Play the Presidents and Pirates Poll game!

"Obama was able to successfully rescue that courageous captain..."
Are you out of your mind? Get off your knees, man.

"Are you out of your mind?"

Are you saying that Obama was not president the other day when this unfolded?

Dear Man of steel wool: I love you and your good deeds are tops!
However, you seem to be getting worn out by fight those dastardly no-goodniks and flying around the metro sniffing too much smog.
Obama does NOT need us to defend him in retrospect. He has an army of lawyers at the ready. What he and we need is a taste of reality. Democracy means, literally, "rule by the ruled." I, and many others, was/were hoping we could deep-six the personality adoration committee for a few.

Thanks for sharing...

In short, Obama is in a rather cozy sit. We must not allow ourselves to become the very reactionaries we so bemoaned only a few months ago just because "our guy" is in the high chair. Obama is getting on pretty well, after all. Now, about those poor and weak; the degraded and spit-upon; the elderly and the uninsured; the hungry.

My main fear, I guess, is that Obama will be reduced to the position David Cassidy once held on my Tiger Beaten cousin's wall.

Plus, fuck this noise about "pirates." Take a look around, man.

What bothers me is that they had to ask for permission. When the ship was sent there why wasn't it with the understanding that they should be allowed to use lethal force if someone is in imminent danger? If they did not have to go this route this could have been wrapped up earlier when the captain made the attempted escape and he was fired on.

With all due respect Dorian, Did you look around at all in the past? For eight years in particular? The only thing I did not like about the actions our President took was that the carrier was named what it was. I guess you are gonna be one of those "sore losers"? Clark is 100% spot on with this one. Does Katrina ring a bell? Ellen B

Jane, it is time for the Nations of the World, especially the ones that have to frequent those waters, to let the Somalian thugs know, that a "signed" agreement, including one with all parties that need to be involved, like the UN, that this type of "rescue" and the tactics involved will be the norm.

Think of it if not. These may be practice runs for God knows what. What is next? A yacht thrown into those waters in error? A cruise ship somewhere? Or is this a diversionary practice. Think of the helpless Somalians held at bay by these thugs. The young one captured was probably stolen from his home at age five or six. I am not surprised he jumped in the water. It must have seemed a boat from heaven to him. That should also be investigated. There are many "children" raised to do these awful things. It is sad. Ellen B

Ellen, I appreciate your honesty but you jumped to the wrong conclusion. I was fighting against the Retard-in-Charge for years before he was allowed to expose his capacity for war crimes in public. I campaigned for Obama like you would not believe. I was, and am, very relieved to see him in the WH. Still, after it all boils down, aren't there more important things on our plate than pitting our president-in-all against some spoiled shit-heel waiting to be summoned before the courts? Shouldn't we look ahead? Yes, we should, if not for our own sake, for the kids who never had a say in our present tragi-comedy.

OK, I give. "Uncle." Yes, Bush presided over the death-penalty-hungry Texas for way too long. This guy could not co-manage a McDonalds without his family fortune to secure his paycheck. Are we done yet? Obama is too convenient a figurehead if we make him such.
Secretly he wants our participation, not our adoration. He cannot make us re-claim our revolutionary heritage. He cannot drag us from our video games and force us into the public square. He can only offer us a rare opportunity and he can only hope we don't blow it by reverting back to the bad habits of our teenage years.

"Obama does NOT need us to defend him in retrospect."

I'm not defending him at all. This article was a light-hearted, though disturbingly accurate portrayal of the possibilities that our previous president would've likely pursued, had he been in charge the other day.



"Democracy means, literally, "rule by the ruled." "

Technically, we have a federal republic, not a pure democracy. I like to call it "pseudo-democracy."



"In short, Obama is in a rather cozy sit"

Yeah, you're right, of course. I can't even think of a single president who's ever entered office with such a cozy, comfortable set of situations to deal with. That's one thing we can certainly say for W. He definitely left the country is a great place in every regard.



"aren't there more important things on our plate"

Seems to me as if they're all being addressed, to one degree or another, and far better and more forthrightly than they have been for the past 8 years. Seems as though this president can actually walk AND chew gum.

Believe it or not, the piracy issue is a real issue that needs to be dealt with. Yet one more thing that spoiled frat boy Georgie failed to handle while at the wheel. I fully expect to see Obama not only take out those known pirate beachfront properties in Somalia, but to also address the key issues that are causing that behavior, namely international fishing abuses and industrial waste dumping in Somali waters, as well as abject poverty and hopelessness.

Nevermind the responsibility behind the curtain. Lookie there! Them "pirates," not those!

No. 2 and 3 followed by No. 7

No. 2

#2, indeed!

I forgot the most obvious answer:

Allow the pirates to escape freely, and do nothing to prevent future piracy.

Oh there you go. I pick number 11.

Odd Clark Allow the pirates to escape freely, and do nothing to prevent future piracy. but that is exactly what W did with the Cole bombing.

I go with #2

Clark, you have dropped the ball. Shame on you!

I have to agree to a degree with Dorian. Too many are leaving things all up to Obama, quit fighting for what we believe in after the election, which isn't getting things done. Obama is a politician, a good one, but he's let his advisors keep the corporate lobbyist status quo.

I vote for #11: All of the above.

Well, obviously I don't agree to that degree, Dorian.

