Great!
How refreshing…first time in nearly a decade, we could listen to a president’s entire speech and feel that, indeed, this is an AMERICAN President, speaking on behalf of AMERICA.
Especially refreshing was the fact that viewers did not have be looking up Barack Obama’s nostrils as he regaled us with his superior eloquence and presence.
On a serious note, recognizing the expected reaction to the speech from both Mr. Trump’s critics and those who have long supported the policy and strategy he outlined, we did note some rather surprising reactions, which caused some concern. Jennifer Griffin of Fox News, one of the best reporters on the national security beat of any news outlet seemed unusually subdued as she noted that the policy toward Pakistan he outlined was not much different than previous presidents.
She noted that Obama went after Pakistan sanctuaries with drones and in recent years had killed as many as 3900 people in such attacks.
Our reaction? The biggest difference between what President Trump said Monday night and what President Obama has said on the Afghanistan situation (or anything else) is that the entire world knows that Trump means what he says and Obama never does except when he doesn’t know he’s speaking before a ‘hot mic’.
The other difference is in Obama’s approach of using drone attacks to appear as though he’s doing something. We believe Obama enjoyed “playing with deadly drones” as toys to satisfy his god-like complex…choosing who to kill, when to kill…with no personal or political risk to himself.
Another difference in the approach Trump unveiled in the war on global terrorism, absent in the policies of his predecessors, is his honest commitment to win and to delegate authority to those at the tip of the spear and to loosen the unreasonable restrictions on those who must do the dirty, dangerous work of war fighting.
Another interesting, to us, aspect of the president’s speech and the Afghan strategy he outlined, was the reaction from Breitbart News, to which its former president, Stephen Bannon, returned just this week.
We have always been pretty positive toward both Breitbart and Bannon. However, in the case of Bannon, on matters of foreign affairs and national security strategies, we’ve found his libertarian impulses a bit too much.
We were especially dismayed at, and critical of Bannon’s contact with a leftwing reporter just in the last days of his White House tenure in which he , disgracefully and dangerously, in our view, undermined President Trump’s strategies toward North Korea.
Whether it reflects Bannon’s return to Breitbart, their critique of Trump’s speech Monday certainly does line up with his thinking on foreign affairs and national security.
Again, like Bannon’s North Korean criticism, Breitbart’s reaction to the Afghan policy outlined by Trump. is not helpful in the debate.
Especially intriguing to us is Breitbart’s assertion that the Trump base is really upset over the president’s “flip-flop” on American intervention abroad
“Trump’s ‘America First’ Base Unhappy with Flip-Flop Afghanistan Speech”
Their conclusion was reinforced by the mercurial and usually annoying to all sides, Ann Coulter, alarmed that Trump’s strategy is a surrender to the dreaded “military-industrial complex”.
As a former Ted Cruz supporters and later and now unapologetic and solid members of the Trump “base”, we disagree with both Breitbart and Ms. Coulter
We are more supportive of President Trump than ever. At last, we believe, America has a leader, and does, indeed, intend to make America great again!
George W. Bush, we believed was also sincerely given to advancing America’s best interests. Unfortunately, it was an effort conducted in the only way he knew how…the Washington establishment way. Eventually, he made himself irrelevant, attempting to pander to a media which can’t stand any but the most committed liberals and an extremely mendacious Democratic Party.
And Barack Obama? Who doesn’t look sensible following a guy who proudly claims to “lead from his behind”…er, excuse, “lead from behind”. actually, the same thing.
So…that’s our take. Don’t know how Colin Kaepernick might feel about it.
Veritaspac.com
Related informative reading from Heritage Foundation:
Trump Lays Out a Winning Strategy for Afghanistan
6 Takeaways as Trump Recommits US to ‘Defeat the Enemy’ in Afghanistan
Changing the rules of engagement is great. I’d have us use the exact ROE that FDR allowed on Tarawa or Iwo Jima. Let the dems and the UN cry about that.