January, 2010
The Current Administration on the International Stage: Man Up!
April Candelaria
When will the President realize that his campaign days are over? No one cares for “change” anymore because apparently “change” involves a show of weakness nearly unprecedented by such a prestigious and powerful officer. Brave men and women of war are being picked off and murdered while Barack Obama prances between talk shows and other worthless events. Can anyone justify why in the middle of this mess our president flew to Copenhagen to plead for the Olympics to be in his hometown? I mean, it was about time that he finally mentioned our country in a positive light, but it was within a context of such unabashed weakness that it did our nation no justice. And he continues to claim that he doesn't have enough time to address our commanders. How many more brothers and sisters have to die before President Obama decides that it's time for reinforcements?
Furthermore, General McChrystal requested for troops back in August. Because Obama can't seem to go out of his way to address our general, at a most crucial time I might add, he made General McChrystal fly to Copenhagen on October 2nd for a 25 minute conversation. Coincidentally, that was one day after the general appealed to the public about the need for more troops in Afghanistan. If President Obama had responded to the general's plight in a timely manner, he could have avoided the embarrassment of McChrystal's informative public speech. Thank God McChrystal did speak out for our soldiers; otherwise Obama wouldn't have come under fire for ignoring the crisis.
But the big question is, what will it take for the world's most influential leader to make his decision? October was the deadliest month for our troops in the conflict thus far. Barack Obama condemned President George W. Bush for his unwillingness to address the war we really need to fight in Afghanistan and stressed that this is the war we cannot afford to lose. Well, what you are doing right now is not helping out anybody, Mr. Obama. You have all the time and energy for health care legislation that the majority of Americans don't want, but you won't give the time of day to people who have the authority in this war we're in. You had the perfect opportunity to weigh options and get your questions answered by our leading commander, but I guess you only took the time to talk at him. You are making America look weaker by the day and, consequently, boosting the moral of our radical enemies. Consider that if you don't send in more soldiers, we have no way to secure an area and our desire to make the citizens of Afghanistan safer is futile. Generally, people will help those that they feel will stick around. Anyone that has aided us so far fears for their safety because of your inability to confront the issue. If the goal is to win this war, then there is no harm done by increasing our effort to stabilize the region and better our relations with the civilians. If we surrender, American children have died in vain and all those who have helped us will be decimated.