OBAMA ELECTED TO STOP AND NOT START WARS

Someone made the statement on Morning Joe (MSNBC) this AM that Obama has lost credibility in his cry for war.  I found that strange. Every time Joe Scarborough or one of his sycophants mentioned Syria, they attached the word ‘war’. Mika also said, “Our war weary nation does not want another war” thus piling the word on top of itself.

What they are saying is true; however, what they are not saying is that what Obama is trying to do is restore American credibility in the world. His administration is not asking this nation or any other nation to go to war. He is asking the world to punish al Assad for using a heinous weapon. Republican Presidents and Democratic presidents alike have disenchanted the American people for so long they do not believe them. The most recent, George W. Bush was the most egregious. Now, when we have a president we can believe, they have trouble accepting his sincerity. As sad as that is, I understand it.

The first hurdle Obama has to overcome is the belief by the rest of the world that America will not do anything unless there is some form of economic, territorial, or power gain. This is not a belief based on myth; it is based on fact. Against the military industrial complex background, that is individuals within the United States do profit from war, businesses also profit internationally from war at the expense of many nations; cheap minerals, oil, labor, etc. For example, the Korea war and the Vietnam War were fought to divide the world markets into yours and ours, with “ours” being the biggest piece of the pie. Iraq was easiest to understand. Ambassador Paul Brenner openly confiscated Iraqi business and their entire economy; at least he tried to do that.  He represented the ugliest of the “ugly Americans in action”.  Small wonder people do not believe Obama as an American when he is says he is proposing a limited strike to punish al Assad and not a “boots on the ground” invasion to take over Syria for American profit.

Even people like Chris Hayes do not believe the president. Hayes is so far left he sounded ridiculous while trying to act tough when he interviews people Like Secretary of State Kerry on his MSNBC show last night. He used the cheap interview trick of suppose this or suppose that. “What if,” he asked, “you strike Syria and they gas people again?” In one sense, he intended it to be a “clever” trick question; he wanted to trap the Secretary into saying he would expand the war, which is what everyone fears; as if this is the first time Kerry has ever been interviewed.  Kerry did not respond as he should have by saying that America would be in a much better position for having tired and failed than if we did nothing and al Assad gassed his people again.

As President Obama said in his news conference this morning, the America people elected him to stop wars and not start them. Isn’t it sad that American credibility is so bad around the world that no one believes our president. Isn’t it sad when people accuse the president of losing his credibility for asking our own Congress for permission to punish a severe moral crime—for doing the right thing; for asking our government to work the way it should work.

If he were a Republican president, he would not ask Congress. If such a president were elected, he would assume that the people had given him the moral authority to decide—end of discussion. The fundamental premise of innate Republicanism is grounded in the idea that the President is the authority figure and the people are there to obey. That is the authoritarian model of government. It is morally wrong not to obey. A progressive like President Obama operates at a different level. He believes that the people have a say; that the people elected him to act in a way that will benefit humankind. It is morally wrong to disobey “the will of the people”. This is what he means when he said the people elected him “to stop wars and not start wars”. The dilemma is that the people do not believe him because they believed previous Presidents and paid a terrible price. +George W. Bush’s blatant lies taught the world that even a United States president, while claiming to be the moral leader of the world, would lie to maintain what he and his neo-con advisers believed was correct “moral order”; America as the leader and the rest of the world is to follow—out of fear and not respect.  Moral psychology is a complex subject.

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