Hypocrisy
No one has ever been labeled “an exaggerator” who blamed Congress members of open hypocrisy. It appears this quality is necessary for survival and when found in abundance, can propel House or Senate members to great heights of leadership. Our country has been so blessed.
President Obama’s decision to join in the military action in Libya has brought out the full rage of hypocritical peacocks, each strutting their finest feathers. Senator McCain says the President did not move fast enough nor has he moved decisively. The fine Senator either has not learned anything from the Iraq debacle or he enjoys the spot light more than talking sense. Senator Luger, who normally is a source of reason, criticized the President for not having a plan to get out and knowing how much it will cost. I wonder whether that criticism applied to Iraq too? Senator Paul, true to his libertarian views, demands that Congress and only Congress decide in matters such as Libya. I wonder where Senator Paul has been these past three months. Congress cannot agree upon a Continuing Resolution or how to approach the long term deficit and debt albatross. A Government shutdown is facing all of us.
You may ask what qualifies these positions as hypocrisy and not incompetence or their rock solid hard core beliefs?
There is certainly an element of core belief. Each of these Senators would approach any question of military use in a similar way. To that extent, we are seeing their core beliefs. But there is more.
I favor hypocrisy over incompetence because each knows their positions were not possible in this particular situation. Never the less, they also know their positions will have a sensible ring to their constituents.
This is a disservice to the Senate which should be deliberative and take a longer term view when compared to the House. It is also a disservice to the American people who for the most part do not know whether the Libyan incursion was a good idea or not. These inoperable comments shed no light upon the wisdom of Obama’s move.
And this sought of brings us full circle. There is little interest in Congress to do what is right (even if it is wrong) on this issue or any other. Congress’ driving energy is about getting reelected and only by accident helping to shape a bright future for the country.
The call to enter the Libyan rebellion is not straight forward and the wisdom of it may be known only years in the future. Congress does have a real and important role in determining what further resources should be committed, and do deserve to be a full partner in deciding that.
That is, if they really want to be a partner.
This entry was posted on March 30, 2011 at 10:42 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: congress, John McCain, libya, rand paul, richard luger, tea party
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April 7, 2011 at 9:36 am
Writing in Foreign Affairs in 1988 then Deputy Director of Central Intelligence Robert Gates described the impact of intelligence-sharing with the Congress in sweeping and–from the standpoint of the executive–problematic terms ….As a result of intelligence-sharing with the Congress . …Most specialists writing about the change in recent years in the balance of power between the executive and Congress on national security policy cite Watergate and Vietnam as primary causes.