Fiscal conservatives elected Bush, and then agreed with everything he did, and we see what happened. I sincerely hope we do not repeat that with Obama. It's up to us, not him, and in truth, many of the things we elected Obama to do will not get done without us pushing, holding them responsible. I am not happy with the way things are starting to unfold.

"Fiscal Conservatives" are the picture proof that capitalism was on its knees decades ago. Individual greed and fantasy keeps the rusty wheels creaking. "Social conservatives" are bound, apparently, to the Krypronite of the sun.

"Picture-perfect-proof," I should say.

I'm not sure I'm following the thrust of turning a mocking commentary on bush's complete failure to do anything positive and substantive in the face of crisis into questions and doubts about the current administration, with regard to completely unrelated issues.

The point of this thread was to illustrate that this president took decisive action and ended a crisis favorably, while the previous president hesitated, then made the wrong decision, habitually, continually driving this nation to unfavorable situations as a result.

That Obama did the right thing by waiting until the situation had been properly assessed by military experts on the scene and then giving his go ahead to take what action was necessary is generally agreed, even by most Republicans I see commenting on this site. That Bush would have screwed this up like everything else the man did is probably beyond logical debate.

But Dorian makes a great point. We cannot descend into Obama worship. Not only is it an abdication of the social and political responsibility of citizens to stay as involved in the process as they were in getting rid of the Bush Criminal Cartel, but to shower Obama with adoration is to set him up for a fall.

Obama is a human being and flawed as we all are. He is a politician and, though he seems to be a damned fine one, he will be forced to make unpalatable compromises as is the nature of the game. He will also make mistakes and he will make decsisions that even his supporters disagree with.

If we idolize the guy then he will be crucified when he falls short of divine aspirations.

3. Push a new tax cut for his millionaire pals.

His answer to everything.

How about keep reading My Pet Goat.

Yeah, Obama has them shaking in their boots:

"http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article6094240.ece"

Clark, if Bush had done the same thing you would be here screaming about "executing teenagers", due process, habeus corpus, etc.

My hats off to Obama for making the call (he authorized the use of force twice), and I am totally amazed at the SEAL Snipers handiwork. Great job.

This has nothing to do with Bush.

"But Dorian makes a great point. We cannot descend into Obama worship. "

Do show me where I've exhibited such behavior. I'm curious to know, and have already pointed out my confusion over the reaction to this thread, how I am "worshipping Obama" here.




"Clark, if Bush had done the same thing you would be here screaming about "executing teenagers", due process, habeus corpus, etc."

First of all, you're a liar to make such a statement. I would never argue against the use of lethal force in order to save innocent lives. Secondly, the UN had already authorized the use of force in these cases, so there was no need for due process.

The point of this thread is that Bush wouldn't have done this. He'd have undoubtedly used the incident to further one of his evil agendas, either enriching his multi-millionaire pals with further government corporate welfare handouts, tax giveaways, and/or illegal and wholly unnecessary military incursions.

The likelihood of Bush having taken the time to truly analyze the situation and then allow the military to do what they did in this case are virtually zero, and I think even you know that.




"This has nothing to do with Bush. "

Actually, the thread has EVERYTHING to do with Bush. The point was to demonstrate a clear delineation between our current president and our previous president, in how they handle crisis. Let's not forget what happened on 9/11, shall we? Bush first froze, then ran away to hide for 1/2 a day, while the nation stood paralyzed, not knowing if we even had a leader or government any longer .

Then, he used that tragic event to launch an unnecessary and illegal war against a nation that had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11.

Similarly, what did Bush do when Katrina hit? First, he ignored dire warnings that were issued days before. Then, he went on vacation, and paraded around the country at fundraisers. Then, he lied about what he'd previously been told. Then, he lied in saying that everything that could be done was being done. Finally, after several days of innocent people dying while waiting for rescue, he made a photo op flight over the region.

Probably worst of all of his horrific response to Katrina was that he'd destroyed FEMA in the first place, by first removing the head of it as a cabinet level position, then handing that position over to someone who had a grand total of ZERO experience in emergency management, and then allowing that clueless person to privatize key portions of the agency, so that when it came time to spring it into action, it was unable to do so, as a direct result of the inefficiencies and fraudulent waste inherently built into the privatized system of greed and corruption

We can only try.

"We can only try. "

Try what?

Clark, my comments had nothing to do with your article, and as such, I apologize, but were brought to mind by Dorian's comments. I see a troubling mindset of late, that's all, this article is fine.

I see. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I began to have serious doubts about Obama the moment he brought Hillary into his cabinet. From there, he's kept former booshies and brought former wall st. bankers and lobbyists in as well. That, to me, doesn't look like something that the great messiah would do.

To be totally frank, I think that anything short of letting our current, entirely diseased monetary system shatter and crumble to dust is only prolonging the agony and providing a fertile ground for more of the same. BUT, it's not as if the lowly president really has the power to break the knees of the mighty oligarchs anymore.

We are in agreement. You express it well after all and as always, Clark.

I can't say I think operations of this type should be waiting presidential permission to happen. It should have been the senior officer present dealing with it all. Micromanaging the military is something DC has done too many times and while this worked out well in the end, the amount of resources deployed to deal with 4 men doesn't make the Navy look overly efficient.

I bet it sucks being you Clark.