Image by: theantiwarrior.com
Remember this guy?
It is funny, because a lot of people advertise their political beliefs with bumper stickers, don't they? Within weeks of Clinton first taking office, there were "Impeach Clinton" bumper stickers beginning to crop up. There were plenty of other anti-Clinton stickers as well, as there are some anti-Obama bumper stickers presently ("How's your "hope" and "change" working out for you?"). I recently saw one that had this to say:
One Big Ass Mistake America
Notice that if you isolate the capitalized letters, they spell out Obama?
Well, that may be the case. But I've got to tell you, there was a far bigger mistake that occurred in this country for four looooong years, just prior to that. His picture is shown above. He was the one in change when all the huge problems that many Fox News Nation conservatives suddenly began paying attention to on January 20, 2009 really began to swell up. The budget deficit, the national debt, the bank bailouts and the failing economy, corporate greed and scandals on an epic level, very high gas prices, very low housing, a poor economy, and a general crisis in confidence. Yup, suddenly, many conservatives were bothered by these things when President Obama was sworn in, and given their short attention span, found him the most suitable target and scapegoat. Of course, one of their biggest complaints was America's involvement in not one, but two wars.
Now, anyone who follows this post regularly, or perhaps knows me personally, knows that I am not a big fan of President Obama. I disagree with him on a whole range of issues, perhaps particularly his signing of the NDAA, which was essentially an attack on the long-established, constitutional right to habeas corpus. Also, I am not a fan of the drones. He is excellent at making speeches, but somehow, this too often does not translate to action in important things. I think that he has been especially sluggish in terms of environmental protection.
And I could go on, but that is not what this post is about. This post is about something else entirely.
There is another bumper sticker that I began to see not long after Obama took office. It shows the man pictured above, smiling, and it asks, simply,
"Miss Me Yet?"
Yes, I am not a fan of President Obama, but I certainly would take him over what came immediately before him any day, and this is where I have to make the distinction between what I dislike about President Obama, and what some others, such as people who would put such a bumper sticker up, or perhaps might express such sentiments in their own words, would feel.
You see, Fox News nation conservatives dislike President Obama, as well. They are entitled to their opinion, of course - but you will note that I fall quite short of saying that I respect that opinion. Because they see only what they want to see, and they remain willfully ignorant about a very distasteful brand of militant stupidity that has come to dictate far too much influence on American politics. Part of what I do not like about President Obama is that he seems to accept this, and to reconcile it, in effect, by trying to work within this framework. Perhaps, even, cater to it on some levels. Not that surprising, since much of the money that he and his party receives are from the same sources that the rival party receives (although not necessarily in the same amounts).
Now, I mention all of this because, the great sweep of political amnesia that has become the prevailing strand of our political thinking, and which so strongly discredits Americans throughout much of the rest of the world (where attention is not yet as short or as self-serving as it is here) sometimes has us conveniently forgetting some simple truths. I want to remind people that today marks a very important anniversary.
Today, March 19, 2013, marks the ten-year anniversary of beginning of the Iraq War. It has cost vast sums of money, at a time when that money might have made a much more positive impact here at home. But that is not all that it cost.
It cost lives, well over four thousand American lives, and many tens of thousands of Iraqi lives. Also, well over thirty thousand Americans returned home wounded, never to be the same again.
Some Americans claimed to feel safer with Bush as President, and specifically, with the militancy of the Bush regime's approach. But Iraq and Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with September 11th. Even key members of the previous administration themselves, down to a man, admitted that much.
Perhaps, it was supposed to be a display of American power. Instead, like Vietnam, it showed American weakness. A war that the nation, and it's President, approached with swagger, ended up being a fiasco. More Americans, far more, died after the infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech then before. The war dragged on for many long years, and there are still troops there now, although officially, the war is over. There were Americans executed publicly, limbs put on public display in Fallujah, and videos of Americans, and other Westerners, being beheaded. There was Abu Graib, and many accused Americans of inhumane acts. American credibility suffered even further, and it had already taken a hit when the stated reasons for war - the infamous Weapons of Masss Destruction (WMD's) were never found, because they never existed.
The United States had commanded a certain measure of respect before those years. Before this war. But it was the President prior to Obama who was, in very large measure, responsible for such a quick decline, following the overwhelming sympathy and show of support that the world shared with America following the tragedy of September 11th.
That is something that is hard to forget. Nor should we forget.
The single greatest debacle of that failed Presidency - which is still the worst that we have seen certainly in modern times, if not in the entirety of American history - was the war in Iraq. The individual blunders and idiotic mistakes, such as that "Mission Accomplished" speech, or the speech before Congress, the American people, and the world that used an outright lie about Saddam's pursuit of Uranium in Africa to make a strong case for an unjust war, the "Bring 'em on" statement, among quite a few others, are only symbols of the overall greater evil (yes, I said evil) that the war represented.
So, let me say it again: today marks the ten year anniversary of one of the biggest mistakes that this superpower had ever committed. Ten years, and we are still paying the price, literally and figuratively. I do not think it would be a stretch to say that this country will never be the same, and that it is not any better for having engaged in that war, although those who were in favor were militantly so, and tried, sometimes violently, to silence dissent.
Let us remember that democracy works only when debate exists. When it does not, when it is stifled, it no longer is a democracy. All the talk in the last ten years that America is no longer a democracy was lent credibility by the anti-democratic spirit that allowed that huge mistake to happen, virtually unchecked.
One big ass mistake, America, indeed! Maybe just the wrong initials. But Unfortunately, Shit Happens!
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