But when Bush waits 10 minutes to leave, it’s bad.
When Barack Obama learned Osama bin Laden’s location, he waited 16 hours before his team gave the order to go get Osama. When George W Bush learned terrorists flew two planes into the Twin Towers on 9-11-2001, he waited for less than ten minutes before he left the second grade class at Emma E Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida.
While it is good that the Islamic Terrorist Osama bin Laden was killed, and President Barack Obama deserves some of the credit, the fact remains that Obama waited 16 hours before giving the go-ahead for Special Forces to do their jobs and take Osama down. During Obama’s dithering time, Osama could have easily just up and drove away. Then what? Nobody except for a very few in-the-know would have known Obama had a chance and dithered it away. And since that was Top Secret information, the chances of that information getting leaked would have been exceedingly small. As Hilary Clinton said during the 2008 Presidential Primary campaign, Obama is still not ready for the 3AM phone call. It’ll take him 16 hours before he (or someone else) makes a decision. And in that time, the target could get away or the situation could become unmanageable or far more expensive in terms of dollars, lives, duration. But Liberals that I’ve read don’t want to look at that — at all. Or they give Obama credit for “being deliberative and not a Cowboy.” And we all know what that sentiment is. It’s partisanship, plain and simple.
But when George W Bush heard that terrorists (nobody knew they were Islamic Terrorists yet) had struck the World Trade Center while a Florida second grade class was reading to him, the Liberals wanted Bush to get up and leave right then and there. As if Bush could have done something in those ten minutes to change anything. What was it Bush could have done in those ten minutes that would have changed anything?
There are already plans in place in the event the US is attacked. Since the attack was by civilian planes, President Bush was in no immediate danger in a Florida grade school. There was nothing that needed done right that minute that couldn’t be handled at a command level below the Commander in Chief. In short, President Bush’s seven to ten minute delay was in no way going to make matters worse or prevent matters from becoming better. So the Liberals’ demand that Bush was wrong or indecisive, or whatever other Liberal attack meme, is pure partisanship or pure ignorance or a combination of the two. But don’t take my word for it. Take the words of those who were at Emma E Booker Elementary School — in the second grade class with President Bush — for it. From Time magazine, no right-wing media outlet that, come the words of the then-second grade students who witnessed President Bush being told terrorists had flown planes into the World Trade Center. And they say President Bush did the right thing.
Lazaro Dubrocq’s heart started racing because he assumed they were all in trouble — with no less than the Commander in Chief — but he wasn’t sure why. “In a heartbeat, he leaned back and he looked flabbergasted, shocked, horrified,” recalls Dubrocq, now 17. “I was baffled. I mean, did we read something wrong? Was he mad or disappointed in us?”
Similar fears started running through Mariah Williams’ head. “I don’t remember the story we were reading — was it about pigs?” says Williams, 16. “But I’ll always remember watching his face turn red. He got really serious all of a sudden. But I was clueless. I was just 7. I’m just glad he didn’t get up and leave, because then I would have been more scared and confused.” Chantal Guerrero, 16, agrees. Even today, she’s grateful that Bush regained his composure and stayed with the students until The Pet Goat was finished. “I think the President was trying to keep us from finding out,” says Guerrero, “so we all wouldn’t freak out.”
…
Williams, also a junior at the military academy, says those moments spent with Bush conferred on the kids a sort of historical authority as they grew up. “Today, when we talk about 9/11 in class and you hear kids make mistakes about what happened with the President that day, I can tell them they’re wrong,” she says, “because I was there.”
Clearly, the two situations are completely uncomparable. For George W Bush, there was nothing he could do at the time and staying for the next few minutes served a purpose — keeping a bunch of 7-year-olds calm. President Bush made the right decision. For Barack Obama, there was something he could do and he chose to wait 16 hours and possibly miss the window of opportunity. Obama’s waiting provided no benefit and introduced a lot of risk.
Yes, Obama gets some credit for Osama being taken out. But so does Bush get some credit. And the overwhelming majority of the credit goes to the Intelligence community and the US Armed Forces.
But it’s pure partisanship for Liberals to claim these two events prove Obama is a successful military leader while Bush is a failure. Pure partisanship with zero grounding in truth.
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Cross-Post
