Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Has President Obama evolved?

I've been wondering for some time that President Obama has changed in several ways since he first took office. His decision to send Navy Seals into Pakistan was actually "predicted" during the debates with Sen. McCain, so that doesn't really reflect a change. But his decision to use intelligence gathered at Guantanamo Bay, most likely as a result of "enhanced techniques" seems contradictory to his prior attitude.

Keeping Guantanamo Bay open was not entirely the President's decision, but he did not fight hard to keep his earlier promises. Troops have stayed in Iraq longer than he ever intended and he supported a surge in Afghanistan. President Obama even supported a new war (Libya) albeit not to the extent of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So my question is, has President Obama evolved in his thinking? Has he come to realize that maybe President Bush wasn't as far off the mark as the current president believed when he was campaigning?

And most importantly, if his attitude on these things have changed, can it be changed in other areas? Might we see a move to less government? Might we see the removal of Obamacare? Might we see a return to his campaign attitude of "it's above my paygrade"?

6 comments:

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Only in your dreams!

Randy said...

We can always dream though - right?

In seriousness, I am amazed at the changes in the man. Makes me wonder what the other side sees. Do the libs see this as a change? I saw an article that claimed he was more Bushian than Bush. While that's a stretch, I'd like to hear from someone on the other side...

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

I don't think he is changing at all. He is putting on a new face for campaigning for a second term.

Randy said...

Some of the "changes" occurred before he started campaigning (unless you think he stated in 2008). The surge in Afhganistan is one example. His accelerated use of drones is another.

I know you'll disagree. I think we need to give the man some credit. OBL was captured on his watch and that counts for a lot. He could have backed off of the decision to go after OBL or he could have sent in drones or bombed the compound and we would have never known if the man target was achieved.

I'm not ready to change my vote, but I do want to recognize the change. And I wonder how the liberals feel about it?

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

OBL was only captured on his watch because all the stuff was put in place BEFORE his watch, and he didn't want to be guilty of letting him get away like Clinton did.

The man is a rank Marxist and I don't see that changing at all.

Danny Wright said...

I want to know when he stopped campaigning?