I’m not referring to a mathematical conjecture like Fermat’s last theorem (this was proven by Wiles and Taylor, by the way).  I’m referring to presidential mettle and resolve and the current debate on whether Mr. Obama has them and should tout them, and whether Mr. Romney ever can have them.  Let’s face it:  Mr. Obama’s mettle and resolve are proven; Mr. Romney’s are not, beyond his desire to do something his father never could do.  While Mr. Romney has tried to belittle the leadership role of his opponent in saying that even Jimmy Carter could have killed bin Laden, the question still remains whether Mr. Obama should brag about it.

I doubt that Mr. Romney is spineless.  He couldn’t be a ruthless businessperson and be spineless.  But courage, resolve, and mettle are directed by an individual’s moral compass.  As president, can he make the tough decisions and maintain a moral equilibrium?  Hopefully, we never have to find out.  We know that Mr. Obama’s first term was characterized by numerous actions that indicate courage, resolve, and mettle to some, and overzealous risk-taking to others.  He has even been more of a war president than his predecessor.  Going after bin Laden is not the issue—the folly of Afghanistan, Obama’s Vietnam, is.  And connected with that folly is a new form of warfare, a reliance on weaponized UAVs.

I have no problem with bin Laden’s demise.  The man deserved it.  However, it was a risky undertaking, so, in this instance, the question reduces to whether Romney or Carter would be more risk averse than Obama.  On the other hand, the use of Predators to avoid more boots on the ground in Afghanistan or to avoid invading Pakistan, is a military strategy that makes me schizoid.  You can’t help thinking of the evil empire in Star Wars and its overpowering technological superiority.  Yet, considering the duplicity of the Pakistani government and especially its secret police, who couldn’t or chose not to find bin Laden, living right under their noses, you also can’t help thinking that Obama had no choice.

Well, he does.  He can reduce American presence in that part of the world.  If Pakistan doesn’t want to fight terrorism and does want to shield terrorists, let them.  If the Taliban and other radical jihadists take over Pakistan, who cares?  The Israelis and the Indians, that’s who!  Both of these countries have nukes to match Pakistani nukes, so either détente comes into play or the three reduce each other to nuclear slag.  It’s not our fight, although morally we should help on the diplomatic front to keep everyone talking, at least until bombs are exchanged.  That’s the big decision Mr. Obama should make.

Mr. Romney, however, is not likely to make that decision.  McCain and Romney have entered into a bellicose pact that will see an increased hostilities in Afghanistan and renewed attacks on Pakistan by the U.S. just as soon as Mittens becomes President.  Mr. Obama has shown he’s not able to do the right thing in that godforsaken area of the world.  It remains to be seen whether Mr. Romney will, but with the agreement with that old hawk McCain in his pocket and plenty of hawks among the congressional neocons, I expect the worst from a Romney presidency.  The bottom line:  Wars are another way to transfer wealth from the American middle class to the rich—just ask any Navy admiral who retires to Raytheon or Lockheed-Martin’s board of directors.  The military-industrial complex stands to make much more under a Romney administration than an Obama administration.  Progressives dislike Obama’s warring ways—they’ll dislike Romney’s even more!

Returning to the execution of bin Laden, Mr. Romney put his foot in his mouth by saying that the terrorist leader was just one man and that the U.S. shouldn’t spend millions going after him.  To me and to many, Osama bin Laden was a symbol.  He represented the evil face of terrorism—a man whose actions were not and cannot ever be sanctioned by true believers in the Koran, any more than those belonging to any other religion; a man whose twisted mind could spin hatred, jealousy, and desire for an Arabic return to greatness into a ruthless program of death and destruction against the Western democracies and their friends.  That symbol needed to be destroyed.

The roll of the dice favored Mr. Obama.  Fate gave him the chance of killing the terrorist devil and he took it.  I don’t believe any of those neocon and conspiracy nuts out there that it really took many, many more SEALs than reported in the press—that is, SEAL bodies were left on the grounds of the compound.  That kind of nonsense is like saying we didn’t land on the moon.  It belittles our armed forces in general and the SEALs in particular, just like the moon comment belittles all the grandiose thought put into the space program, a proud enterprise that our present government decided to cancel.  How ironic that we have to beg the Russians now to get our astronauts in space.  How pathetic that politics has come to the point in this country that credit is not given to the man that made the final decision to go after bin Laden.  Compare his resolve to Dubya’s deer-in-the-headlights look in that Florida classroom on 9/11.

Our leaders need resolve.  Yes, the Presidency is political, but we also don’t need cowards in that Oval Office.  Mr. Obama stepped to the plate on serious issues.  Maybe he didn’t hit the ball out of the park, but what Mr. Biden said is correct—because of Mr. Obama, bin Laden is dead and GM is alive.  This administration still hasn’t punished the Wall Street bankers who caused the financial implosion in 2008—again, on Dubya’s watch.  It threw many juicy bones to big Pharma and health insurance companies in order to pass a healthcare plan that is uncannily similar to Mr. Romney’s in Massachusetts, including that part being challenged in the Supreme Court.  Saddled with a acerbic GOP filled with political hatred, Mr. Obama had the resolve and courage to do what he could.  The bar is set high for Mr. Romney if he wins.  Indeed, if he does win, I will be watching him closely.  He is beholding to many more backers than Obama was, including John McCain.  You might not like what you get if Romney wins as a consequence.

And so it goes…

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 at 4:00 am and is filed under Nuclear Proliferation, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.