George W. Bush. Remember him? You know, that evil old Republican who was sending our troops overseas to fight a “war on terror” in the Middle East. Called “the worst president in American history” by many a liberal voter.
Then along came Barak Obama. A handsome, well-spoken Democrat who was going to get us out of the Middle East, end the abysmal Bush tax policies, close Guantanamo Bay, destroy the failed prohibition laws, make everybody in America a millionaire, and rescue puppies from burning buildings.
So Obama was elected (and then reelected), and what happened was a bit different from what was expected.
In his first few months in office, you found out that the Obama administration has conducted more raids against dispensaries than even did Bush’s. Oh and Guantanamo? It’s still open.
You might argue that Obama did in fact withdraw large numbers of troops from Iraq. That may be true, but also note that he has sent many more soldiers to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and has involved in the Libyan Civil War which, (arguably) ended with the death of an American ambassador.
In total, the combined number of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has now reached a higher level under President Obama than existed under the Bush administration at any point between 2003 and 2008. In addition, Obama had authorized 193 missile drone strikes as of April 2011, four times more than what Bush had done throughout both of his terms (the number is now over 250). Estimated 40-50 civilians have been killed in these strikes, and a study conducted found that only about 2% of the drone strikes actually hit terrorist targets.
On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (or NDAA). This law effectively gives the President the power to detain indefinitely, without due process, any person that the NDAA specifies. However, the law’s language is so vague that just about anybody could be detained. Scary, isn’t it?
During his reelection campaign, Obama frequently stated that electing Romney would “be a return to the failed policies that got us into this recession.” This referred to Bush’s economic policies, which involved tax cuts and deficit spending. Well, Obama has not only left the Bush tax cuts in effect, he has continued spending large amounts of money, 152% more per month than Bush in fact, much of which went into the corrupt and ineffective “stimulus packages”.
In a final rip-off of Bush, Obama used the same reelection strategy that Bush used in 2004. However bad you have been, make the other guy look worse.
Two party system? Not even.
Andrew Brennan • Nov 29, 2012 at 6:12 pm
I thought this was a very well written article. Although I supported President Bush and most of his policies, I found it disturbing that Obama criticized all of his foreign policy in 2008, left most of it in place when in office and is now taking credit for the results that followed. Also, President Bush did spend too much money, but it is much less than Obama currently is, although candidate Obama said large deficits were “unpatriotic.” Insightful article.