Disarray

It’s no longer a matter of perception based on one’s partisan leanings – the disarray in the Obama administration is not only highly visible to the president’s growing host of critics, but to just about everybody not wearing rose colored glasses.

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The latest outbreak of disorder – the controversy surrounding Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his less than flattering assessment of the Obama administration’s handling of the war in Afghanistan is yet another example of the havoc abroad in Washington. The nation got a glimpse of this accomplished warrior’s obvious discomfort with the President’s often inscrutable behavior vis-à-vis the war in Afghanistan in a Rolling Stone piece and his opinions were viewed by the President and his minions as an act of insubordination requiring the immediate removal of the general from his command. McChrystal is said to have tendered his resignation and according to Britain’s Telegraph newspaper the names of several possible replacements include Marine General James Mattis, known among his Marines as the Warrior Monk. If true, this episode of Obama disarray could have a happy ending. Jim Mattis drove his troops in Iraq to a quick and near bloodless triumph in Iraq and he enjoys not only the respect of his Marines but their absolute loyalty and affection. I have to wonder, however, if the same conditions that led McChrystal to take issue with Obama’s feckless behavior vis-à-vis the war in Afghanistan would not lead to a similar outcome with Jim Mattis in command. The Warrior Monk shares Douglas MacArthur's conviction that there is no substitute for victory and his every instinct would be to charge ahead, find the Taliban and destroy each and every one of them. On the record, that’s contrary to the Obama mode of combat. Moreover, as former commander of all NATO forces in Afghanistan, he knows the terrain and has a firm grasp of the many problems inherent in fighting a war in an area where many other nations such as Britain and Russia were forced to retreat with the tails between their legs, driven out by a motley crew of fierce warriors who have beaten every nation foolish enough to go wandering around in the almost impenetrable wilds of Afghanistan. Here at home, the Administration’s incredibly inept mishandling of the Gulf oil spill, its adamant refusal to accept assistance from foreign nations who have successfully coped with similar disasters, and its attempts to put a temporary stop to all offshore drilling in the Gulf have only served to make a bad situation far worse. In his almost incoherent speech on the crisis he demanded that the Senate pass the so-called Cap and Trade bill, despite the fact that this ill-conceived sop to the most rabid environmentalists would further cripple the domestic economy, drive hosts of American jobs to foreign shores, and in Obama’s own words cause energy costs to “skyrocket.’’ Viewing all of this one is forced to concede that the nation’s welfare is not among Obama’s concerns. I am forced to agree with those who insist that there is method in all this madness and that what Barack Obama is attempting to do is reduce this nation to a pile of rubble which he can then reassemble into his vision of a Marxist paradise where we can all be equally miserable. In just six short months, the people of this nation will have an opportunity to apply the brakes to the Obama agenda by ridding Capital Hill of hordes of Obama’s minions in the House and Senate, and then keep a sharp eye on their replacements to make sure they do the job we sent them to do – stop Obama from wrecking this nation and restoring government, in Lincoln’s words, to rule of and by the people.