Chicago Illinois, President Obama’s hometown, is one of four cities in contention for the 2016 Olympics. Just last week he stated categorically that he would NOT be going to Copenhagen to make a pitch for Chicago because cajoling Congress to pass his healthcare plan was more important. (56% of American oppose his plan according to the latest Rasmussen Poll) Well, that was last week. President Obama has once again reversed himself and now says that yes, indeed, he will go.
Now some say its fine that he goes, and that it will create jobs if Chicago gets the Olympics (7 years from now). Others argue that at a time of war and recession this is a distraction from much more important, pressing issues (and after all look at that huge carbon footprint Air Force One will leave hauling a bunch of Chicago cronies over the ocean to Copenhagen and back).
The thing that disturbs me is that this is but the latest in a trend with this President of saying one thing, and then turning around and doing just the opposite.
A much more important example is the recent reversal on Afghanistan. After saying innumerable times in the campaign, and then as President, that winning in Afghanistan was absolutely critical to the security of our country and the safety of the American people, and that General McChrystal (the guy Obama hand-picked to head the effort in Afghanistan) would have whatever resources he needed, including troops, Obama in a surprise to just about everybody (except maybe his radical, blame-America-first, peace-at-any-cost supporters) reversed everything he had said, and now says he is “re-thinking” Afghanistan.
And who can forget after saying he wanted to “look forward, not backward” and wasn’t going to prosecute American interrogators for using “enhanced techniques” against detainee-terrorists, the Obama Administration announced that it would indeed go after these people who were trying to get information to keep America from having to endure another September 11th-like attack (which so far has been successful – so far). Interestingly, seven former CIA directors, who served under both Republican and Democratic Presidents, released a letter strongly opposing the Obama Administration’s actions, warning that “the investigations could discourage CIA officers from doing the kind of aggressive intelligence work needed to counter terrorism and may inhibit foreign governments from working with the United States.”
Yes, Republican presidents have reversed themselves too; remember George H. W. Bush’s “read my lips, no new taxes.” But Obama’s reversals are getting ridiculous. We deserve leadership at the Presidential level, and at the Congressional level, that we can believe in, and that we can depend upon. But we’re not getting it. It’s time for a change.
