Haha, I wish.
Seriously though, the flap about Obama’s comment here in Ames about the lives of 3000 troops being “wasted” is ridiculous. It’s absurd because he was not only right, he was too kind. For the lives of our troops to be wasted, the war in Iraq would have to be a zero sum game – we would have to be no better off no than when we were when we pre-emptively initiated it.
We’re not. We’re a lot worse off. 90% of Democrats and the vast majority of Americans recognize that. I’m willing to acknowledge that is wasn’t the most couth statement that he could have made, but it’s not like he was wrong. I really wish the media would cover this objectively – “was he right or wasn’t he” rather than the whole “did it offend people or didn’t it” narrative that they seem to be adopting. Maybe offending people isn’t the worse thing someone can do while trying to lead a country out of a tragedy.
4 Comments
one of these stupid media realities
In the media world, you can’t say something like this–it’s a gaffe. Just like Howard Dean’s “gaffe” that capturing Saddam would not make us safer.
In the media world, changing your opinion on any issue, in light of new evidence, is considered a sign of weakness and lack of character, whereas in the real world only a jackass is never open to changing his view.
I do not support Obama, but this line of attack against him is stupid. It goes to show that no matter how good a speaker someone is, there will always be some slip of a word or phrase that can be turned against him. All you Kerry critics who thought someone like Obama could never be attacked in this way, consider yourself warned.
desmoinesdem Tue 13 Feb 9:12 AM
we can't offend anyone, their feelings might get hurt
This whole ‘were they or were they not offended’ thing is crap. You know what? I’ve been offended since 9/11 by every stupid thing that the Bush administration has done to portray me and anyone else critical of them as an enemy of the state. How many times has it been inserted into public discussion that if I criticize the administration or it’s policies, that I am aiding our nations enemies? Not only am I offended, I have had fear of my government pushed upon me. That if I speak too loudly, if I resist the governments actions, I will be watched. Organizations I belong to or participate in actions with will be watched and documented.
Should we worry about offending them? Or should they be worrying that the American people are tired of being manipulated and that we can and will bring them to justice for all the profiteering, lying, horrible things they have done?
If only….
iaprogressive Tue 13 Feb 10:46 AM