Obama, Like Clinton Before Him, Is Starting to Show Some Wear
The deal with the GOP when concerning the Afghan war? Looks suspiciously like the Big Sellout of progressives by Bubba when he pushed through NAFTA:
It was 16 years ago this month when Clinton assembled his coalition with the GOP to bulldoze public skepticism about the trade treaty and overpower a stop-NAFTA movement led by unions, environmentalists and consumer rights groups. How did Clinton win his majority in Congress? With the votes of almost 80 percent of GOP senators and nearly 70 percent of House Republicans. Democrats in the House voted against NAFTA by more than 3 to 2, with fierce opponents including the Democratic majority leader and majority whip.
To get a majority today in Congress on Afghanistan, the Obama White House is apparently bent on a strategy replicating the tragic farce that Clinton pulled off: Ignore the informed doubts of your own party while making common cause with extremist Republicans who never accepted your presidency in the first place.
I'm starting to feel the creep of doubt overtake my initial optimism about the President. I still want to believe in the change that he promised a year ago and, for the most part, I still do. In spite of Clinton's many screw-ups, I'm still a HUGE Bill Clinton fan and would rather have a flawed, potentially corrupt Liberal who can read and write and pronounce big words like "nuclear" than have a savant, frat-boy idiot and his dark Sith lord from the Viet Nam Architecture in charge.
I am, however, ashamed of Clinton for NAFTA. More so than for the blowjob he was impeached over. And I think Obama's Afghan War is going to be ultimately more damaging to us than the under-stimulating Stimulus Package or his backroom deal with Big Pharma. No one remembers that LBJ got us substantive Civil Rights - they remember he was the guy who proliferated Viet Nam. No one remembers that Nixon opened commerce with China - they remember he was a liar and a criminal.
President Obama should think hard about selling the Progressives out on this. I'm sure he is. I hope he's right.










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