On the Precipice of War

And so, we stand on the precipice yet again. It seems that no Democratic president can resist the bait of republicans to shed the blood of American citizens for some lost cause. Obama’s presidency will be effectively over with the committal of 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan because these troops will be quickly neutralized and some American general will call for more. Obama will not be able to resist the logic of ‘we’ve already sent in so many, that if we pull out now, all will be in vain’. Like Johnson, Obama will fear being the first president to lose a war to an ideology and like Johnson, he will find that ‘guns and butter’ don’t mix.

Obama may think that sending more troops to Afghanistan will placate the republicans, but it won’t. The minute anything goes wrong with McChrystal’s plan, the republicans will howl for Obama’s blood. And to stop them, he’ll send in more troops. History will write that Obama, as was Johnson, was once a chance for America to have advanced both domestically and in foreign policy; but he was no student of history and lost his country to a part of the world, well schooled in taking down civilizations, that had nothing to lose in spreading the fight all over the world.

So, with Israel and Iran also on the precipice of war, I welcome you to World War IV.