Pres. Obama claimed his agenda was just too full for him to attend. It's funny. In early October when his schedule was full, but he was able to find time to travel to Copenhagen with his wife and Oprah Winfery to lobby for the Olympics to come to Chicago. Not to mention, Obama has travelled abroad more during his first year in office than any other US President. It makes one wonder where his priorities are.
The US was a major player in the Cold War. Doesn't it look bad that the US President is absent from this important global celebration? The US had no representation in the event at all. At the very least, he should have sent Vice President Joe Biden to represent the United States. Sure, we run the risk of him opening his mouth and making a gaffe. But we've had 8 years of that; one more time is not going to hurt anything.
The second thing that I have observed is Obama unable to make a decision regarding the war in Afghanistan. Granted, those are tough decisions to make. But that's what a US President needs to do. President Obama receives daily briefings so he should know everything that is going on. He has received opinions and advice from our generals, experts and his staff for the past several weeks. It has now come to the point where it has been made clear there are only a few options to take. Mr. Obama wants to devise another option for him to take.
Let me read between the lines here. As a typical politician, he is looking for the magical option that will make him look good politically, first and foremost. Winning a war against terrorism and reducing the risk of losing lives is second to that.
Put simply, what we need here is leadership. With leadership, you have to make a decision. Sometimes, making no decision can be more harmful than making the wrong decision. Mr. Obama, it's time to shit or get off the pot. Traveling to Asia and reestablishing ties there has its own merits. But the Afghanistan situation has been going on for months. Whatever action we take there will need time to implement. And right now you are wasting time by not making a decision.
And one last observation... anyone notice, and correct me if I'm wrong, that the current time table for all troops out of Iraq is in 2011. Wasn't that time table set by the Bush Administration? Didn't Obama say he was going to bring the troops home from Iraq first thing once in he was in office? Did he not say he was going to focus more on Afghanistan as well? Time will tell.
Correction & Amplification: Turns out, Obama did send Secretary of State Clinton to Germany for the 20th Anniversary remembrance. However, I still think that looks pretty weak that every other country's top leader was there but the United States'.
Correction & Amplification: Turns out, Obama did send Secretary of State Clinton to Germany for the 20th Anniversary remembrance. However, I still think that looks pretty weak that every other country's top leader was there but the United States'.
