Osama Bin Laden

Joe Biden The “Attack Dog”: “Osama Bin Laden Is Dead, and General Motors Is Alive!”

Ronald 3 Comments

Vice President Joe Biden is clearly a very effective “attack dog” for Barack Obama!

Yesterday, Biden went after Mitt Romney, the presumptive GOP Presidential nominee, pointing out that he wants to take us back to the Bush era of foreign policy and economic policy.

His most effective lines were that due to Barack Obama, Osama Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive, and that had Mitt Romney been in the White House, the opposite result would have been likely!

Wow, that has to really hurt, and it shows how Joe Biden is one of the very best Vice Presidents we have seen in pure rhetoric and defense of the President they serve, and is exactly the right man to have a heartbeat away from the Presidency. It also shows his level of mental and physical strength, and why he should not be dismissed as the potential successor to Barack Obama in 2016!

And Biden reminds us that it is time to celebrate what are certainly two of the greatest accomplishments of Barack Obama as we come to the one year anniversary of the demise of Bin Laden, the terrorist’s death, and the great success of the auto industry.

And, although Biden did not mention another great accomplishment of the Prresident, Rush Limbaugh indirectly reminded us of it, when he referred derisively to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as “just a Secretary”, the biggest bull line of late from the overweight airbag, when everyone knows that Hillary has been an exceptional asset for the country as our chief foreign policy figure, a record which puts her in the line of possible successors to Barack Obama, as much as Joe Biden!

Tragic Anniversary: Nine Years Since Iraq War Began, As Doubts About Afghanistan War Abound!

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Nine years ago today, based on false and misleading evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction possessed by Saddam Hussein of Iraq, the US and allied nations went to war in Iraq.

The effects for the American military have been massive:

4,408 killed in action
31,922 wounded in action

Several hundred or more have lost limbs or part of their skull, and at least one out of four soldiers serving in Iraq have had brain injuries and mental and emotional problems, better known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, from their military service.

In the ongoing Afghanistan War, the number killed stands at 1,912, and wounded close to 10,000, with several hundred severely wounded.

So together in the past decade, about 6,300 American soldiers have been killed, and about 42,000 wounded, with close to 1,000 severely wounded, and again one out of four soldiers affected by PTSD, including Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, who killed sixteen Afghan civilians last week, a tragedy for the victims, but also for him and his family, and for America.

These sobering statistics, separate from the loss of life of hundreds of thousands of civilians in both Iraq and Afghanistan, requires our serious consideration that it is time to say the War on Terror has been won overseas, with the death of three fourths of the Al Qaeda leadership, and the elimination last May of Osama Bin Laden.

It is time to come home, and to heal our veterans,. at any cost, rather than continue spending $100 billion a year or more in an area we cannot make democratic and western style. Out of Afghanistan as soon as possible is an urgency!

Osama Bin Laden’s Delusions About Joe Biden

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The Washington Post reports that Osama Bin Laden had conspired to kill President Barack Obama and General David Petraeus before having the plot cut short by his being killed by Navy Seals last May.

The concept that this was being plotted is certainly conceivable, but it is astounding that Osama Bin Laden had such delusions that he could accomplish this in real time, and also his statement that Joe Biden was “totally unprepared” to be President, so that it would set back the American government if Obama was assassinated.

It is obvious that Osama Bin Laden had no clue as to the depth of experience and knowledge that Vice President Joe Biden represents.

It is a fact that Joe Biden has had more years of experience and leadership in Congress than any Vice President who served before him!

Joe BIden was one of the longest serving US Senators with his six terms and 36 years in office, and he was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee at different points of his tenure in the Senate.

Joe Biden was involved in every major issue and controversy of his three and a half decades in the national spotlight.

What other Vice President can claim this breadth and depth of experience? Again, the answer is NONE!

Most Vice Presidents historically have been nonentities in their significance in the office and in their experiences before the Vice Presidency. Very few stand out historically before their term or terms as Vice President.

The Vice Presidency was an office of insignificance until Richard Nixon made it an important office under President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s, due to Nixon’s own ambition and intelligence, and Eisenhower’s willingness to allow Nixon a major role in government affairs.

