Dallas News - "Obama owns this war ... except when good things happen "

[TomCADem]

The right wing cable media gets to have it both ways. Its Obama's failed national security policy when we expect the so-called war on terror to fail, but when it yield the death of Osama Bin Ladin, then President Obama was merely carrying out President Bush's master plan to capture him.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/05/obama-owns-this.html

Remember back in 2009 when President Obama announced his plan for a troop buildup in Afghanistan? Go back and read all the conservative (okay, and liberal) commentary at the time. Conservatives were quickest to pin that war on Obama's forehead like a sticky Post-it note. They were certain he would fail. They were certain he'd get his butt kicked. They were dedicated to inflicting as much political suffering on Obama as President Bush suffered during his years of dithering over Iraq. And Afghanistan.

Obama's strategy -- beefing up troop levels, establishing more forward operating bases, unleashing Special Operations forces and relying more heavily on drone strikes -- has yielded its biggest of many successes: the death of Osama bin Laden.

Remember: In their words, Obama took ownership of Afghanistan, for better or worse, with his 2009 strategy. And he who owns Afghanistan automatically gets tarred by whatever mess develops in neighboring Pakistan.

Not so fast, the conservatives now are saying. Bin Laden's death wasn't because of what Obama did. It was because of what Bush did.

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. It's a head scratcher, ain't it? Rec.

[Kdillard]

2. These are the same people who claim credit for job creation when they were

voting against everything the President and the democrats proposed. They love to claim credit for any success and deny their failures.

[leftynyc]

3. You know, that would be a great ad

Showing one pub after another claiming it was now Pres Obama's war and then trying to claim anything good was a result of bush's policies. People understand and hate hypocrisy.

[tanyev]

4. Dallas Morning News?

Wow.

[otohara]

7. My Thoughts Too

color me shocked

[brentspeak]

5. Geographically and/or ethically challenged writer: Islamabad is not located in Afghanistan

Notwithstanding what GOP stooges in DC or on Fox News say or don't say about Obama's Afghanistan strategy, the facts remain that

a) Osama was not found/killed because of our presence in Afghanistan

b) Yes, Obama, as CIC, is fully responsible for any and all successes/failures in Afghanistan.

[andym]

6. GOP misinformation is not far from "1984" levels.

Unabashed lying and propaganda does have a great American tradition-- see the history of William Randolph Hearst and yellow journalism. But recent work by the GOP on talk radio, Fox and the mainstream media impressively approaches "1984."