Vindication for Blaming Bush?

Rarely a day goes by that the Democrat party or the drive-by media doesn’t peer backwards through the telescope of time and say, “This is President Bush’s fault!” Whether it’s a sputtering economy, prolonged unemployment, staggering debt, or a national tragedy involving guns, the mantra from the liberal media is unwavering: blame Bush. In many instances, they are ignoring facts, obfuscating self-damning evidence, or distorting reality the way a black hole bends light.

But there is one claim that would be frighteningly true if they were to make it: Our struggle to deal with the nation of Iran, its anti-Western theocracy, its treacherous influence on Syria and Iraq, and its grand and obscenely dark designs to obtain and use nuclear weapons in order to destroy Israel are not only existential threats to the Middle East stability and peace, but foreshadow a new age of terrorism in which the fledgling democracies of Iraq and Afghanistan are immolated in a rapacious march towards regional hegemony.

But the American public, and international allies, are war weary, and rightfully so. Many people look at the intervention in Iraq as not only predicated on distortions, hyperbole, and outright lies, but also a dangerous distraction from an enemy far more dangerous, organized, and vituperative. In plain language, our involvement in Iraq has spread American forces, finances, and will perilously thin. At a time when we need internal solidarity and global cooperation, we lack the needed resolve and international backing.

It is one thing to saber rattle in times of relative peace, when the horrors of flag-draped coffins and graphic, debilitating injuries recede into our collective rear-view mirrors. It is quite another to call for unilateral action as we wind down two major, yet interconnected theatres of war.

Make no mistake about: Iran is a threat that needs to be dealt with vigorously and aggressively, with a steadfast global alliance and unwavering commitment. Yet, it is our very involvement in Iraq, a war we arguably could have avoided, that has mired our determination and sapped our willpower, making us incapable on multiple levels of confronting the evil in our midst. 

When we put ideology above logic and foresight, we pay a steep price. Ironically, this is the same path the Obama Administration has taken us in the domestic sphere. If Mitt Romney is elected as our new president in November, he will have to straddle the divide between staying true to a philosophy of keeping America strong, and judging the empirical evidence that overwhelmingly points the way ahead, a Solomon-like decision last faced by John F. Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis.