I can't say I'm saddened by the death of Anwar al-Awlaki. Actually I should be exuberant for his death has accomplished three things all the GOP talking points could never have done. It will absolutely destroy the last vestige of understanding held for Obama and his administration in the American Muslim community; Ground Zero Mosque be damned. It will split the Democratic Party along not just polite and subtle policy differences but out and out blood rage that that party hasn't seen since the days of LBJ. Lastly, it will irrefutably strip away any pretence of coherence in domestic or foreign policy the Obama may still hold in the public mind. How does an administration that cannot even voice the phrase "war on terror" gun down an American citizen who was never accused, much less convicted of overt terrorism? Al-Awlaki was a guy with a YouTube account not an AK47. Where is the coherence between the solemn pontificating about the rights of the accused imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay whose legal rights can only be protected in a federal court in New York City and the slaying of an Al-Qaeda propagandist who happened to be an American citizen.. This administration has nominated for the federal bench candidates who would find al-Awlaki's videos and writings to be protected free speech.
Much is made of the rift in the Republican party between the Tea Party and establishment Republicans but that rift is apt to look like an intramural touch football game compared to the upcoming rage from the loony left of the Democratic Party. In the coming weeks we can expect calls for Obama's impeachment. He will, not by any Republican, but by members of his own party be called a murderer and a war criminal. He may have all but assured himself a challenge to his nomination. Of course everyone noticed that it was Obama, not his press aides, not some functionary in the Department of Defense who rushed to the microphone to announce al-Awlaki's death. He should bite his tongue!
Wow. I think you're right about this. I can't say I've ever understood the Obama policy, foreign or economic, other than to say he speaks whatever is most expedient at the time.
ReplyDeleteLately I've got the feeling that we really, seriously have nothing but loonies running the joint. No joke.