What to say about Libya

I don't really like that the US got involved in Libya. What grieves me is that the war powers of the US president have been extended even further. Forget the Constitutional requirement that the Congreses must declare war. That's been disregarded long ago, and with some justification. In the modern world, we can't wait for Congress to make up it's mind on how to respond to a threat. We could all be dead by then. Bush extended war powers under the fig leaf of a UN resolution and a gutless Congressional vote. But Obama has taken it one step forward. He pretty much did what he wanted and gave Congress no choice but to sort of approve what he had done. It was expedient, but I think it sets up terrible precedent. A president not as thinking as Obama is some day going to get us in another war withough any justification whatsoever.

That said, Obama's team was very good in carrying out the war. A 42 year reign by a crazy dictator was ended. It got lots of international support including the Arab League of Nations. It cost the US less than one percent of Iraq and no US lives. We're not going to be stuck there for decades on end. It is astounding how much better Obama ran this war than Bush ran Iraq. True, it is like comparing apples to oranges, but almost any parallel that can be drawn would need the checkmark in Obama's column.

The Republicans have tried to be critical of Obama's foreign policy. Some say he hasn't been aggressive enough in Libya. Some say he took a poor strategy of leading from behind. But none of them have anything serious to say, and none of them are going to be anywhere near as capable from a foreign policy perspective.