The blog of a North Country Swede!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Frank Rich said what I said and more

Frank Rich, OpEd columnist for The New York Times, wrote in today's paper:

... only if Obama has learned the lessons of the attenuated McChrystal debacle. Lesson No. 1 should be to revisit some of his initial hiring decisions. The general’s significant role in the Pentagon’s politically motivated cover-up of Pat Tillman’s friendly-fire death in 2004 should have been disqualifying from the start. The official investigation into that scandal — finding that McChrystal peddled “inaccurate and misleading assertions” — was unambiguous and damning.

Once made the top commander in Afghanistan, the general was kept on long past his expiration date. He should have been cashiered after he took his first public shot at Joe Biden during a London speaking appearance last October. That’s when McChrystal said he would not support the vice president’s more limited war strategy, should the president choose it over his own. According to Jonathan Alter in his book “The Promise,” McChrystal’s London remarks also disclosed information from a C.I.A. report that the general “had no authority to declassify.” These weren’t his only offenses. McChrystal had gone on a showboating personal publicity tour that culminated with “60 Minutes” — even as his own histrionic Afghanistan recommendation somehow leaked to Bob Woodward, disrupting Obama’s war deliberations. The president was livid, Alter writes, but McChrystal was spared because of a White House consensus that he was naïve, not “out of control.”

We now know, thanks to Hastings, that the general was out of control and the White House was naïve. The price has been huge.
The 36 Hours That Shook Washington
By Frank Rich
The New York Times
Published June 27, 2010
Rich echoed what I wrote in Trouble is, McCrystal never should have happened


You know ... it's another repeat of the age old story of Esau selling his birthright for a mess of pottage:

And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [pottage]; for I [am] faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

And Esau said, Behold, I [am] at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised [his] birthright.
The old men with wealth and power are selling the long term value of our great nation for their own selfish short term greed. And their decisions follow a pattern of greed rather than ethical values ... even to the point of choosing generals who will bend ethical rules as long as it advances the old men's imperialist drive for control of the globe's resources at the lowest possible unit price. Trouble is, this general began to think he could get away with bending rules beyond the limits of the old men with wealth and power.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

The only real enemy we have left in Afghanistan

The only real enemies the U.S. has left in Afghanistan are those of our own making.

That's the short, clear and simple fact.

Al Qaeda has moved to Pakistan.

The conflict on the Obama team is between those who get it and those who don't. Biden versus Petraeus.

Obama gets it. He just won't admit that he gets it.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Obama is sinking in the polls because ...

Obama is sinking in the polls because of things like:

- Unemployment hovers around 10% even after Obama has spent a lot of stimulus money. In other words, the deficit is skyrocketing and unemployment isn't budging ... and he has had long enough to make a difference ... the difference being folks are running out of their unemployment benefits.

- Home mortgages still plague millions of families. (See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/23/fannie-mae-strategic-default_n_623562.html for but one plague.)

- Senior citizens like myself don't like the health care reform at all. We see our Medicare programs being cut and the insurance companies getting a windfall in mandated coverage.

- Then there's the screwup on the containment and cleanup of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill ...

- And his figuring out that he never should have appointed McCrystal to lead the Afghanistan War in the first place, nor kept him on after the leak of "General Stanley A. McChrystal's confidential assessment of the situation in Afghanistan" (see http://spectator.org/archives/2009/10/05/leaking-for-national-security ).

- There's more, like keeping the foxes—Bernake, Geithner, and Summers—in our financial hen house sorting our eggs ... and ... and ... and ...

Obama's missed the big opportunities to show leadership because—IMHO—he does not know the first thing about leadership at this level. And he is not showing any signs of learning anytime soon.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Trouble is, McCrystal never should have happened

You see, after General Stanley McCrystal was directly implicated in the cover-up of slain football player and Army Ranger Pat Tillman's death by friendly fire (see http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0610/Tillman_mother_sought_to_warn_Obama_of_McChrystal.html ) he never should have been given command of the Afghanistan War.

