To see how Democrats look when they try to sound tough, just look at President Obama trying to reverse course in Iraq.

In an interview broadcast Sunday on “Face the Nation,” Obama defended his latest increase in U.S. ground forces into Iraq to beef up the fight against the Islamic State, saying airstrikes had laid the foundation to start rolling back the Islamo-terrorist army’s gains.

“Rather than just try to halt ISIL’s momentum, we’re now in a position to start going on some offense,” Obama told interviewer Bob Schieffer.

“The airstrikes have been very effective in degrading ISIL’s capabilities in slowing the advance that they’re making. Now what we need is Iraqi ground troops that can begin pushing them back.”

So the guy who had no problems criticizing President Bush’s invasion of Iraq as a “dumb war” back in 2002 apparently has no problems with continuing the “dumb war” on his own — and putting his faith in Iraqi soldiers who have so far shown precious little of either the ability or the will to win even a battle on their own.

And if that means feeding more American soldiers piecemeal into a war his predecessor won for him before he squandered the victory, so be it.

Asked by Schieffer if he’s willing to keep increasing U.S. ground forces in Iraq, Obama tried to sound tough.

“As commander in chief, I’m never going to say never,” he said.

That’s another way of saying, “I don’t know what I’m getting us into.”

But the bigger point is, he’s already said “never” — as in he’ll never see American wars as anything more than arguments to pump up his domestic base.

He did it when he pulled American forces of out of Iraq in 2011 and threw away a “dumb war” that had been won.

He did it when he announced American forces would be leaving Afghanistan completely in 2016 – essentially telling Islamist enemies that they can go back to their mud huts and take the next fighting season off, since Americans won’t be around for the one after that.

He built a career – and won a presidency – sounding like Jimmy Carter, now he wants to sound like Winston Churchill?

The guy who said he was against “dumb wars” should know that the dumbest wars of all are the ones that are lost on purpose.

• Author
• Recent Posts

Joe Saunders

Joe Saunders, a 25-year newspaper veteran, is a staff writer and editor for BizPac Review who lives in Tallahassee and covers capital and Florida politics. Email Joe at [email protected].

Latest posts by Joe Saunders (see all)

• Pelosi goes off the deep end when asked if a baby is human; ‘might be the dumbest response in history’ - October 1, 2015
• GOP congressman, whose mom died of breast cancer, explodes: ‘I’m tired of getting lectures from Democrats!’ - October 1, 2015
• Undercover sting catches Hillary worker breaking law: Hispanic voter sign-up using ‘Trump’s ‘bi**hface’ - October 1, 2015

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.