Finally, after nine long years, the loss of some 4,500 American lives and untold Iraqi lives, the wounding and maiming of so many others, and the expenditure of nearly a trillion American dollars, the fruitless War in Iraq will end at the end of 2011, according to the recent announcement by President Barack Obama. Our President will also be keeping, albeit belatedly, a major campaign pledge to the American people. One would think we all might breathe a sigh of relief, and even give our President some praise for finally doing the right thing, the sensible thing, and indeed the essential thing for our national interests.
But not the Republicans, in Congress and elsewhere. They could not wait even an instant to blast Barack Obama for his decision to finally end this misguided war, which was based on false premises (such as Iraq's non-existent possession of weapons of mass destruction) and real aspirations (such as our wrongful desire to control Iraqi oil reserves.) But, No, even before our President formally announced his decision, the Republican wolf pack was nipping at his heels, criticizing his decision for all sorts of arcane and invented so-called reasons to delay ending one of the longest and costliest wars in our history.
Take, for example, New Hampshire Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, who had appeared to be a sensible Atorney General of our former home state before her election to the United States Senate. There was Senator Ayotte on CNN News telling Wolf Blitzer how wrong it was for Barack Obama to pull the remainder of our troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011. Her reasoning was somewhat vague and strained, however; the Senator seems to feel that somehow global U.S. interests will be mysteriously damaged by doing the right thing, the sensible thing, the timely thing, and ending this wrongful war. When asked for specifics by Wolf Blitzer, she sort of 'vagued out' and and merely repeated the Republican litany that Barack Obama can, indeed, do nothing right in their eyes -- and, indeed, he never will.
Putting all of this in perspective, one cannot help but recall the frequent statements of the Republican Minority Leader in the Senate, to the effect that the primary goal of his party must be to unseat Barack Obama from the White House in 2012. It has become painfully clear that there are no steps the Republican party is unwilling to take to achieve that goal, no matter how low, mean-spirited, inappropriate, or even dangerous those steps may be. The reality that in the process they are making this nation ungovernable does not appear to matter one whit to the Republican leadership and particularly their Tea Party faction.
Were that not the case, the Republicans might actually have given Barack Obama some well-deserved recognition for ending this costly and fruitless War in Iraq after so many painful years. Our President has truly termed the Republicans The Party of No. It would be even more appropriate and accurate to term them: The Party of No Sense and No Shame!
