I Thought Wars Were Going to End

I thought the Iraq war was supposed to end, and McCain’s 16 month timetable was too long. Some say Obama hasn’t had enough time to make good on this promise, yet he has had plenty of time to ramp up operations in Afghanistan and start operations in Pakistan and manage to convey a message to North Korea that they can start to be a jerk again.

Now I’m sure there are perfectly good excuses (not explanations) for this, but I’m tired of excuses. I heard bullshit excuses during the Bush administration, and I thought we elected something different (actually, no I didn’t think that; but that seemed to be the general consensus).

But, I do want to give Obama credit in one area where he has turned out to be exactly what we would expect of a liberal Democrat: spending and deficits. Under the Bush administration, we all expected fiscal responsibility. We expected that a Republican administration would mean that the establishment of new government programs would bring with it a way to fund the new government programs. Naive, to say the least.

How angry would I be if a liberal Democrat took office and pulled the same switcheroo, just in reverse? If Obama came into office and balanced the budget, stopped spending money we didn’t have, stopped borrowing from foreign governments, stopped inflating the currency, stopped bailing out failing corporations, and took care of the looming $53,000,000,000,000 in future promised medical and retirement (MA and SS) benefits for which we have no workable way to pay. I’d be hopping mad that, once again, a politician promises one thing and gives us another.

Thanks for sticking to your implied promises, President Obama. Now if only you could stop with the bullshit rhetoric to the contrary.

Related: Ron Paul’s response to the supplemental appropriations bill

In an affront to all those who thought they voted for a peace candidate, the current president will be sending another $106 billion we don’t have to continue the bloodshed in Afghanistan and Iraq, without a hint of a plan to bring our troops home.
…
As Americans struggle through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, this emergency supplemental appropriations bill sends $660 million to Gaza, $555 million to Israel, $310 million to Egypt, $300 million to Jordan, and $420 million to Mexico. Some $889 million will be sent to the United Nations for so-called “peacekeeping” missions. Almost one billion dollars will be sent overseas to address the global financial crisis outside our borders.

Absurdly expected.

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