Since Nixon, we had Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Walter Mondale, George H. W. Bush, Al Gore, and Dick Cheney as major figures in the Vice Presidency, although only Rockefeller, Mondale, Bush, Gore and Cheney really added to the office and its influence. And Spiro Agnew and Dan Quayle actually subtracted from the office with their mediocre performance in the Vice Presidency.

Earlier Vice Presidents who were influential included John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John C. Calhoun, Martin Van Buren, and Henry A. Wallace, with Calhoun and Wallace the only ones who never made the Presidency.

But NONE of these Vice Presidents listed above had the total combination of years of influence and significance of Biden, although certainly one would not argue the importance of Adams, Jefferson and Calhoun.

The point that is being made is that Joe Biden is perfectly qualified and prepared to take over the Presidency in an emergency, is a real asset to the nation and President Barack Obama, and should not be dismissed as a possible candidate for President in 2016, even though he would be 74 in that year.

Unlikely that Biden would run for or become President, but he has often been taken too lightly, and that is a mistake on the part of his skeptics, as well as the LATE Osama Bin Laden!

Nine Months To Presidential Election, And Obama Is Over 50% Support Against Mitt Romney!

Ronald 1 Comment

With nine months to go to the Presidential Election Of 2012, President Barack Obama has broken a barrier that is very significant.

The President has, for the first time ever in an election poll, the Washington Post–ABC News Poll, hit a majority of registered voters, with 51 percent to 45 for Mitt Romney, his likely GOP opponent. Obama had last been over 50 percent in May in a non election poll, when he was able to accomplish the killing of Osama Bin Laden.

At the same time, among all Americans, Obama has 52 percent to 43 for Romney, and among independents, Obama leads by the razor thin margin of 48 to 47, his first lead.

Obama is ahead of Romney on issues including who would better protect the middle class, handle foreign policy, and fight terrorism.

Romney is seen as out of touch with average Americans, and having not paid his fair share of taxes. But his business experience makes many voters feel that he could handle the economy better, and on job creation, the candidates are seen as equal. Of course, the good jobs report in January helps Obama, and if it continues, could give him a lead over Romney in later polls on economic policy.

The timing looks good for Obama to win the election, unless there is a major economic downturn, or a major foreign policy crisis that he is seen as mishandling.

Robert Gates Challenges Republican Presidential Candidates Who Call Barack Obama Weak On Defense And National Security

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Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates tonight, in an interview on CNN, challenged Republican Presidential candidates who have asserted that Barack Obama is weak on defense and national security matters.

Gates, a Republican who served at the Pentagon under both George W. Bush and Obama, said that when you look at the record, Barack Obama has been very willing to use aggressive tactics against terrorists, referring to the death of Osama Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders.

Gates also said that Mitt Romney’s charge that Obama promotes “Pretty Please’ tactics to adversaries has no basis, as there is nothing wrong with reaching out to enemies and hoping that one can reason with them, get them to do what we want, and utilize the military option only as a last resort. Without actually saying it, he was clear in believing that promoting confrontation is not the best tactic for a President to start off his administration, a slap at Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich, who all seem ready to declare war on Iran on Day One in the White House.

While not willing to take a stand on GOP Presidential candidates, Gates smiled and said he has voted in the past for Democratic Presidential candidates, without specifying whom, and that he would keep his vote this November to himself, refusing to say he would back the Republican nominee because of party loyalty.

Based on earlier assessments of Obama by Gates, one would not be surprised he voted for Obama, who it is clear he has very high regard for. Gates was a tremendous help to Obama in the first two plus years of his Presidency, and will go down in history as a truly decent, caring, patriotic Republican who was willing to help a Democratic President, rather than be petty, vindictive, obstructionist, all in the name of partisan politics, rather than doing what was right for the nation as a whole!

Republican Talking Points On Taxes, Regulation, Growth Of Government, Unemployment Rate, And Fighting Terrorism All Total Lies!

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The Republican Party has been attacking the Obama Administration for three years, using “talking points” about taxes, regulation, growth of government, the high unemployment rate, and fighting terrorism.

According to Republican propaganda, Obama has raised taxes, when in actual fact, he has lowered payroll taxes and small business taxes multiple times.

