Tuesday, May 01, 2007

It's funny, we continue to hear Republicans invoke the name of Ronald Reagan as if to stir up some warm and fuzzy sentiment to counteract the feelings Bush/Cheney instill.

Yet, the list continues to grow of former Reagan administration officials who have gone public with harsh criticism of this current administration (a few examples here, here, here, here, here). The latest being Reagan's former National Security Agency head, who recently delivered a weekly address for the Democrats (!).
Over the past couple of years, the President has let it [Iraq] proceed on automatic pilot, making no corrections in the face of accumulating evidence that his strategy is failing and cannot be rescued.

Thus, he lets the United States fly further and further into trouble, squandering its influence, money, and blood, facilitating the gains of our enemies. The Congress is the only mechanism we have to fill this vacuum in command judgment.

To put this in a simple army metaphor, the Commander-in-Chief seems to have gone AWOL, that is 'absent without leave.' He neither acts nor talks as though he is in charge.
<..>
No effective new strategy can be devised for the United States until it begins withdrawing its forces from Iraq. Only that step will break the paralysis that now confronts us....The bill that Congress approved this week, with bipartisan support, setting schedules for withdrawal, provides the President an opportunity to begin this kind of strategic shift, one that defines regional stability as the measure of victory, not some impossible outcome.

I hope the President seizes this moment for a basic change in course and signs the bill the Congress has sent him.
Odom not only advises Bush to sign the bill, but he categorically states withdrawal is the first-step to an Iraq solution. Again, a former Reagan official. What are the odds that Reagan himself would be supporting Bush/Cheney right now? In many ways, GW makes Reagan look like Chomsky in comparison.

No comments: