barack obama – Page 10

You Lie, Mr. President

I couldn’t bear to watch the President’s why-we’re-in-Libya speech as it was broadcast: it’s Spring, after all, and my garden needs planting. Priorities, priorities, priorities: so important, in politics and in life. We all have our priorities: I have mine, and the President of the United States has his. As an indication of the latter, … Continue reading

High Costs May Not Be the Worst Aspects of the Attack on Libya

As if getting enmeshed in a third simultaneous war—with costs soaring in a time of economic peril, yawning budget deficits, and national debt—when no vital national interest was at stake wasn’t bad enough, that is not the worst of it. As in George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, analysis of the stated reasons for President … Continue reading

An Administration Out of Control

To hear Rep. Ron Paul deliver this address, click here. Last week the Obama administration took the United States to war against Libya without bothering to notify Congress, much less obtain a constitutionally mandated declaration of war. In the midst of our severe economic downturn, this misadventure has already cost us hundreds of millions of … Continue reading

Obama Lacks Clarity on Afghan War

“Let me be clear,” President Barack Obama is fond of saying—and his desire was on full display two years ago when he announced a “comprehensive, new strategy” for the war in Afghanistan. Obama laced his speech of March 27, 2009, with nine uses of the words “clear” or “clearly,” but his protestations about clarity looked … Continue reading

Liberals March to War

Well, that didn’t take long. Now that President Barack Obama has intervened in Libya, his army of apologists is mobilizing to defend his “humanitarianism,” declaring that his war isn’t at all like Bush’s wars. It’s something new, and different – and admirable. I’m not at all surprised. Are you? The anti-interventionist veneer of most American … Continue reading

Libya’s Slippery Slope

Barely 24 hours after the first Allied air strikes, President Obama’s high-flying Libyan adventure is losing altitude. The smoke hadn’t cleared from the first air strikes when the head of the Arab League complained that “what happened differs from the no-fly zone objectives. What we want is civilians’ protection, not shelling more civilians.” Russia and … Continue reading

Obama’s Child Soldiers

“When they came to my village, they asked my older brother whether he was ready to join the militia. “He was just 17 and he said no; they shot him in the head. “Then they asked me if I was ready to sign, so what could I do—I didn’t want to die.” This is the … Continue reading

Obama Inches Closer to Libya Intervention

Under growing political pressure at home, President Barack Obama inched closer Monday toward committing U.S. military power to at least protecting areas under rebel control, if not ending the 42-year reign of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. For the first time in the three-week-old crisis that looks increasingly like a civil war, Obama spoke about taking … Continue reading

Kerry Calls for Regime Change in Libya

As Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi vowed to hang on to power, a close congressional ally of U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday called for an end to his regime. “The Gadhafi government’s use of deadly force against its own people should mean the end of the regime itself,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, … Continue reading

Washington Fumbles Egypt Messaging

Only four days ago, the administration of President Barack Obama appeared to be siding with the hundreds of thousands of Egyptian demonstrators calling for a quick end to Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year reign, even if it didn’t call explicitly for the Egyptian president to resign. But with the protests in Cairo and other major Egyptian cities … Continue reading