According to Republican propaganda, Obama has increased regulations of all kinds, while in fact he has worked to get rid of unnecessary, unproductive regulation, while increasing it where needed.

According to Republican propaganda, Obama has increased the growth of government, when in actual fact, he has called for and now is initiating streamlining and unification of government agencies on trade and commerce, to save money and cut bureaucracy and unnecessary “red tape”.

According to Republican propaganda, the Obama Administration has failed to lower unemployment and create jobs, while the facts are that 3.2 million jobs have been created, restoring two thirds of the numbers unemployed due to the economic collapse in the last months of the Bush Administration and the first months of the Obama Administration. At the rate of job creation now, the entire loss of 4.7 million jobs since January 2009, mostly in the first six months of the administration as a carryover from the Bush Adminstration, will be recovered by the end of the term of office. And the high point of 9.8 percent unemployment is now down to 8.5 percent, and may go below the magic number of 8 percent that Obama pledged was his goal in the first term, with further improvement later on.

According to Republican propaganda, the Obama Administration has failed in the fight against terrorism, while in reality, our government has used the drone weapon very effectively against terrorists, both Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and has been successful in killing Osama Bin Laden, Anwar Al Awlaki, and helped NATO eliminate Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi.

EVERYTHING utilized as Republican propaganda for the past three years is based on lies, deceit, mythology, and manipulation of public opinion! Never has an administration been so wronged with all of its accomplishments, of which the above are only a selected few!

But the American people will get the message during the upcoming campaign about what REALLY happened, and who is responsible for the lack of FURTHER improvement, the Republican Party, which only cares about the one percent, and utilizes social issues to draw support from others NOT rich!

The sham is soon to be over, and Mitt Romney will not know what hit him when the campaign is in full swing! And if by some miracle, Rick Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul or Rick Santorum magically becomes the nominee, the attack will be only the stronger!

Mitt Romney Calls Barack Obama An “Appeaser”! What Planet Is Romney On?

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has leveled a charge of “appeasement” upon President Barack Obama in the area of foreign policy!

What a preposterous accusation on the part of Romney! What planet is he on, to attack Obama in his STRONGEST area of policy, defense and foreign policy?

Obama not only has been able to gain the death of Osama Bin Laden, but also 22 other top operatives in Al Qaeda. He has been able to gain the overthrow of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi without one American troop on the ground and no combat losses.

No one around the world in any nation believes that Barack Obama is a “pushover”!

To attack Obama on the economy, one can make some points, but on national security and defense, it is a lame attack with NO merit!

Rapidly Worsening Relations With Iran And Pakistan: A Concern For America And The West

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It is ironic that America has fought two wars in the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, both far from decisive, and now the reality is that the nations most to be concerned and worried about are their neighbors, Iran and Pakistan.

Iran has been clearly developing a secret nuclear weapons program, has been supporting Hezbollah and Hamas against Israel, and has become more and more belligerent as sanctions have been utilized against them. They are, in many ways, a much greater threat than either Iraq or Afghanistan ever were. And now, Iranian students have stormed the British embassy, done property destruction, and installed an Iranian flag in place of the British flag, and as the situation unfolds, it reminds one of the American embassy seizure in 1979 under the administration of President Jimmy Carter.

Pakistan, which harbored Osama Bin Laden for years, and has had connections to Al Qaeda and the Taliban for a long time, and whose secret service has worked against American interests in Afghanistan, has reacted aggressively against a NATO strike in Pakistan, part of an anti terrorist counteroffensive, by cutting off cooperation in allowing US and foreign forces to use their air space and roads in military operations in Afghanistan.

It is clear that relations with Pakistan are rapidly deteriorating, a dangerous situation since Pakistan has over 100 nuclear weapons, and in the wrong hands, could be utilized against India, or NATO forces in the area.

From JFK And The Cuban Missile Crisis To Barack Obama And Al Qaeda, Iraq, And Libya: Statesmanship Personified

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49 years ago today, President John F. Kennedy informed the nation about the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Now, 49 years later, President Barack Obama was able to tell us in the past few months that leading Al Qaeda figures (Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al Awlaki) had been neutralized; that our involvement in the Iraq War is finally coming to an end by Christmas; and that Libya has finally been liberated from its war criminal despot, Moammar Gaddafi.

