The main GOP presidential candidates’ responses to events in Libya were strikingly diverse. However, one factor they had in common was the lack of any mention of one person: the President who actually committed US forces to the conflict.
The exception to this was former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. “Ridding the world of the likes of Gadhafi is a good thing,” he wrote. “But this indecisive President had little to do with this triumph.”
That was in line with a rather churlish press release put out Sunday night by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), which bemoaned that Qaddafi’s fall took “so long” because a certain someone wouldn’t “employ the full weight of our airpower.”
Still, at least this line of approach gave Obama a look-in. For the other candidates (repeating their tactics after the death of bin Laden) the President may as well have not existed.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who condemned the Libya action from the start, issued a statement acknowledging this disagreement:
“I opposed U.S. military involvement in Libya and I am hopeful that our intervention there is about to end. I also hope the progress of events in Libya will ultimately lead to a government that honors the rule of law, respects the people of Libya and their yearning for freedom, and one that will be a good partner to the United States and the international community.”
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman had also opposed getting involved in the conflict. His press release failed to mention either that or the President:
“The impending fall of Colonel Gaddafi is one chapter in the developing story of a nation in turmoil. Gaddafi has been a longtime opponent of freedom, and I am hopeful — as the whole world should be — that his defeat is a step toward openness, democracy and human rights for a people who greatly deserve it.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry strove for a far-sighted, statesmanlike tone:
“The crumbling of Muammar Ghadafi’s reign, a violent, repressive dictatorship with a history of terrorism, is cause for cautious celebration. The lasting impact of events in Libya will depend on ensuring rebel factions form a unified, civil government that guarantees personal freedoms, and builds a new relationship with the West where we are allies instead of adversaries.”
The most substantive response was perhaps that of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, as befits the man who is still the GOP’s frontrunner. He turned attention back to the still-oozing wound of the Lockerbie bomber, and demanded the new government extradite him (presumably to America since the Scottish government has already — controversially — freed him).
Still, that too contained no mention of President Obama. Just as the partisan approach to the death of bin Laden seems to be to claim the root cause (and thus praise) goes back to President George W. Bush, one wonders whether a similar thing is happening here… and just how long it will be before we’re told Qaddafi’s fall is all the result of the prior President’s ingenious long-term thinking.