And then with the leak of "General Stanley A. McChrystal's confidential assessment of the situation in Afghanistan" (see http://spectator.org/archives/2009/10/05/leaking-for-national-security ) McCrystal double-downed on his not being in sync with Obama. Wasn't that strike two at a leadership level which means strike one and you're out?

Actually allowing McCrystal to skate on the first two meant Obama was setting himself up for strike three. In other words, it is not about how Obama handled this instance of poor judgment. The fact that McCrystal was given the opportunity to screw up this badly after already screwing up badly actually—IMHO—fostered the lack of respect he showed for Obama and Obama's Afghanistan policy team.

It's like the kid who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar. If you don't respond appropriately you can pretty much bet on the kid doing it again. It's called human nature ... that most of learn at an early age.

McCrystal must have got to the point where he thought the bar of what he could get away with was pretty low ... and up to now he was right. Trouble is, the Obama's "bar" is still too low. McCrystal just went lower.

And the fact that Obama didn't have the command instincts to see this coming ... well, I keep saying, Obama lacks command ability at this level.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Obama is an embarrassment

I don't believe it! Do I laugh or do I cry? Maybe it's laugh at Obama and cry for the "small" people of the Gulf States. (Can you believe BP Chairman of the Board Carl-Henric Svanberg calling folks that?! See http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20100620/OPINION02/6200308)

The next day after the nothing speech from the Oval Office on the BP Deepwater Horizon well gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico and onto the shores, marshes, and estuaries of the Gulf States ... Obama touts his jawboning a $20 million escrow account from BP to cover the costs of the oil spill. (
See http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/06/obama-bp-compensation-fund-/1) Then we learn it is $5 million a year for 4 years. Quoting from the above link:
Obama said BP is committed to ensuring that economic claims will be processed and paid out in a timely manner. According to a White House fact sheet, BP will contribute $5 billion a year for four years into an escrow account. BP is providing assurance that their financial obligations will be met by setting aside $20 billion in U.S. assets.
My god! BP's gross profit from the latest reporting period prior to the spill was $212+ Billion. (See http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=BP+Key+Statistics) $5 Billion a year is walking around money for BP aka chump change. (Walking away money?) They must be laughing all the way to the next shareholders' meeting. We won't know what BP's $5 Billion a year means until we add up the annual damages.

What we do know is that BP has promised reform before and failed to deliver. Read BP Ignored the Omens of Disaster by JOE NOCERA in The New York Times on June 18, 2010.

That should have given Obama more than enough ammunition to wrest the command of the cleanup away from BP. But he obviously doesn't know how to command and Obama received the most from BP in the way of their campaign donations. (See "Obama biggest recipient of BP cash", http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64420A20100505 )

And the person Obama did put in charge of the Federal Government's efforts is proving to be a master of bureaucratic oversight but weak on actually getting the work done. You have to read BP Oil Spill: Against Gov. Jindal's Wishes, Crude-Sucking Barges Stopped by Coast Guard then watch and listen to the accompanying video at the link.

I keep saying it: Obama does not know how to command the large-scale effort like the containment and cleanup of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Thank god we had Eisenhower for the D-Day invasion. (See my two earlier posts: Why Obama is incompetent! and I am getting tired of Obama.

Monday, June 14, 2010

We do NOT have a Commander-in-Chief

Let's face it. We do not have a Commander-in-Chief.

Obama is actually worse than Carter. Carter was at least a Navy officer and a Governor of the State of Georgia. Obama was a community organizer, professor of constitutional law, and U.S. Senator from Illinois.

