Are You Safer Now Than You Were Four Years Ago?
THAT’S the question we should all be asking. Republicans, especially, have been obsessed with national security and 24/7 paranoia over The ENEMY striking again.
Now that Osama bin Laden has been killed and al Qaeda’s threat has been reduced — not stopped, just mitigated — the non-stop “Be Very Afraid” meme has faded.
And according to Republican “logic” (if that’s not an oxymoron), President Obama deserves full credit for this. Our increased sense of safety and security can be laid entirely at the feet of President Barack Obama.
Think about it. For the seven-plus years of George W. Bush’s post-9/11 presidency, everything Bush-Cheney did was credited for “keeping us safe.” The Patriot Act, eliminating Habeas Corpus, invading Iraq:
“Welcome to the post-9/11 world. This is how it is now. Get used to it.”
“Have we had any more terrorist attacks since 9/11? OK then, quit whining.”
“Whatever President Bush is doing, it’s working.”
So accordingly, whatever President Obama has been doing since January 2009 — it’s working. We’re safer. When was the last time you saw a screaming headline about a probable terrorist attack? Or a hysterical warning that “Our harbors and railroads are wide open to a terrorist attack!” “ANYONE could poison our water supply, killing thousands of Americans!”
It’s been awhile. This proves beyond a doubt that being the global bull-in-a-china-shop was the wrong approach. It’s much much better for America to use Soft Power — that exacting combination of military might AND diplomatic finesse.
Go ahead and call it “apologizing for America” if you must.
But hey — it’s working.
Labels: America safer
posted by Tom Harper @ 2:02 PM
9 Comments:
I can't wait for our resident peckerfreckle to post some YouTube video "disproving" this.
Oh I feel so much safer as long as it's happening over there and not here....yet. Thanks to Obama's fantastic foreign policy you know killing Bin Laden and all. But then again that's like giving Nixon credit for us landing on the moon.
Considering how many top Al Qaedas have been assassinated since Obama took office, I feel much safer now than I did four years ago. Some people in our country are more interested in making the world a safer place than they are in keeping our citizens afraid. I'm glad one of those people is the president of the United States.
Yes, all he does is give his approval for special operations, but... so what? He obviously knows how to appreciate and use the intelligence he receives, unlike those who ran the country before him.
How in the hall can anyone feel safe when we have right-wing skinheads shooting up movie theaters, schools and Burger Kings? The Tea Baggers pose a far greater threat to us than al Qaeda and the Taliban combined.
Ever since I found a rock by the side of the road, there have been no foreign terrorist attacks. Coincidence? I don't think so.
I'm with Mr C. We have way too many American Taliban ginning up the fear here. Just the racism I have had to put up with because of the way I look has scared me more than a little. Doesn't make me stay indoors and cower but still, it's kinda scary when you get people coming at you with vile racist shit, for no other reason than you happen to be in their space at the time.
the only one dividng the country is Obama
Our friends on the right are grasping at any straw they can come up with to try to discredit Obama and divert attention from what unsuitable, self-serving dolts they've got as presidential and vice presidential candidates.
The fact Obama and Democrats have done not only a pretty good job, but a consistently better job on national security and foreign relations has to be sticking in their collective craw big time. That's well deserved because of the way they backed an incompetent president a perverse U.N. ambassador and a vice president who was equal parts devious and evil.
JR: She fooled you. She actually typed something out instead of just linking to a video.
Snave: I agree, we're safer because of so many al Qaeda operatives being eliminated, and even more importantly, there's the perception of being safer. There's nowhere near the paranoia that there was during Dumbya's reign.
Mr. C: No doubt, teabagger extremists and skinheads pose a larger threat than any foreign enemy. But when the Homeland Security Secretary tried to warn us about that, 3 years ago, the Right accused her of slandering our troops, because her report warned that some soldiers were joining these KKK/survivalist-type groups.
Randal: That's not a rock, it's a -- Oh My God!
Jess: And these American Taliban are a protected species. If you try to warn about them, you hate America and you hate our troops, since a few soldiers have joined these Far Right hate groups.
Anonymous: Thanks for the laugh.
SW: I think our friends on the Right are showing their desperation. I'm sure it sticks in their craw that this socialist Muslim has done a better job of national security by "apologizing for America" than Dumbya did with all his swashbuckling and saber-rattling.
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