Politics lives on lies.
Scott Taylor, editor for Esprit de Corps, exposed one of them here: http://thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/152293-taylor-delusional-naivete-revealed-in-afghanistan
Obama was repeating this fabrication last night in the debate: The West is leaving Afghanistan in 2014 with a job well done, having taken all the steps necessary to permit the Afghans to become self-reliant.
He doesn’t believe it as he says it, the audience doesn’t believe it, and Afghans don’t believe it. Afghanistan is a brutal mess and that will still be the case years from now. Individual good deeds and acts of heroism by soldiers notwithstanding – and I truly don’t want to belittle those – we’ve learned the same lesson the Soviets learned three decades ago.
Speaking of the debates, from Big Bird to bayonets, the media and the Internet are doing their very best to convince us catchy sound bites actually have any relevance to who should or shouldn’t be president: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/uselection/article/1275705---horses-and-bayonets-follows-big-bird-and-binders-as-debate-catchphrase
If you’d told me a sitting president would ever use the phrase, “The 1980s called, they want their foreign policy back,” I would have dismissed the idea as ridiculous – a line pulled from an Adam Sandler movie. A humiliating moment for Obama.(Romney and Obama did have solid jokes at this event, though: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/10/19/alfred-e-smith-dinner-the-top-10-quips-video/)
Last presidential point: We’re all supposed to be shocked – SHOCKED – that Mitt Romney flaps in whatever direction the wind is blowing. Tough, conservative Mitt during the nomination process, but mild Mitt for the presidential debates. Which one is the real Mitt? Both – a pragmatic, career politician who probably has some principles, but no feelings so deeply held he’ll allow them to come between him and the presidency. Who is the real Mitt? Best guess, look at his record. Who is the real Obama? Best guess, look at his record. Or defer to the Onion: http://www.theonion.com/articles/nation-tunes-in-to-see-which-sociopath-more-likabl,29946/
