Obama: ‘I Was Elected To End Wars, Not Start ‘Em’

[ProSense]

Obama: ‘I Was Elected To End Wars, Not Start ‘Em’

President Barack Obama acknowledged Friday at a press conference in St. Petersburg that he was elected by the American people "to end wars," but emphasized that the grave nature of the purported chemical attack in Syria has left his administration with no choice but to take action.

"You know, over 1,400 people were gassed. Over 400 of them were children," Obama said. "This is not something we've fabricated. This is not something we are looking or using as an excuse for military action."

"As I said last night, I was elected to end wars, not start 'em," he continued. "I've spent the last four and a half years doing everything I can to reduce our reliance on military power as a means of meeting our international obligations and protecting the American people. But what I also know is there are times where we have to make hard choices if we are going to stand up for the things we care about. And I believe that this is one of those times."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-i-was-elected-to-end-wars-not

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. So, let me see if I have this correct...

Pres. Obama is offering that we must commit an act of war on a country that has not attacked us while also offering that he was elected to end wars. Is this not simply another manifestation of the idea that we must "burn the village to save the village"?

[bobduca]

3. You don't have your loyalty beanie strapped on tight enough

pull harder on the chin strap until it makes sense!

[Nuclear Unicorn]

14. The truly loyal have theirs

nailed on.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

7. "burn the village" -- Or "Burn 'em all. Let God sort them out."

He and the neocons won't be satisfied with attacking just one more country.

[snagglepuss]

29. WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. What don't you understand about that?

Honestly some people.

[Cryptoad]

2. Assad is a threat

to the Liberal state. Edicts of Liberalism proclaim that the Protection of the Liberal state is far more important than the individual rights of its citizens..... There is nothing more Liberal than delivering Assad his retribution due!

[Vinnie From Indy]

4. "Protection of the Liberal state is far more important than the individual rights of its citizens"

Well, you have some famous compatriots in regard to your ideas.

The keystone of the Fascist doctrine is its conception of the State, of its essence, its functions, and its aims. For Fascism the State is absolute, individuals and groups relative.

Benito Mussolini


Good luck with that!

Cheers!

[Cryptoad]

21. You need to study

Liberalism a wee bit.... If you are going to claim to be one you need to know what it is you are claiming to be!

[Rex]

27. Nice pwnage!

[NuclearDem]

11. Dr Fate did it a lot better.

[Cryptoad]

22. I must have missed

the Dr Fate vs Assad addition .......!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

5. Remember WW II when we had 2 Democratic Presidents who actually wanted to end a war?

1941 - Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941

1945 - Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945, shortly after the Germans surrendered on May 7, 1945.

[tridim]

6. And he did, and he hasn't. Next. nt

[NuclearDem]

12. Status of forces agreement ended Iraq.

Afghanistan still not over and in fact doesn't have a specific end date in sight.

[zipplewrath]

30. Nor Pakistan...

There's no end in sight for Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia....

It isn't clear if or when the drone war will ever be over.

[YvonneCa]

38. Didn't Bush agree to SOFA after...

...great pressure in Congress from people like Biden, Kerry etc.?

[NuclearDem]

40. Yep, true.

[bigtree]

8. there's a sense of resignation to his language

. . . to his own internal conflict between his stated principles against these sorts of military actions and his feeling he needs to do 'something.'

I don't think he's given due consideration to other options for addressing the attacks as he has the military option. He's stuck with that position, I suppose, and there's a kind of defensiveness to his explanations which belies any confidence he's seeking to convey about his concerns and intentions.

I hope he's fully aware that he could be wrong about this, and, caution doesn't carry the same risk as resolve.

[joshcryer]

20. That's what I feel, too.

I think he made the red line statement thinking that the 98% of the world who agrees with the position would actually support such a statement after the US spent so much of the past decade at war.

This to me is a more promising sign he'll take it to the UN and wash his hands of it, as he should do.

[woo me with science]

9. Doublethink.

It would be so interesting to be teaching 1984 during these times, to hear how the discussions go...what is said and what is left unsaid.

I would love to see a discussion board just filled with teachers who are in that position right now, to see what they are thinking and experiencing and hearing in their classrooms.

[avaistheone1]

26. War is peace.

Obama says so.

And he says the NSA is not spying on us.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/08/21/obama-lied-nsa-scans-75-of-american-internet-traffic/

[cali]

10. ugh. that does nothing so much as make him look hypocritical

[ProSense]

13. Actually,

"ugh. that does nothing so much as make him look hypocritical"

...it makes him look like he understands why he was elected.

Obama Aide: President Isn’t Likely To Strike Syria Without Congress’ Approval
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023609333

[cali]

15. good. I'm glad he won't strike if the Congress votes against it.

I actually expect it to narrowly pass, but we'll see.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

17. It's be awesome if it passes but he decides not to strike, finding a different solution instead.

I think that would actually strengthen his hand.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

16. "Isn't likely"? That's as big a sham as beaing a weather forecaster.

"You said there was only a 10-percent chance of rain and now I'm soaked!"

"That would be that 10-percent I mentioned."

(NOTE -- no weather forecasters were harmed in the snarking of this snark.)

