In that campaign, President FDR ran on a promise to keep the U.S. out of war. He said this:
I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.In all fairness, Pres. FDR said that before we were attacked at Pearl Harbor. Nevertheless, it is another example of the fact that you can write campaign speeches but not the events that will eventually define your presidency.
I agree with Howard Fineman that the "ground troops" statements are going to haunt President Obama, and sooner rather than later:
I think the sort of no-combat-troops phraseology that he used is one that could come back to haunt him and one that clearly Pentagon planners and others who say, you shouldn't dare draw such lines, are trying to fuzz up in and around the president's own statements.Yes, and it will haunt President Obama for a couple of reasons:
1) No serious military expert believes that you can defeat an army like ISIS with air power alone. They are too spread out. Unfortunately, our lack of interest in ISIS gave them the opportunity to get spread out.
2) President Obama will be confronted with a decision on ground troops very soon. We may have a coalition, but don't expect any of its members to fight unless we fight, too.
So reality is having its way with President Obama, and it won't be nice.
P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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