The Shame Game

Or much ado about nothing

OK, Lindsey, these are our talking points

John McCain expressed his "shame" in the way Obama is leading the country, part of what appears to be the renewed Republican gambit that the President has failed America.  Lindsey Graham wouldn't go as far as Mackie and Rudy, but he too expressed his dismay with Obama's policies.  Mackie, being a tireless Cold Warrior, is mostly upset with the way things are playing out in Europe in the battle over Ukraine.  Lindsey is upset that not enough is being done to stem the great "Islamic" threat.

Yep, it seems if you aren't leading this country into war with full battle armor then you are not a leader.  Mackie would have us do battle with Putin, or at least supply Ukraine with much needed military ordnance.  He condemns France and Germany for appeasing Russia, and Obama for sitting idly by while this is taking place.  However, it wasn't that long ago that we advocated carving up a country, the former Yugoslavia, and have been facing the recriminations from it ever since.

Meanwhile, Lindsey seems mostly upset that Obama won't call IS for what it is, the Islamic State, believing that this rebellious movement is intent in establishing a "worldwide caliphate" determined "to convert or kill every Christian and Jew and vegetarian in their way."  I didn't know the would-be "caliphate" is against vegetarianism.  It doesn't seem to matter that virtually the entire Muslim world condemns the actions of IS, Lindsey sees the rebels as part and parcel of the same religion.  He wants a perpetual war against this "extremism" much like we fought against the Soviet Union and the spread of communism during the Cold War.

The shame of it is these two used to represent voices of moderation in the Republican party and showed a willingness to work across the aisle on compromise bills.  Today they offer the same bellicose responses as anyone in the Tea-Party-infused GOP, unable to distinguish from hyperbole and reality.  If they did, they would be responding to Obama's policies, which have been very harsh toward Russia, and recognize IS as a clear and present danger.  The President currently has a war powers resolution sitting before Congress that would allow him to use force against IS, and the administration is now considering arming Ukraine, given the continued encroachment of Russian-backed rebels in the Eastern half of the state.  As it is, the US and NATO have mobilized forces into the region.

Rather than express all this shame and dismay, maybe the Republicans should try working with the President these next two years.  It has grown very tiresome seeing the GOP continually negating his policies, which more often than not are in line with their stated positions.  Unfortunately, they prefer to play to a conservative base informed almost entirely by rabid right-wing talk radio and television.