President Obama has found himself between the rock of ‘anti-invasion’ that he claimed during his campaign and the hard place of justifying US indifference to dictatorial slaughter in the Middle East. Somehow the responsibilities of actually being the president seem different than they do when campaigning for the job. Let’s look at a couple other campaign positions that have changed since 2008.
| Topic | Before Election | Since being in office |
| Gitmo | A damaging symbol to the world that must be closed | Still open; can’t find a better alternative |
| Warrentless Wire Taps | They are illegal, erode the civil liberties of American Citizens and will end when I am president. | They are essential to national security and the government is immune from prosecution |
| Foreign Policy on dictators | “Saddam Hussein is brutal, but poses no imminent or direct threat to the US”, so we shouldn't be involved militarily. | We can have ‘kinetic military action’ against middle eastern dictators without congressional approval if/when the president decides |
| Economy | The reckless policies of the Republican administration are to blame for our bad economy | We have gone further into debt under Obama than all previous administrations combined; unemployment is at a post WWII high. |
I have to chastise Republicans who are simply looking for a reason to criticize, which is exactly why politics are so distasteful to most voters and why congress has an approval rating below 20%. True enough, Bohner railed against Obama for sitting on the sidelines while ‘innocent people were slaughtered’ and then railed against Obama for committing troops in a region unconnected to a vital US interest. We would feel better if Bohner actually offered a reasonable suggestion for the US position rather than prepared a list of criticisms for every eventuality.
Like most national policy issues, the Libya situation is more complicated than it seems at first glance. Doing nothing while a ruthless dictator slaughters people fighting for reform and freedom doesn’t square well with our moral compass. Yet a realistic view of the world reveals that the US cannot police every injustice in Darfur, Mogadishu, Rawanda, Bahrain, etc.
Personally, I like the idea of letting someone else take the heat for a change. We are the most criticized nation in the world for ‘going it alone’ and invading countries like Iraq ‘illegally’. OK, let’s see how much France, Germany and the Arab League are willing to invest in this just cause. Libya, which ranks 9th in the world in oil production, exports most of its oil to Europe (coincidentally France was one of the nations most eager to implement the no-fly zone).
Despite politics, we do need to understand what the finish line looks like for us in Libya. It’s both entertaining and disconcerting to watch administration spokesmen try to dance around reporters’ questions like “What is our goal?” and “Is taking out Gaddafi part of our mission?” Yeah, this policy stuff is a lot easier to master when you don’t actually have to be responsible for it.
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