Health Reform Before Security

Obama's dangerous obsession with health reform has taken him away from one of his most important core Constitutional duties: providing for a common defense. Unless you are talking about health reform, expect anything you say to fall on deaf ears at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Things are not going well in Afghanistan, Iraq is beginning wobble, the FBI is chasing bad guys in Colorado and New York, and Obama, yet again, reduced our missile defense capabilities by canning missile defense plans in Poland and the Czech Republic.

In May of this year, President Obama, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, and Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Robert Mullen fired General David McKiernan for speaking the truth: We need more troops in Afghanistan. Now, almost 4 month later, Admiral Mullen is starting to echo Mckiernan's words: more troops are needed. This is a truth that no one wants to hear and would require the Administration to once again amend their iron clad AF-PAK strategy, or as the Dude would say, "It's a Swiss fuckin' watch." Unfortunately, AF-PAK's claim to fame is seeing the two most deadly months in the entire war on terror, 90 dead in 60 days. And while the Administration is not calling it a war, since American soldiers are dying in record numbers, I will. This is a war and it is one that our government i.e. Obama-Pelosi-Reid are ignoring at great peril to those fighting it and to us as well. I will say this, at least Pelosi paid some attention to the CIA earlier this year, but probably not the kind they wanted or needed in the middle of a war.

And what of missile defense? Some think this is a cold war concern and waste of money in today's strategic environment. I disagree. The AQ Khan network, proliferation of missile parts and technology, and the possibility of an Iranian nuclear weapon leads me to believe otherwise. While Iran does not yet have missile capability like North Korea, they are developing advanced capability in their Shahab series rockets and the February 2009 launch of the Safir rocket into space is a clear indication of their ability to develop long range weaponry.

But Putin and Russia have successfully bullied Obama into going back on his April 2009 promise to counter the Iranian missile threat. However, that promise also rang hollow as Senator Joe Lieberman in the same month stated that administration's plan to slash missile defense spending was a step back. So I doubt if Obama's stance was ever anything more than just gilded words from a gifted speaker --- which seems to be a reoccurring theme for this President.

Finally, with memories of the 9/11 anniversary fresh in our minds, the FBI is currently searching for bad people trying to do bad things in the country. But not to worry, Senator Chuck Schumer is in favor of the PATRIOT Act, again -- after spending 6 years trying to kill it. I know if I were a New Yorker, I would be breathing a sigh of relief in the face of that clearly opportunistic policy shift. Bets on when he will shift back? Other bets on if the New York Times will ever question his consistency or lack thereof? By the way, I'm putting out an amber alert on Code Pink and the rest of the anti-war movement. Where are they? Or was Cindy Sheehan right? It was not an anti-war movement, it was an anti-Republican movement. Man, soldiers do make good props.