Is there a link between these two Presidents nearly a half century apart? Absolutely, as in both cases, we have seen wisdom, good judgment, and statesmanship, characteristics all too rare.

Kennedy decided NOT to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union or a direct hit on missile bases in Cuba, but instead to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the greatest crisis of the nuclear age after starting a naval blockade.

Obama, often considered not ready for crisis leadership, has successfully overcome terrorist threats and eliminated leading terrorists; has brought about a final end to involvement in Iraq, a war we did not need to fight; and cooperated with NATO allies in liberating Libya, at a low cost of about $2 billion, and NO American casualties.

Both Presidents have demonstrated strong, assertive leadership in ways that should be emulated by future Presidents. When one engages in war, one must be careful and cautious, and recognize international cooperation promotes a better result than being a LONE RANGER, out to swagger and flaunt American power, without concern as to how the international community perceives the United States.

Hopefully, the age of George W. Bush is a bad memory that will not be repeated by future Presidents, but the lack of insights by the Republican Presidential field is troubling as a sign that we may be in danger of moving away from the statesmanship represented by these two Democratic Presidents, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama.

This is an issue that MUST become a major part of the Presidential Election of 2012, the qualifications and views of the Republican contenders to lead our nation into an uncertain future in international relations.

With foreign policy to be the center of the next presidential debate in November, it is time that the nation focus on and realize that economic policy is not the only consideration in the selection of the next President. We need a statesman on the level of JFK or Obama, and the prognosis to find such a person in the Republican field (outside of maybe Jon Huntsman) is NOT promising.

Barack Obama: The Foreign Policy Success, Greatest Since World War II!

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When one thinks about Presidents and foreign policy, we tend to have the image that Republicans, particularly Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush, are the great success stories, and to look down on Democrats as better in domestic policy than foreign policy, where they are perceived as weak!

In 2008, Hillary Clinton had commercials that made one wonder if Barack Obama was prepared to make tough decisions at 3 AM, in the area of foreign policy, where he was seen as a novice.

Well, here we are nearly three years into Barack Obama’s term, and what has happened?

1. Obama has had Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, arguably one of the very best in American history!

2. Barack Obama has had great success in improving the image of America worldwide through his cooperation with NATO, the United Nations, and the Arab League, a development no one would ever have believed when he became President!

3. Obama has been successful in the withdrawal from Iraq, which just today he announced would end by Christmas.

4. Obama has been able to move toward the idea of eventual withdrawal from Afghanistan, while not recklessly moving in that direction too quickly.

5. Obama intervened, in just the right amount, in Libya, and has now improved his image in that nation, many flying American flags, as Gaddafi has just, after 42 years, been removed finally as a threat to the international order. And it cost not one American life, only about $2 billion in expenditures, and showed that the international community could work successfully together!

6. Obama has been able to go after dozens of terrorists and eliminate them through our intelligence gathering and our drones, including Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al Awlaki, and these two terrorists, along with Moammar Gaddafi, have been successfully neutralized in a period of less than six months!

7. While there are certainly challenges in foreign policy, particularly with Iran, Pakistan and Venezuela, along with Russia and China, one notices a lot of rhetoric, primarily, as these nations and their leaders have realized that Obama is not a person to “mess with”! They recognize that he is one tough “hombre”!

Compare the record on foreign policy and national security of Obama to George W. Bush, and one wonders why Republicans and conservatives refuse to salute and honor the President for his accomplishments! The obvious answer is that they know this is his major strong point of all, and they are not about to give him the time of day!

Meanwhile, the GOP candidates for President sound like morons, as some of them actually are, when it comes to these issues, and it is clear that our foreign policy and national security would be undermined by a defeat of Barack Obama in 2012!

So the job of the Obama campaign team is to emphasize these achievements, and to work to convince the American people that Obama has more concern and better ideas about how to deal with the economic future, than members of the party who will not even allow funding of extra teachers and first responders because it might raise, very slightly, the tax responsibility of the obscenely rich!