werepossum
Elite Member
- Jul 10, 2006
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Well, President Obama insisted on the backup helicopter according to President Obama. It's possible that he deserved as much credit as he gave himself, but personally I highly doubt it. I'd much more easily believe that he harangued the military about things they had long ago considered and adopted. It's always technically possible that a community organizer turned President is better at planning military operations than the people who plan military operations, but that's not where the smart money is riding.This is true. But remember President Obama insisted on the backup helicopter which was fortunate since one of the helicopters failed and they had to destroy it.
Yes the capabilities of the Special Forces improved since Carters time but the fact that President Obama changed the initial plan to add in more "fail safes" like the extra Helicopter shouldn't be discounted....
As for Carter, he has largely proved to be a better former President than a President.
Back to the subject of the original post, I have to wonder what might have been if General Powell hadn't been persuaded to not run in the 2000 election. I think I might've liked the years 2001-2009 a lot better.
As far as Powell, I don't care for him. He's the one who convinced Bush I to stop the Gulf War because "It's a massacre!" which in hindsight was a major problem, allowing Hussein to escape with most of his forces. Then he testifies that Iraq has WMDs - but then later says he never really believed it. Far too McNamara for me. Of course, he might well still have been better than Bush II, especially given the wars that defined that Presidency.