Blame Clinton First

Something else I don’t understand about the attacks on Clinton’s hunt for Bin Laden.  They all insist he should have done more, often going as far as to suggest that Clinton could have invaded Afghanistan, as Bush did.  But Bush did all that.  Bush pushed this idea very far.  And yet he still didn’t capture Bin Laden.  And remember, Bush had no plans to invade Afghanistan before 9/11, and appeared to be reluctant about doing so afterwards.  Which is probably one big reason he did such a crappy job at it.  

But the main point is clear, Bush did all these things they said Clinton should have done, and more.  A lot more.  They insist that Bush requires powers that they would never have granted Clinton, and they’re even happy that Bush took them without permission.  And yet Bush didn’t catch Bin Laden.  And even if Bin Laden some day turns up, it’s unlikely that Bush will deserve any of the credit.  It’ll be the Pakistanis who will capture him, and they’re obviously reluctant to do that.  So where the hell do they come off blaming Clinton for things that Bush couldn’t do under better conditions?

And that’s just something I don’t understand.  Because there is something implicit in these attacks against Clinton which pretends as if Bush caught the guy.  And he didn’t.  He invaded Afghanistan.  He invaded Iraq.  He even looked cross at Pakistan before totally folding and allowing them to get away with stuff they shouldn’t have.  And then he mocked our civil liberties while using the Constitution as Kleenex.

And then there was this whole “Bush Doctrine” thing of declaring war on anyone who isn’t doing enough to help us kill all the terrorists and potential terrorists; which was naturally supposed to flush Osama and all the other terrorists out.  And nothing worked.  And these were certainly not tools that Clinton had at his disposal.  He could not have declared the right to preemptively attack any country.  He could not have invaded Afghanistan or Iraq, and he has the same track record as Bush in regards to catching Bin Laden.  So what the hell?  And do I even need to mention that terrorism is even worse now?  I didn’t think so.

Yet, let’s keep blaming Clinton.  I heard he even had OBL holed-up in a porta-potty with fifty nuclear weapons pointed right at the dude’s head, but Clinton was too busy raping the Statue of Liberty to bother pressing the button.  It’s true.  It’s all true.  And I’ve got the historians to prove it.