Blaming the previous administration

[reinbeau]

Since Obama and all of his fans keep insisting he 'inherited a mess', I have to ask a question - doesn't that make 9/11 Clinton's fault? 

[AllenF]

If he had only OKed the air strike when he had osama in the gun scope.

[Vibe]

Given the decidedly absent nature of ANY Clinton anti-terror actions (Up to and including the TWA-800 cover-up, which was probably "friendly fire")...I'd say that would be a fairly easy point of view to support.

[AllenF]

If Carter had taken out Iran when he should have, we would not have any islamic radicals and 9/11 would not have happened.   So I blame Carter of 9/11.

[beee farmer]

I would say  that who ever decided to crucify Ollie North for when he put in a security system at the governments ex pence to protect himself from "the most dangerous man alive" Osama Ben Laden instead of paying attention to what he was telling them, would be pretty responsible .

[Vibe]

If Carter had taken out Iran when he should have, we would not have any islamic radicals and 9/11 would not have happened.   So I blame Carter of 9/11.

And we would not now be facing a tantrum prone leader preparing for Armagedon with new nuclear toys. (Even if he has to start it in order to "win")

[kathyp]

we screwed up in a lot of places but i think the two big ones were carter/iran and clinton/uss cole.  UBL is more the spiritual leader of AQ and we needed to get the operational leaders.  i don't know that killing UBL would have really done much except momentarily disrupt finances.

[luvin honey]

Since Obama and all of his fans keep insisting he 'inherited a mess', I have to ask a question - doesn't that make 9/11 Clinton's fault? 

I read somewhere that Clinton specifically warned the incoming Bush administration about a guy named "Osama bin Laden." Course, that's just what I heard.

[kathyp]

that is no doubt true.  the Clinton admin knew he was a problem.  that's why they had him targeted.  knowing that someone is a danger and knowing that planes are going to fly into your buildings are two different things.
we most certainly had opportunity to have better info under both admins, but there were many things that stood in the way of that info being collected and disseminated to anyone who could have made a difference.

Clinton had the chance to take him out and didn't.  i can't even really fault him for that because it sure would have brought down a firestorm. unfortunately, we can't make those decisions with hindsight.  where Clinton messed up was not flattening large parts of many places after the USS Cole.  it was among the things that UBL pointed to as showing our weakness.  

they should also have handled the 1st WTC bombing as a terrorist attack. if they had done that, they might have looked at the risk in a different way and done more.  treating it as a law enforcement problem limited the intel and actions.

[beee farmer]

that is no doubt true.  the Clinton admin knew he was a problem.  that's why they had him targeted.  knowing that someone is a danger and knowing that planes are going to fly into your buildings are two different things.
we most certainly had opportunity to have better info under both admins, but there were many things that stood in the way of that info being collected and disseminated to anyone who could have made a difference.

Clinton had the chance to take him out and didn't.  i can't even really fault him for that because it sure would have brought down a firestorm. unfortunately, we can't make those decisions with hindsight.  where Clinton messed up was not flattening large parts of many places after the USS Cole.  it was among the things that UBL pointed to as showing our weakness.  

they should also have handled the 1st WTC bombing as a terrorist attack. if they had done that, they might have looked at the risk in a different way and done more.  treating it as a law enforcement problem limited the intel and actions.

Ok Kathy.
  Your freaking me out!  Thats the most consice rational thing I have seen you post!   

Just kidding    huggggggsssss

[Michael Bush]

I think any president can make the case that they inherited their problems, but they never seem to want to give that benefit to the one they are running against...

[kathyp]

Thats the most consice rational thing I have seen you post

wow.  maybe the fog lifted momentarily.  yikes, maybe i'm getting soft in my old age........

[beee farmer]

theres nothing wrong with a soft woman...   nor getting older.... wine and mead being a few of the lesser things that get better with age.

[Keith13]

And speaking of inheriting problems could you also say that the housing bubble was the fault of the lax lending regulations set up by the prior administration.

Keith

[jgaito]

if the chosen one did not understand the situation he should not have run for office.   he would apply for a job at a car wash and upon being hired complain about getting wet.   this administration is pure genius at campaigning but rank amatures when it comes to executive experience.    i don't care  what he was doing on "day one" , how "angry" he is, whether his "boot is on the throat of BP",  or what he feels about dividend distribution.
his job was to protect the coastline of this country and sort out the blame later.   eighteen months later he still blames his predecessor so i wonder how long he'll ride this mule.  hopefully, not further than 2012.

[Vibe]

And speaking of inheriting problems could you also say that the housing bubble was the fault of the lax lending regulations set up by the prior administration.

Keith

Those regulations were set up by Carter, and made worse by Clinton, all in the name of "Improving" the inner cities.

[thebalvenie]

obama did inherit a mess...but he's done nothing to better it and economically has made it worse.  his foreign policy is only slightly different than bush's and he won a Nobel Peace Prize.....huh? 

[kathyp]

every president inherits a mess...whether they really do or not. that's how they get elected.  they are going to fix the mess of the previous admin.   what i don't ever remember is any president whining about the past as this one does.  it's constant.  it's like a little kid "it's not my fault, he did it" over and over. 

[luvin honey]

every president inherits a mess...whether they really do or not. that's how they get elected.  they are going to fix the mess of the previous admin.   what i don't ever remember is any president whining about the past as this one does.  it's constant.  it's like a little kid "it's not my fault, he did it" over and over. 

Is Obama whining about it? Or just his supporters? I would say that 2 wars and a recession are a bit more baggage than some presidents have had to take on, though.

[Vibe]

Is Obama whining about it? Or just his supporters? I would say that 2 wars and a recession are a bit more baggage than some presidents have had to take on, though.

Well yes, though his supporters are doing it more loudly. Wars? You people are still calling thse things wars? They aren't really active enough to even be considered police actions. We really haven't declared war since...What? WWII? And we suffered more casualties in single battles in Korea than both fronts have generated in total. And the "recession" was caused by the party in control of Congress - which is where the purse strings end. Last time we had a Republican majority Congress, there was a surplus of sorts...Even WITH A Dem in office.