Ron Christie and his rose colored glasses

Ron Christie, former Deputy Assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney was on Hardball on MSNBC this evening doing the bidding for his former boss. Do you have to be a d**k to work for one?

I am long over hearing Dick Cheney and other members of the Bush admnstration trying to rewrite the last 8 years.  It seems like we've seen and heard him more of Dick Cheney since he left, or should have left DC, back in January when the 44th Presidency was over, than when he was actually in office.

But let's get back to Ron Christie on Hardball tonite. Chris Matthews, Willie Brown and Ron Christie were talking about the pushback that is being given to Dick Cheney's recent criticism of President Obama's current discussions & deliberations regarding troop levels and policy & strategy in Afghanistan. Cheney accuses Obama of "dithering" when it comes to makng a decison.

Matthews mentioned that Geroge Will, a conservative columnist suggested that "A bit of ditherng might have been in order before we went into Iraq n pursut of non-existent weapons of mass desetructon." and other members of the GOP seem to agree.

Christie accuses Obama of sitting on a report from his general (McChrystal) requesting a surge of up to 40,000 troops to "define victory in Afghanstan".  Of course, there has been no redefintion of the mssion n Afghanstan, let alone a defniton of victory.

Christe goes on to accuse Obama of having "time to fly to Copenhagen and appear on Davd Letterman; and says that he and others wonders if this President is giving ths Afghanistan conflct resolution the time and attenton it deserves"  How quickly he forgets the many fiddling vacations that Bush took while our country burned.

You don't go to war for a perceived threat as Christie described Iraq and went on to say that the UN Security Council along with the coalition of the willing "acted to preseve the integrity of the US and we acted to reserve the peace". I missed that peace in the Bush adminstration.

When Christie says this (decision about Afghanistan) shouldn't be political, he seems to forget that his former boss and the entire administration perfected making any subject politcal during the last 8 years.  Christie goes on to suggest that the President should be "deliberate, methodical and thoughtful". That statement seems a bit ironic since the Bush adminstration was anything but deliberate, methodical and thoughtful about anything they did in their 8 years in office.

Unlike former President Bush, who treated the miltary as his own little green army men, Obama expressed his concern to members of the military today when speaking at Jacksonville Naval Air Station.  "While I will never hesitate to use force to protect the American people or our vital interests, I also promise you this -- and this is very important as we consider our next steps in Afghanistan: I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm's way," Obama said. "Because you deserve the strategy, the clear mission, the defined goals and the equipment and support you need to get the job done. That's the promise I make to you."

There is no weakness in a leader who will not rush a solemn decsion of sending troops into harm's way. Had there been any deliberate, methodical and thoughtful dscussions or even any dithering, prior to invading Iraq, 4351 US solders, including my son, and countless innocent Iraqis very well could still be alive.