For the eight years President Bush presided over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the left trotted out casualty numbers of soldiers as evidence that the war was failing and our leadership was incompetent.
Have you noticed, though, that those numbers aren’t coming out quite as much? That the drumbeat to leave Afghanistan and Iraq has dwindled? That suddenly everything domestic is more important?
Of course you have, because the numbers make The Great Onetm look bad.
Don’t take my word for it, though.
Notice that the death numbers pick up in July, right around the time McChrystal was complaining the loudest that he was being ignored?
And notice from July onward, the most deadly months of both wars happened under Obama’s watch.
Now, some will be quick to jump out and blame former President Bush for these numbers, but that’s a hard sell when you consider:
a: The numbers were much lower under President Bush (oddly, though, lower when they were a “big deal”).
b: The numbers exhibited a large uptick 7 months after President Obama took office, meaning the “Bush Hangover” defense is, at the very least, moot.
c: The President has not made any substantial strategic changes to our war effort, has made no effort to bring the troops home, and has not answered the criticisms of his “men on the field,” something he chastised McCain for during the debates.
Now let’s be straight here. This isn’t really about President Obama for me; this is about the Bush critics. Nothing has changed except for their level of chatter, and while they were “concerned” about fatality numbers when a Republican was in office, that concern seems to have dwindled when the casualties are, in fact, worse than they’ve been since 2001. So much worse, in fact, that they’ve almost doubled since Bush’s last year of 2008.
Let the cries begin, just don’t hold your breath.
Casualties via iCasualties, the same site that liberals loved for 8 years.