The Art of Deception

Either Obama is a genius or a total idiot, but either way he has mastered the art of deception. There is no doubt Obama is a narcissistic ego maniac and he goes out of his way to sit on the fence. He avoids taking sides on issues because he does not want to hurt anyone’s feelings – especially his own. He did this in the Illinois state senate by voting “present” and he is now doing it as President. This behavior is evident in everything he does, even when picking his NCAA basketball brackets – he picks the highest seed to increase his chances of being correct. He is afraid to stick his neck on the line and pick some underdogs. The Libya conflict also illustrates Obama’s art of deception. Obama has been covering up U.S. involvement in Libya so he does not anger his base or his adversaries.

First, Obama bypassed congress and entered into a conflict without any approval. He did this when he was traveling and failed to speak about the U.S. involvement in Libya for 10 days. What President in U.S. history waited 10 days to discuss our military involvement in any conflict? None! At this point Obama claimed the U.S. was no longer leading the military exercise; it was now in the hands of NATO. Even this is being deceitful since the U.S. is responsible for a majority of NATO military involvement in any global conflict. The same week Obama secretly entered the U.S. into the Libyan conflict he received an award for transparency.

Secondly, Obama has been very vague about what he ultimately wants to achieve with U.S. military intervention in Libya. He claims the goal is to protect Libyan citizens, but the mission goal is not to remove Qaddafi from office. In other words, he has set the bar low so he is in a win-win situation. If Qaddafi remains in office and continues to brutalize his adversaries - Obama wins because the removal of Qaddafi from office was not the goal of the intervention. If, on the other hand, U.S. military intervention helps the rebels overthrow Qaddafi – Obama will certainly claim victory. If the new Libyan government supports global terrorism – Obama wins again since his goal was not set up a democracy in Libya.

Thirdly, Obama uses all the right rhetoric and talking points when addressing U.S. involvement in Libya. Obama said “Some nations may turn a blind eye to the atrocities in other countries”. He also claimed “When our interests and values are at stake we have the responsibility to act”. In other words, the U.S. acted for both national security and humanitarian reasons. Well, the situation in Libya is not a national security risk to the United States – this is more deceit by the Obama administration. But I can understand acting for humanitarian reasons, but what about the genocide and brutality going on in other nations – Iran, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, and the Ivory Coast? Why act in Libya and ignore the humanitarian crisis in other nations? The Obama administration claimed that both Qaddafi and Laurent Gbagbo (Ivory Coast) have both “lost legitimacy to rule” – so why has he failed to act in the Ivory Coast. Besides, Iran, Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen do pose a national security risk to the United States. Iran is building nuclear weaponry, the U.S. has a naval port in Bahrain, and both Syria and Yemen are home to some of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world – but Obama is not going to interfere.

Fourth, Obama chastised Bush and conservatives for overthrowing a genocidal leader (Saddam Husain) and setting up a democracy in Iraq. What makes Libya more of a humanitarian conflict than Iraq? Obama is being deceptive about Libya because he does not want to be compared to Bush and the Iraq conflict.

Fifth, Obama campaigned against war and for diplomacy. He pledged nuclear disarmament and to close Guantanamo. He pledged to fight our biggest battle – global warming. Obama was immediately given the Nobel Peace Prize – even though he accomplished nothing. But once in office reality hit. Obama has not been able to deliver on any of his promises and he now owns the record for firing the most missiles by a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Obama’s vagueness to outline clear and aggressive goals is done on purpose. His ego and the liberal base cannot handle any more failures by this administration. He is not living up to his Nobel Peace prize or his transparency awards – so he has begun to set the bar low so he can start to achieve some goals. So even if Qaddafi remains in office and continues to kill and torture his citizens – Obama achieved his goal.