[ProSense]

18. No one can stop you from waiting for rain. n/t

[dflprincess]

28. "...it makes him look like he understands why he was elected"

Nice that he finally figured it out - hope he pays attention to his revelation.

[zipplewrath]

31. Doesn't appear to be understanding

I'm not sure one can say he "understands" when he's not doing it. He may recognize it, but he doesn't seem to understand it.

He's basically saying that he knows he's not doing what he was elected to do, but we can all go screw ourselves anyway.

And really, a more accurate statement would have been to say that he was elected to BOTH end wars AND not start them. But he has struggled with BOTH goals.

[phleshdef]

25. No it doesn't. It makes him look like a human being facing a tough predicament.

Agree with his position or not, but I believe he is in a situation where he doesn't want to act but feels like he has to because of the scale of the massacre that's going on there right now and no one else is doing shit about it.

[joshcryer]

19. Rec in the hopes this is a sign Obama is backing down.

A simple policy speech condemning the UN for inaction is all he has to do.

Then it's on Russia and he can take the moral high ground.

[ocpagu]

23. Oh, look... we finally agree on something.

Yep, that's the best way out he has on this and an opportunity for him to still take the moral ground. Hope he's wise enough to understand it.

[joshcryer]

41. Been saying it from the beginning.

For what it's worth I actually agree with Obama's "red line" comment and I think you might disagree with it. I think the world has spoken on chemical weapons (as well as cluster munitions, mines, and incendiaries). The US is on the right side of the chemical weapons convention, unlike those others. I think he jumped the gun, politically, but morally, objectively, it was correct.

Had he simply said "repeated chemical weapons use on a large scale would cross a red line" he could've said "strike one" and walked away. Then if they keep happening Russia would be compelled to act (regardless of who was doing it).

A snarky reporter might say "Repeated large scale attacks? Why?"

"One would be bad, of course, but such an act could possibly be done by rouge elements, several would indicate a breakdown in the utilization of these weapons, regardless of the actors."

One thing politicians do is they leave themselves a lot of wiggle room. Obama, being the leader of the worlds largest military, probably didn't consider that he had to leave himself some wiggle room.

I stand by the "red line" statement and I think chemical weapon use is illegal and immoral (and yes some DUers have argued their use in Syria was legal).

[ocpagu]

24. BTW...

...when a president needs to say "This is not something we've fabricated. This is not something we are looking or using as an excuse for military action" to try to sound credible, you know something went very wrong with US foreign policy...

But, good to see he still remembers he was elected to end war. Time to start fulfilling his promise.

[rug]

32. Simple, don't start them.

the grave nature of the purported chemical attack in Syria has left his administration with no choice but to take action.

He always has a choice. If he actually believes he must act, there are options other than military strikes.

This plea for sympathy and understanding is not very persuasive.

[brooklynite]

33. The war in Syria started two years ago...

...just like the war in Libya started before we got involved. "Don't start them" is a catchy slogan, but it's not reality.

[rug]

35. The U.S. is not yet involved in Syria.

He shouldn't start it.

[GeorgeGist]

34. US Selling Cluster Bombs Worth $641 million to Saudi Arabia

[Iggo]

36. "You know, over 1,400 people were gassed. Over 400 of them were children."

"This is not something we are looking or using as an excuse for military action."

Okay, then.

Wait, what...?

[Logical]

37. LOL, I think this didn't have the impact you thought it would! n-t

[polichick]

39. Which is why it was right to go to Congress and why it will be right...

to join with other nations to look for a solution if Congress votes no.

When other nations see that the U.S. isn't going to handle it alone, they'll try harder to work together to come up with a solution.

'Course, the mic will be shit out of luck.

[sabrina 1]

42. How sad that he is so unimaginative that he can't think of way to handle these issues other than

more violence and death and destruction.

And I would like to ask him this. Why is this country still financing Karamov of Uzbekistan who without a doubt committed genocide against his own people and is well known for his torture policies, and the murders of anyone who dares to protest his policies?

Obama says there are 'times where we have to make hard choices if we are going to stand up for things we care about'. So what DO we care about? We obviously don't care about genocide and torture or we wouldn't be supporting a brutal, genocidal maniacal torturer.

I hope one day one of our intrepid stenographers in the WH Press Corps asks him why we don't care about murder and torture and genocide when SOME people do it, but claim to care when countries on the PNAC list are just suspected of doing it without concrete evidence, unlike Uzbekistan.

He seems lost, unable to really defend the policies he is implementing but looking for understanding when there is no way to understand these tragic contradictions.

He was given an incredible opportunity to show the world that George Bush and his band of murderous War Criminals were an aberration, not representative of America. Instead he embraced those policies, exonerated the War Criminals and ignored the voters who elected him.

It's sad really. I guess he is finally grasping the fact that after all the attacks on the 'left' from his administration, he thought they would remain loyal and he didn't need to 'cater' to them, he didn't get that the 'left' cares far more about principles than about politicians no matter how charming they appear to be. And they are now treating him the way he treated them and he cannot use charm or soothing words, the 'skills' that always worked for him, to get them back. Sometimes you have to lose something in order to appreciate it.

[avaistheone1]

43. Right. Then Don't Start Them!

You either Hillary!

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