There is nothing in Obama's background that prepares him for command. He definitely does not fit the leadership mold of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy ... a string of Presidents that took our nation to greatness. Then poof! and we wind up with an Obama ... bought and paid for by large corporations ... banks and oil.
(See "Obama biggest recipient of BP cash", http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64420A20100505 )

Quoting from "Efforts to Repel Gulf Oil Spill Are Described as Chaotic" by Campbell Robertson and published in The New York times on June 14, 2010:

Closer to shore, the efforts to keep the oil away from land have not fared much better, despite a response effort involving thousands of boats, tens of thousands of workers and millions of feet of containment boom.

From the beginning, the effort has been bedeviled by a lack of preparation, organization, urgency and clear lines of authority among federal, state and local officials, as well as BP. As a result, officials and experts say, the damage to the coastline and wildlife has been worse than it might have been if the response had been faster and orchestrated more effectively.

“The present system is not working,” Senator Bill Nelson of Florida said Thursday at a hearing in Washington devoted to assessing the spill and the response. Oil had just entered Florida waters, Senator Nelson said, adding that no one was notified at either the state or local level, a failure of communication that echoed Mr. Bonano’s story and countless others along the Gulf Coast.

“The information is not flowing,” Senator Nelson said. “The decisions are not timely. The resources are not produced. And as a result, you have a big mess, with no command and control.”




As I wrote in an earlier post, "Obama is proving his incompetence as a President of the United States in one word, containment!" (See "Why Obama is incompetent!")

Tuesday, June 08, 2010

I am getting tired of Obama.

If I had the opportunity to talk to President Obama, I would tell him, "You know, Mr. President best thinking by best minds is what got us here."

As Bob Herbert reports in his column today in The New York Times, ">A Very Deep Hole:"More than 15 million Americans are out of work, and nearly half have been jobless for six months or longer."

And the oil from the BP oil well blowout keeps spreading onto the marshes and beaches of the Gulf of Mexico.

While our President is ready to implement the best solution ... as soon as he finds it.

Maybe someone should explain to him how the Allies succeeded in coming ashore on D-Day—June 6th—at Normandy. Talk about how planning gets screwed up by reality! What saved the day was the motivation, ingenuity, and ability to improvise by the soldiers and sailors on the beaches. They didn't have to rely on someone telling them what they could or could not do. They took what they had at hand—even the rifles and bullets off their fallen comrades—as they kept moving forward under the guidance and leadership of their "local" officers on the beach with them. It was up to the generals and admirals to keep it all coming ... men, equipment, and supplies.

If Obama knew how to command he would know that there comes a time in situations like this when you have to turn your local "fighters" loose to do what they have to do ... under the guidance and leadership of the "local" leaders ... and concentrate on keeping the "fighters", equipment, and supplies coming ... as needed ... along the whole front of the battle.

It would appear that there are folks available to do this. We just need a commander to get it done.

(Note: A message emailed to Rachel Maddow at MSNBC today.)

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Why Obama is incompetent!

Obama is proving his incompetence as a President of the United States in one word, containment!

His leadership on the actions necessary to contain the BP oil spill are so inadequate they are laughable.

BP caused the accident. It didn't just "happen." And the criminal and civil investigations will undoubtedly lay this out with great clarity in the months and years ahead.

But ...

Once the accident "happened," it was up to Obama to act decisively and immediately to contain the oil as quickly and as thoroughly as possible BECAUSE the best independent experts were telling us how bad it could get ... decisively and immediately.

One example of leadership in a large scale operation of this type is to treat it as the front line of a battle. The line is divided into sectors and each sector is put under the command of its own sector leader. And each sector is divided in sub-sectors down to the level of the company and the company commander ... and even further under the company commander to the platoon leader ... and squad and squad leader. The responsibility is clearly defined ... and it isn't rocket science. We've been doing it for millenia ... or at least since 300 Spartans defied the tyranny of Xerxes at Thermopylae over 2500 years ago.

For Obama to allow BP to take charge of the containment and—then—clean-up, hiring a skeleton workforce that left large sectors of vulnerable wetlands unmanned ... well ... that's the evidence of Obama's incompetence on containment.