Why Won't Obama act on Libya?

A month ago when Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was under siege, president Obama was leading the charge to get him to leave. Mubarak was without a doubt an autocrat who did not tolerate much dissent in Egypt and his exit made it possible that the Egyptians could move towards liberty and democracy. The Muslim Brotherhood, however, was waiting in the wings in Egypt as a possible dangerous alternative to such freedom. Right now in Libya we see a popular uprising against Gaddafi. Gaddafi is not only an autocrat, he also sees nothing wrong with using his air force and army against the protesters. he is busy bombing oil installations and civilian population centers in order to regain control. If Mubarak was bad, Gaddafi is a hundred times worse. And president Obama is doing nothing except for saying that any action will have to come from the UN.

There is no way to put this other than to say that Obama's conduct is madness. The USA could easily tip the balance in favor of those who want Gaddafi out. It is very simple, things cannot get worse for Libya than they are under Gaddafi. Coming down on the side of people who are being bombed by their own government for the crime of speaking out is not a big stretch for the USA. Rather, it is what we claim to stand for.

Now comes the latest: US national director of intelligence James Clapper told the US Senate in a hearing that Gaddafi's superior military force would prevail over the long term. That means that there will be tens of thousands of deaths followed by more of Gaddafi's rule. Both England and France are calling for assistance to the new government established by the protesters. Obama, however, just sits there. He has Hillary Clinton trot out to say that it is up to the UN to act, even though the knows that the Russians will veto any resolution in the security council.

It is a national disgrace that Obama is allowing this to happen. If Obama does not want to engage US troops, we should at least be sending assistance to the rebels. We should be speaking out to condemn Gaddafi. Instead, Obama seems to be channeling Barney Fife as president. I think he is following half of Teddy roosevelt's maxim: "Speak softly!" Unfortunately, Obama has changed the rest to "hide" rather than "carry a big stick."