Obama acknowledges worst mistake as POTUS

Well, it's certainly in the running...

I would have thought it was droning the fuck out of innocent people, even if by honest mistake. So much collateral damage...

I would have guessed "expecting Biden to pick up the check at the beer summit."

robeiae said:

I would have guessed "expecting Biden to pick up the check at the beer summit."

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I thought they billed the cop for that.

The cop had to pay because Biden claimed he left his wallet in his other suit.

Biden has two suits! Who knew?

robeiae said:

The cop had to pay because Biden claimed he left his wallet in his other suit.

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Hillary and Bernie went to lunch with Al Sharpton and Michael Moore. Last I heard they were still setting around the table waiting for someone else to pay the bill.

Diana Hignutt said:

Well, it's certainly in the running...

I would have thought it was droning the fuck out of innocent people, even if by honest mistake. So much collateral damage...

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I'm with Diana. I think droning the fuck out of innocent people has to be at the top of the list.

When did droning become a transitive verb?

I like it!

And no, no one at Obama's level would ever call that a mistake let alone a major one. It's just sloppiness, not at all the same thing. :/

Plus which, I don't know that he's even admitted the excess.

He's certainly smooth.

I remain unconvinced, particularly since I believe there is great effort expended to keep the appearances of this as clean and minimized as possible. I do not claim to know facts with certainty but I don't automatically discredit reports that in fact drone assaults have killed far more innocent civilians than we hear of.

I think loathing over drones is excessive.

Not because killing innocent people isn't bad - it is, of course. But if you make the decision to engage in military action, you are inevitably making the decision to kill some innocent people. It happens.

So, what's so extra-awful about drone strikes? I think people have a visceral reaction to the idea of "robot death machines" operated from around the world by people who aren't actually on the battlefield. It seems... unsportsmanlike. Ironic that so many liberals are responding the same way knights did to the longbow. But drones aren't particularly more likely to kill innocents than an air strike, a bombing, a shelling, or a Special Forces team sent into a populated area.

We have instituted controls on them to try to minimize collateral damage, but of course, any lack of evidence that we're actually "droning the fuck out of innocent people" is just evidence that the evidence is being covered up.

There are a substantial number of people in this country who continue to believe, unshakably, that his biggest mistake as president was to be of African ancestry . . . and born in Kenya. One of these is currently leading in the polls for the Presidential nomination from the major opposition Party.

caw

And never was the melting orange creamsicle made less appetizing. Even if you toss aside the insulation.

William Haskins said:

it might be useful, for just this thread, to step away from the campaign and merely comment on obama based on his own merits.

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Okay. Apologies for the bit of a derail. As for Obama's self-assessment, it does strike me as a more open and straightforward assessment of his Presidential actions than we usually get. Aside from ACA, his Presidency shapes up as being largely about foreign affairs rather than domestic policies or legislative accomplishments. The Libyan situation wasn't one of the more positive things, but it's also hard to say with confidence that any other course would have produced a better result. The fall of Qaddafi was a chaotic mess, complicated by the rise of extreme Islamist factions, now including ISIS. It's still a mess. And the idea of "supporting a stable regime" there seems to me to be wishful thinking at best.

caw

Back on the more serious topic, I agree that it's refreshing that Obama was open about this being his biggest mistake.

William Haskins said:

i credit him with the self-awareness to acknowledge a lapse that many people saw coming for a foreign policy neophyte such as he was.

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I'm just glad that Hillary Clinton was there to step in and remind him to come up with a plan before they went in. And surely that experience will serve her well during the next war she leads us into.

But speaking seriously, I find Obama's comments pretty surprising (in a good way), since he was still blaming others just last month. I agree with you; it's not everyday political leaders own up to such an enormous mistake.

Amadan said:

But drones aren't particularly more likely to kill innocents than an air strike, a bombing, a shelling, or a Special Forces team sent into a populated area

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All of those things are acts of war, and should require a declaration of war, don't you think?

James D. Macdonald said:

All of those things are acts of war, and should require a declaration of war, don't you think?

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There hasn't been a "declaration of war" by the U.S. since 1941. We've been involved in plenty of acts of war since then. I know, firsthand.

caw

James D. Macdonald said:

All of those things are acts of war, and should require a declaration of war, don't you think?

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What blacbird said. By that standard, every president since Truman fails.

Thank Dawg we've been at peace.

Obama's biggest mistakes should include...

1. Hiring all those Wall Street cronies and hacks to serve in his administration.
2. Allowing Rahm Emanuel to slither into his White House staff.
3. Declining to prosecute anyone from the Bush Administration for their role in torture and the illegal war in Iran.
4. Referring to Islamic State as a "JV (junior varsity) team" and being far too slow and cautious in his response to the threat they posed.
5. Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize without really doing anything to deserve it.
6. Squandered precious political capital on trying to bring Republicans on board when it was clear they were trying desperately to sink the ship.
7. Paying lip service to reforming discriminatory prison sentencing, the failed War on Drugs, and police misconduct and doing relatively little.
8. Had so little clout in Congress he couldn't get even the most modest gun control reforms through as Congresscritters know there's no political price to pay for blowing the president off even after 20 children were slaughtered.
9. Didn't come close to bringing any Hope or more Change to Washington. The system is more broken than it was and Americans have even less faith in it.
10. Has vastly expanded the national security state on his watch.

For me, it is nice that he is so open about this. I remain unconvinced it's his biggest mistake, but I feel on the whole, he believes it is.