
This here man is not being candid with you or me. In fact, he just lies his ass off. This is not unexpected of a White House press secretary. But in Gibbs’ case, he is taking it to the next level.
Yesterday, Gibbs asserted that the challenges the U.S. is facing in Afghanistan are the blame of former President George W. Bush. Of the war Gibbs said; “This was underresourced, underfunded, undermanned and ignored for years.”
This was interesting for two reasons. The first is that if I recall correctly, the U.S. won the war in Afghanistan back in 2002. In 2003, Nato assumed control of the effort. The situation worsened under their watch, not Bush’s and the U.S. Granted, the U.S. is the major player in the fight, and now must find a way to get the situation under control, again. But to cast it at the feet of Bush is a typical abdication of responsibility from this administration.
Like last week when their revised budget numbers on the deficit were announced to be in the toilet, and they somehow found a way to blame Bush, even though they committed trillions of dollars in federal obligations in their first seven months in office.
If Gibbs wants to talk about the war being underfunded, maybe he should bring up the fact that Obama voted against an appropriations bill to fund it in 2007.
The second reason it is interesting however, is that Gibbs speaks as if the White House actually understands how to win a war. If history is any guide, this president makes poor decisions on these matters. For instance this president was wrong on Iraq. Dead wrong.
“I personally think that, if there are ways that we can constrain and condition what the president is doing so that, four to six months from now, we are beginning a phased withdrawal while making sure that the troops on the ground have the equipment that they need to succeed, then that is going to be the area that I’m most interested in supporting,” said Obama in January of 2007. This was when Bush annouced the surge in Iraq. You know, the surge that was responsible for winning the war.
Had we listened to Obama then, or his idealogical daddy Ted “Let’s Cut funding for Iraq” Kennedy, we would have pulled out of Iraq and ceded control to the terrorists who were there at the time. Thanks to the surge, we killed the terrorists and established democracy.
Now the war in Afghanistan is getting sticky and will require a firm commitment from the U.S. in terms of troops and money. Barry’s friends on the left don’t like this. Despite the characterization of Afghanistan as the “good war” during the election, the fact is the left wants no part of it. But Obama cannot be seen as the guy who lost it, so he has to do whatever is necessary to come out victorious.
So he will follow the recommendations of the Pentagon (after all, what the hell does he know?) while having his mouthpiece above blame Bush for everything that goes wrong.