As Michael Falcone and Amy Walter wrote this morning on ABC’s The Note, “Libya is fast becoming a situation with profound political consequences here at home, as ABC’s Jonathan Karl noted on “This Week”: “If Gadhafi is still in power next year, if Libya is still a mess, this will be a central issue for Republicans. They will say this is Exhibit A of what happens when you have a foreign policy where America does not show leadership. You’re already seeing it with some on the Hill saying, look, the French are leading on this. Where is America?”
If that happens, I think the Democrats’ answer to the Republicans is “You’re right, and it’s a damn shame. But this is what happens when an administration manipulates the country into one war and then mismanages it for four years, and prosecutes another war but doesn’t finish it. When you govern that ineptly, it kind of hampers the next guy.”
Besides, what’s wrong with the French carrying some weight? The Europeans are the ones who use Libyan oil!
A few points. One, the U.S. no longer has the financial means to support multiple wars on multiple fronts. Engaging in combat over Libya will require monies for fuel, missiles, etc. Where will this money come from? Will we need to increase the debt cap and issue more T-bills to the Chinese to pay for this? Meanwhile, we’re laying off teachers, police officers and firemen. Pension funds go unfunded. American cities are going bankrupt. Middle-class kids can no longer attend public universities without borrowing heavily. Two, over the past several decades we’ve supplied many of our so-called allies in the region (Saudi Arabia comes to mind) with highly advanced F-15 and F-16 fighter aircraft. Why do we arm, equip and train these nations if they can’t assist us? Are these nations just collecting this stuff to have it? Are they really allies to the U.S.? Why isn’t Saudi Arabia flying combat missions in Afghanistan? Documents released by Wikileaks show that many of the Arab nations want Iran’s nuclear program taken out, but yet they expect us to do the dirty work. If the Republicans are serious about cutting the budget, they can stop the funding these wars that aren’t making it any safer for me to fly from Chicago to LA or preventing some nut job from planting a bomb in a garbage can somewhere. And if we’re so worried about freedom, we can also stop funding all these military programs that support dictatorships.