It Was Clinton’s Fault

(Bumped up from Sunday morning.)

Republicans chafing over Obama’s continued finger pointing at the failings of the Bush Administration need to look in the mirror and check their own glass house. Why? Because 9-11 happened because of Bill Clinton.

Now I do not believe that. But when you try to discuss the failures of the Bush Administration in taking action that might have prevented 9-11 there are many on the right who insist this was Bill Clinton’s fault and Bush was just an innocent by-stander.

So I don’t want to hear any crocodile tears from Republicans and Conservatives about Obama refusing to accept responsibility for the mess he inherited from Bush. If it is good for the goose it is good for the gander.

Here’s what I think.

Let’s start with Bill Clinton. He did not do everything he could have to go after Bin Laden and what we now know as Al Qaeda. He approached terrorism, correctly so, as an isolated, infrequent event. Unfortunately he did not empower the government national security bureaucracy to pursue that threat aggressively. It is not about a “war” vs. “law enforcement” approach. Rather it means you put people in charge of going after Bin Laden and hold them accountable. The failure of the Clinton Administration to immediately retaliate for the attack on the USS Cole is a black mark in my book.

So Bill Clinton did not do everything he could have done to go after Al Qaeda. That is true. But his Administration did leave a sound blueprint for pursuing Al Qaeda and it was communicated to the Bush team clearly and repeatedly. And what did Bush do? NOTHING. NOTHING. NOTHING.

The first meeting on terrorism policy occurred on 10 September. Bush and Cheney entered office treating the threat of terrorism as an even lower priority than the Clinton Administration. Those are indisputable facts. It took 11 September to energize them to deal with the threat. And rather than go after the Islamic radicals based in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bush decided to attack Iraq, a nation that had nothing to do with Al Qaeda but, because of US aggression, created a rallying cry for Islamic extremists.

While Bush launched a war of choice in Iraq he also doubled downd on a spending binge reminiscent of a teenager with his first credit card and no spending limit. George Bush brought us bigger government, bigger deficits and questionable competence.

Which brings me to Barack Obama. Yes, you inherited an economic mess. Your predecessor engaged in irresponsible deficit spending. And your prescription? Quadruple the deficit spending. You are insane if you want to insist that deficit spending by Bush is bad but four times as much deficit spending by you is swell.

You also correctly noted during your campaign that the Bush Administration gave short shrift to Afghanistan. It did not have the troops or resources required to keep the extremists at bay. You promised to do more. You declared it a war of necessity. And then your handpicked general, Stan McChrystal, tells you he needs more troops and you do . . . NOTHING. You dither, whine and complain while American soldiers are dying.

I’m not interested now in what Bill Clinton did or did not do. It does not matter. Nor am I interested in what George Bush did to make things worse or failed to do to prevent a problem. He is not the President, you are. You promised to do certain things. Instead of a fresh start we are getting irresponsible fiscal policies that make George Bush look restrained. And when it comes to protecting our soldiers in the field you are weak and indecisive. I think the term is coward.

But we all know who is at fault. Yep, it is Clinton’s fault.