Maybe Obama Does Not Know How to Use A
Computer, Either
By Jim H. Ainsworth Senator
Obama's campaign made fun of John McCain for not using email (and by
implication, for not knowing how to use a computer). After the most
recent debate, I think Obama may not know how to use one, either. I
remain undecided about the best way to stay informed about current
events. I still like newspapers and cable television, but I also learn
a lot from Internet news sites, even e-mail. Running for president is a
busy job, but it seems that there should be time for flipping open the
old laptop occasionally. If Senator Obama had done so, he would have
found out a few things that Friday night's debate seemed to leave in
doubt.
Take the war on terror. Senator Obama seems to
believe that the war on terror is equivalent to a war on Afghanistan,
saying that the war began there and that it should have been our
central focus, that we took our eye off the ball when we invaded Iraq,
that McCain was wrong when he said we would be hailed as liberators.
His laptop could have told him that the war on terror is a war against
terrorists and an ideology, not against a country. The 9/11 terrorists
came from Saudi Arabia. Using his logic, we should have attacked Saudi,
not Afghanistan. Most Americans certainly want to capture Osama Bin
Laden, so if Obama is certain that he is in Afghanistan, why doesn't he
tell the military the location of the cave he is in so they can send a
bunker bomb?
Was Iraq really taking our eye off the
ball? Think back to 9/11. Options included fighting back or allowing
the terrorists to murder us a few thousand at a time. Terrorists are
all over the world, but they are prevalent in the Middle East. We
needed a stronger presence there, to be closer to them. Afghanistan has
the most hostile terrain in the world. Ask Russia. Aren't those their
tanks left to rust in the mountains? Iraq, on the other hand, had a
malevolent dictator who had violated fifteen UN resolutions and
tortured and killed innocents daily. He had openly stated his desire to
obtain nuclear weapons and had taken steps to do so, had thrown out UN
inspectors, and had used chemical and biological weapons in warfare
before. Let's see now ...search thousands of caves for Bin Laden in the
worst terrain on the planet or invade a hostile country that is close
to the heart of terrorist activity? Tough question.
McCain
was wrong when he said we would be greeted as liberators? Who were
those people waving and bowing as our tanks rolled through Baghdad? Who
were those guys who pulled down the statues of Saddam Hussein? Sure,
they did not include the people we had defeated, but I don't think that
McCain or any reasonable person expected the enemy to hail us as
liberators. Citizens who had been freed from tyrannical rule, however,
did welcome us. True, few anticipated the strong resistance from Sunni
and Shiite tribes. Few knew that Iran would supply the tribes and
terrorists with weapons. But things go wrong in every war, and McCain
was on target when he called for more troops. Where were you, Senator
Obama? I believe you were advocating surrender.
On the
subject of surrender, is it true that you sent envoys to Iraq urging
delays of American troop withdrawals so that your administration can
take credit for ending the war? And please explain why American lives
are more precious in Iraq than they would be in Afghanistan-why you are
willing to spend treasure and lives in this hostile land, but want to
snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq?
Obama
says that Al-Queda is stronger than it was in 2001. A quick glimpse at
the laptop would have told you that we have just about defeated these
guys in Iraq. They are on the run, unless those generals and Iraqi
leadership are all wrong. Don't we want them on the defense? They were
clearly on offense on 9/11/01 and the multiple other times they
attacked us.
Then there was that thing about being
against the war from the beginning. Obama stated that he took that
position at considerable political risk. Some of my friends (who also
do not seem to have computers) think that he voted against the war. I
tell them he did not vote at all. It degenerates into several
embarrassing "Did-too's" and Did-not's." Of course, Obama was not in
the U.S. Senate during the vote, but in the Illinois State Senate. Do
they vote on wars in Illinois? Since Obama is a creation of the Chicago
Political Machine, which opposes the war, and since he represented a
liberal constituency that also opposed the war, what exactly was the
risk? If Obama had watched the U.S. Senate vote on C-Span, he would
have known he was not there. He would have known that nobody cared
about his opinion. Then again, maybe he does not watch television,
either.