The list of things that are Obama’s fault just keeps getting longer. You have to wonder how he has managed to get so much done in so short a time. After all, conservatives have blamed Obama for everything from riots in Ferguson, MO, to California’s drought, to Ebola, to Hurricane Katrina (No, really). And that happened three years before he was inaugurated. He is to blame for high gas prices that hurt consumers, as well as for low gas prices that hurt oil companies. They blame him for increased immigration (which has actually gone down), and for the rising number of abortions (which are declining).
It really doesn’t matter what the subject is. Conservatives will spin it as evidence of America’s doom and blame Obama for it. And if you need another example, look no further than Fox News, where today they ran a story with the headline “That Drowned Syrian Boy On The Beach Is Obama’s Fault.” Because, of course it is.
Fox News contributor Erick Erickson is the one assigning the blame on this occasion. He has to stretch mightily to justify his ludicrous opinion that the responsibility for the death of a child refugee from Syria rests on the President’s shoulders. He does this by twisting the facts beyond all recognition and inventing motives that aren’t supported by reality. The sad story began when the boy’s family, along with thousands of others, fled the oppression and atrocities perpetrated by ISIS in Syria. Erickson viewed that situation as the “direct result” of Obama’s alleged pride and cowardice.
Erickson: “ISIS only became a thing when the White House, out of pride and arrogance, decided it was better to placate the left by withdrawing all troops from Iraq rather than help the Iraqis maintain their stability.
“A young boy has died, washed up on the shores of Europe. His picture has shocked the world and his death is direct result of Barack Obama fleeing the Middle East, tail tucked between his leg, so he could pridefully say he ended a war he never wanted.
“The boy is dead because Barack Obama chose to abdicate American leadership in the world.”
Apparently Erickson either doesn’t know, or is deliberately lying, about the circumstances that led to the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. The truth is that a “Status of Forces Agreement” was negotiated by the administration of George W. Bush that called for complete withdrawal by the end of 2011. The Obama administration attempted to extend the agreement, but the Iraqis were opposed to any extension so Bush’s deadline was carried out.
Since the withdrawal date was not chosen by Obama, it can hardly be attributed to him as placating the left or resulting from his pride and arrogance. He didn’t “flee” the Middle East. He complied with the binding agreement of his White House predecessor. If Erickson is looking for someone to accuse of abdicating leadership, then he should be looking at Bush.
Furthermore, Erickson’s insinuation that Obama was responsible for the rise of ISIS is just as faulty as his understanding of international treaties. Many of the soldiers who formed ISIS were former officials and military operatives of Saddam Hussein’s Bath Party. They were only available to start their radical Islamic army because Bush’s operatives in Iraq prohibited them from having any role in the new Iraqi government. That move turned them into rebels who eventually aligned with ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Erickson argued that the destabilization of Iraq that led to much of the region’s turmoil was Obama’s fault, even though one of the reasons that Obama had opposed the Iraq war from the start was the risk of destabilization. So Erickson was wrong about Iraq. He was wrong about the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. He was wrong about the beginnings of ISIS. He also failed to note that the dead child was not from Iraq, but was a refugee from Syria, where they were having problems of their own.
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Nevertheless, Erickson flatly stated that “That little boy would not have died had Barack Obama stood strong in Iraq. […] That dead child is Barack Obama’s fault.” But that opinion is so much more than merely wrong. It is contrary to the facts. It is slander against Obama. It is absolution to ISIS, the real perpetrators of so much death and misery. And it is perversely exploitative of a tragic loss of innocent life. However, it is exactly the sort of despicable smear campaign that Erickson, and his comrades on the right, and Fox News, have been engaging in for at least the last seven years.
Another really sad part about these people that fox employs is they have to know the facts in order to argue the “rationale” of the “everything is Obama’s fault” to make it plausible to get their brain-dead viewers to believe it. Admittedly, they don’t have to work that hard at it because their audience is already predisposed to believe it and these pseudo journalist take advantage of their hate and ignorance.
As an aside, Trump has these same people eating out of his hand as he employs the same strategy; take advantage of the ignorant and stupid——because it’s easy.
Bigtoe – see below…
I’m going to use the Mark Howard rationale for credit and blame for a president – Barack Obama is president and has been since 2009 – there was no ISIS prior to his presidency – so using your past justification for giving this and any president credit or blame – he is responsible. You’re no different than fox News or any of the “dummies” you criticize on the right – just accept it, Fox Nation is doing nothing more than you do when trying to give this president credit for any number of things. Pathetic. if you were even a little consistent with how you assign blame and give credit, I couldn’t comment, but you make it to easy.
How are you going to blame President Obama on 911? That was the biggest disaster on American soil besides Pearl Harbor and the Commander and Chief was Bush Jr.
ISIS existed prior to Obama’s presidency. Perhaps you should look up its history.
Read what I wrote – I’m applying the rationale used to apply blame and/or credit by the writer of this article – which is clear in past posts of his. He grants credit to Barack Obama for things that really are not justifyable when they are good things but doesn’t apply the same when it’s bad, such as this. I’m really not the one assigning blame, just pointing out an observation on the hypocrisy of this guy as I’ve done before. You can’t have it both ways – he can’t assign only the positive outcomes to our dear leader – the negative ones too must be assigned. I’m only pointing out what should be obvious to those who read here, but that may not be possible. I’ve even cut this president a break in the past – knowing they can’t be blamed for everything that goes wrong, meaning I’m more thoughtful than this guy. Don’t be blinded by what you want to hear only – try thinking for yourselves.
Wow. That word-salad comment reads like it could have come from Sarah Palin. Nothing in it is true, or even makes sense. And nothing in it is responsive to this article.
Why can’t you simply respond to what I wrote and rebut it with facts or logic? You rarely ever do because you’re apparently incapable of it. It’s easier for you to deflect and presume to have some psychological insight into my motives. But you don’t even do that well. Do you ever get tired of making an ass of yourself?
Erik Erikson is a bald-faced liar, a professional liar.
Yes, it really IS Obama’s fault.
This is coming from a hardcore Democrat. I used to be a hardcore Republican until George W. Bush turned me into a hardcore Democrat. That started during the days after 911 when the entire world, including the entire Muslim world was horrified and was rallying behind America. Bush delivered a speech in which he called the war against terrorism “Crusade.” I could understand what he said because the chamber under his skull is empty, but not a single Republican or for that matter, Democrat said, “Mr. Idiot, this is not Crusade.” And then the gang of war criminals including this empty-headed president, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice decided to invade Iraq that triggered the sequence of events which are reverberating through today; and John Ashcroft, whose Justice Department gave the green light for “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” also known as torture. When they found no weapons of mass destruction, all they had to say was: Oooops, our intelligence was wrong.
I have no sympathy for Saddam whatsoever but he was America’s product, in Reagan’s words “Our SOB.”
So why is it Obama’s fault?
First, this mess in the Middle East was America’s creation and is it is American responsibility to clean it up.
Second, Obama needed to put on trial that gang of war criminals for the war crimes they committed.
He has failed on both.