Soapbox

Credit Where Credit is Due

    Tonight President Obama made a brief address regarding the withdrawl of combat forces from Iraq. A Facebook "friend" of mine posted a reminder that Obama had voted against the surge and Bush had done all the real work.
    Obama had better give George Bush credit where credit is due!
she said.
    Yeah…. some relationships you just know at the beginning are doomed.

   When this former elementary school classmate was suggested to me as a friend a few weeks ago, I went to her profile page and read what information was available.
Political affiliation: Republican. Religion: Baptist. Residence: Texas.
    Don't think so. Not that any of this information means she isn't a perfectly nice person. I don't like putting people in boxes based on labels,  but clearly, other than our first names, we have absolutely nothing in common. So I did not "friend" her.
     But then she "friended" me.  I hate ignoring friend requests, even when deep inside, I know I probably should. I have had enough experiences recently to have learned that it's not possible to be friends with everybody, and not good for my blood pressure to try.  But I felt put on the spot- what excuse could I give? Sorry, but I'm probably not Jesus-y enough for you tastes?  Way to stereotype! So I said yes.

   To her credit, she has not made a peep about any of the politically and culturally liberal things I have posted recently, like believing that "those people" wanting to build a Muslim cultural center are actually Americans, or thinking a high school should treat a gay student like a human being. You know, wacko-liberal stuff like that. (Of  course, it's possible that she hid me the second day of our "friendship" and hasn't seen most of it. Hmmm….)
So I decided that I would just ignore her posts, and her friends comments that, indeed, Obama is just an idiot who does not know right from wrong.  They are entitled to their opinions and sure as hell wouldn't be swayed by anything I might say. Better to say nothing at all.

    But if I were to comment….it might go something like this:

     You want Obama to give George W. Bush credit for Iraq? You mean for starting this hideous, illegal monstrosity to begin with, in the absence of any evidence that war was called for and against the opinion of  much of the international community?  Absolutely! Let's do it!
    Let's give him credit for the hundreds of thousands of deaths and the billions of dollars wasted! Let's give George Bush his due credit for the lies that killed babies and shattered lives, causing such devastation in Iraq- and also in Afghanistan! That poor mis-begotten nation might well not be in such dire circumstances today had the U.S. not diverted its attention and resources over  to that stupid excuse for a war in Iraq.
    You remember Iraq: it's the war we started to stop the weapons of mass destruction, which Bush joked might be under his desk while our children were being maimed and killed in pursuit of them-  yeah yeah the weapons  we helped Sadaam build when we thought he'd use them against Iran, the ones Bush knew weren't really there any more. Ha ha, yeah, that was a good one, George! Funny as a crutch on a 19 year old with one leg!
    Iraq, the war that, when the first lie fell apart, Bush tried to justify by saying it was "liberating" the Iraqi people…  those Muslim people… who,over  in  America apparently do not have the liberty to worship around "regular" "decent" people. Liberation. Well, he liberated millions from their homes, and liberated a lot of their heads from the rest of their bodies, so…ok. Credit for that kind of  liberation, at least.

     But wait- don't forget to credit Bush with the Clinton budget surplus that, with the help of two preposterous wars, he turned into such a deep, life-sucking black hole of debt that the repercussions have made families jobless and homeless and put us in a position to be unable to help when it is most needed.
You remember, the debt: it's that thing you didn't give a s**t about 2 years ago and suddenly is all important- that thing you treat as if it just sprang like Athena, fully grown, from Obama's pointy, socialist head.

    Absolutely! Let's give George W. Bush the credit he is due for the FINE job he did in Iraq! In fact, let's give him complete and utter credit for the clusterf**k that has been- and will continue to be- Iraq!  Hear hear!!
 

     Yeah, it's definitely best that I not say any of those things. Jumping on this woman and her right-wing friends is not going to undo the war, unspeak the lies or bring back the dead. So I"m not.
    But I am not good at holding my tongue… it makes my fingers all spitty.