Friday, October 21, 2011

Senator Graham Is Clueless

Upon learning of the death of Moammar Gadhafi, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham offered this pearl of wisdom:
“We can go over there and help them (Libya) build their infrastructure…There are a lot of business opportunities in Libya…The problem I have with leading from behind is when a day like this comes we don’t have the infrastructure we could have…Let’s get in there on the ground…there’s a lot of money to be made in the future…There’s a lot of oil that needs to be produced…Let’s get in on the ground and help the Libyan people establish a democracy and a functioning economy.”
Translation:  The President successfully built an international coalition that removed a brutal dictator without shedding one drop of American blood.  We cannot give him credit for that so we will refer to the President’s participation as “leading from behind.”More importantly, we need to quickly take advantage of this business opportunity because there are billions of profiteering dollars to be made if we get in on the ground floor.  It is shameful that we didn’t take a leadership role in the removal of Gadhafi.  If we had put boots on the ground much of the infrastructure that we need to take full advantage of this situation would already be in place.  Obama missed a golden opportunity here.
It is hard to imagine how any sane person could make such a stupid, yes stupid, statement having witnessed the enormous amount of blood and treasure that this country has paid in nation building over the past decade.  It is hard to imagine how any sane person cognizant of the crumbling schools, deteriorating infrastructure and deplorable economic conditions within our own borders could even suggest that we take on another massive nation building exercise overseas. 
Before Senator Graham runs hell bent to rebuild Libya he might want to take a look at living conditions within his own state of South Carolina.  South Carolina maintains some of the poorest living standards in the country.  South Carolina ranks 46th in education, 42nd in quality of life and maintains the 49th worst economy in the country.  South Carolina does rank 19th in infrastructure but even that ranking has declined from previous years.  If Senator Graham wants to rebuild something he might consider rebuilding South Carolina.  But apparently Senator Graham, like most Republicans, is against investing in infrastructure unless we are investing in infrastructure outside of America.
Senator Graham is clueless…and his statement offers yet another example of the reckless, thoughtless  leadership that got us into this mess in the first place.            

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