suppressed.

[wandering girl]

sorry, but Bush deserved every single criticism for his arrogance, ineptitude, simplistic intellect, and fear-mongering political pandering.

so far the Republicans have criticized Obama's wife, dog, children, food, and home state. that they believe they have justification to also criticize his pragmatic, diplomatic statesmanship in the global arena just goes to show how completely irrelevant they are as an entity.

[doctarr]

When are we going to learn, democracy has to come from within a population.

We've tried cramming it down the throats of other countries long enough. It didn't work in Viet Nam, it didn't work in Iraq, and if we interfere now, it won't work in Iran.

The Iranian people have to learn that they alone have to change things, just as we in these United States learned over two hundred years to fact our own oppressor.

Barack should express outrage, if there is evidence of tampering in the Iranian election, which there clearly was. But he should reiterate that it is an Iranian problem. Maybe if other countries see the Iranian people stand up for themselves ( just as we saw the French do in their own Revolution preceding ours ), they will understand the concept that power does come from the people.

[3fingerbrown]

Hey, doc, you got your history mixed up. The American Revolution came before the French Revolution.

About all this talk about democracy, here's a thought: What if the majority of the Iranian people don't want democracy, at least in the wide-open, free-market style we know in the U.S.? Many assume this is a fight for democracy, but do we know for sure? The majority might like the form of government they already have, but don't like the guy running it. Or they might want something completely different. For all we know, the majority might even like their president, even if he did fix the election. We just don't know yet.

That's why Obama's approach is best: Before we wholeheartedly commit to the cause of the revolutionaries, we must know exactly what they're fighting to change, the quality of their leaders, if they have true grassroots support, and if there's the will to fight it out to the bitter end.

Speaking of the French, these were the same questions Louis XVI needed answered to his satisfaction before he committed his military to the cause of the American revolutionaries. Yeah, there's a romantic quality to any revolution, and there's an instant impulse to want to help the plucky little guys against the corrupt big guys--but right now, Barrack I, like Louis XVI, is right to hang back and see what this revolt is really all about.

[Chris S]

King Louise couldn't have cared care less about our cause. He cared about weakening the British. The reason he waited so long was because he thought we didn't have a chance at winning until near the end. He didn't want to start anything with the British and risk the safety of the French. The same is true about Obama. He is waiting to see if the Iranian protesters have a chance at actual reform, because if they don't he is afraid of inciting more anti-American sentiment by supporting a lost cause. I think he is being hypocritical. He needs to follow the principles he talked about in his Egypt speech.

I love how you called doctarr out though...incredible how ignorant people are...and how despite their ignorance they still want to tell others what to do.

[Chris S]

hahaha I can't believe you are trying to act like you know anything about promoting freedom and you don't even know how you got yours. It's sad, I am afraid you aren't alone in your ignorance. This is a big reason why our freedom is slipping away.

Obama should at least back up the speech he gave in Egypt and call out the obvious corruption in the Iranians are protesting. I think he is being a little spineless. I can see his point but it doesn't make it right. If obama believes in the principles he spoke about in egypt he should show more support.

[dynwitch]

And once again, the Republicrats show how much they hate America. They would do anything to put themselves in power again, including ruin all chances for democracy in Iran. They don't really care a rat's @ss about the Iranian people. Pay no attention to the Republican warmongers, Iran!!! They represent a very small portion of Americans, getting smaller everyday. I guess everyone has their own Mullahs to deal with.

[oldgeek1]

The Obama administration from the top down is smart and pragmatic. They almost always are cautious and prudent yet clear of thought and objective.

President Obama is articulate where President Bush was not. President Bush often made statements that were seen as at best shallow at worst a bad snow job.

While President Obama is not perfect and one could disagree with his decisions, he does not insult your intelligence.

[atlanta1962]

President Obama is articulate when he has a telepromter that works.

Uh ah uh ah uh ah uh ah .....I wont raise your taxes

[altohone]

The protests being used as justification for sanctions and war is horrible.

Neither has ever led to freedom or democracy.

It's too bad it's not just Republicans doing this too.


Clinton's man Lanny was doing this today on HuffPo (in a piece ostensibly about the new Obama/Clinton foreign policy no less).


This should all be seen from the viewpoint of average Iranians.
How the GOP, "centrist" neocons, and Israel want to spin it should be of no concern.
That they get the first and last word in the corporate media should be enough for an investigation to be launched into the organized deception of US citizens... which is still a CRIME.

Hurting Obama is just a bonus in this ideologically driven effort.

[Pie7]

I concur!

[drh002]

War never lead to freedom or democracy? What was that little war that started in 1776 in the British colonies of North America? Or how about that little thing in the pacific from 1941-1945 with the Empire of Japan? And what about that little dispute in mainland Europe from 1939-1945?

Didn't those little disputes result in the removal of tyrannical governments and their subsequent replacement with democracy?

Or am I totally mislead?

[altohone]

I'm sorry but I believe you have been misled.

Europe and Japan became democracies due to our actions after the conflict, and only because the people of those countries made it happen with our help.

Our independence was home grown, not imposed.
Things would be quite different if France came over to rid us of Britain.

Please focus on the issue at hand instead of distracting with simplistic generalities in completely different circumstances than what the neocons are once again trying to foist upon us.