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“Hillary and I — we’ve spent the last three and a half years cleaning up after other folks’ messes”
“Hillary and I have spent the last three and a half years cleaning up after other folks’ messes,” Obama told donors, referring to President George W. Bush’s foreign policy.
“We’re starting to get them pretty cleaned up,” he continued. “The war in Iraq is over. We’re transitioning in Afghanistan. We’ve got the strongest allies we’ve ever seen.”
The riff is likely to spark a fierce reaction from Mitt Romney, who has surrounded himself with many members of Bush’s foreign policy team. Romney has criticized Obama for “leading from behind” and “apologizing for America abroad” as part of his standard stump speech.
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Hillary and I? Not Biden and I?
The Rogue Tomato on April 30, 2012 at 1:03 PM
The uniter
You lie!
cmsinaz on April 30, 2012 at 1:03 PM
What, the mess caused by Barney Frank and Maxine Waters and Chris Dodd and Senate Democrats who blocked action on regulating the GSEs?
crosspatch on April 30, 2012 at 1:04 PM
Right, bowing to our enemies while damaging Americans.
Blake on April 30, 2012 at 1:05 PM
Strongest allies? Is he talking about the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas?
Friday night news dump: Obama bypasses Congress, funds Palestinian Authority
Dr Evil on April 30, 2012 at 1:05 PM
Our enemies want him reelected. Our allies want him gone. Do the math.
Kataklysmic on April 30, 2012 at 1:06 PM
This guy is on drugs. We know he’s naked, THEY know he’s naked. Only HE doesn’t realize that the emperor has no frickin’ clothes! What a buffoon. He’s toast in November.
HomeoftheBrave on April 30, 2012 at 1:07 PM
Pakistan?
Pakistan still angry because U.S. won’t apologize for airstrike that killed Pakistani troops
Iraq?
Newest threat to regional stability in the Middle East: Iraq?
Dr Evil on April 30, 2012 at 1:09 PM
Now that is an interesting way of replacing Biden, without replacing Biden.
It only works if/when Hillary goes along with it.
budfox on April 30, 2012 at 1:09 PM
LMAO!!
cicerone on April 30, 2012 at 1:09 PM
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah…
Deep breath…
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah…
Repeat as necessary.
cozmo on April 30, 2012 at 1:10 PM
The mess caused by the meltdown in the housing market, which was caused by a federal policy of too-easy mortgage loans to too many unqualified borrowers — policies advocated and supported by race-baiting, bank-suing Dim lawyer (and later big-spending Dim Senator) Baraka Obama?
This is like when the arsonist who set the house on fire returns to the scene and helps firefighters extinguish the blaze — and then proclaims himself a hero.
AZCoyote on April 30, 2012 at 1:10 PM
Yeah. With all those killings in the last few months, it’s clear how much they value our presence.
MadisonConservative on April 30, 2012 at 1:10 PM
It’s going to take a he!! of a lot more than two people and 3-1/2 years to clean up the mess you made champ.
antipc on April 30, 2012 at 1:11 PM
And Mitt will have to spend 8 years cleaning up Obama’s mess…Obama reminds of the guy who digs a whole to bury dirt…
right2bright on April 30, 2012 at 1:11 PM
That will look good on his resume for his next job: janitor.
only if that job comes with unlimited free travel, a personal jumbo jet, and all they golf he can play. Otherwise, he’ll just opt for the funemployment.
Joe Mama on April 30, 2012 at 1:11 PM
If I was 20 seconds quicker on the post button, I would have been the smart one…
right2bright on April 30, 2012 at 1:12 PM
Speaking of messes to clean up….
ConservativeLA on April 30, 2012 at 1:13 PM
FTA/comment/sarc:
I read it as “Kenyan” economics, and then realized how sometimes profound insights can happen when you least expect them.
drunyan8315 on April 30, 2012 at 1:13 PM
By sweeping it all under the rug.
Islamists? What Islamists?
thebrokenrattle on April 30, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Well if you consider Russia an allies, then I guess you are right, we have made them stronger by us weaker…if you consider Chavez in that mix, they are stronger, if you consider China, they are stronger…yeah, good job.
right2bright on April 30, 2012 at 1:15 PM
I can’t think of a single country that is a stronger ally now than before Obama took office, and he’s alienated our three closest allies.
forest on April 30, 2012 at 1:16 PM
NOT even Israel thinks you are an ally any longer you forked tongue snake! I almost dare bho to actually say what country in the world he thinks would ever come to our aid if we needed it because of his krap he has give all of them?
Bush again, Bush again, Bush again! Bush did it and ‘I’ had to clean it up!
L
letget on April 30, 2012 at 1:16 PM
Champ, you can bitch all you want about the evil Booosh but at least he had a coherent foreign policy.
Yours is an utter shambles cluster-f*** masquerading as a strategy.
CorporatePiggy on April 30, 2012 at 1:19 PM
Well, that part is true. After all, they all seem to punch above their weight.
michigansahd on April 30, 2012 at 1:19 PM
Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Myanmar (Burma), Libya, Palestinian Authority, Russia (only when it comes to Poland and how 0bama stuck it to them the Czech’s and Slovak’s), those are just the easy one’s.
cozmo on April 30, 2012 at 1:21 PM
Who will clean this up?
visions on April 30, 2012 at 1:22 PM
Almost four years into the bestest presidency ever, the idiot George W Bush continues to make the smartest man that ever was look bad. Yup, that’ll work.
Marxism is for dummies on April 30, 2012 at 1:22 PM
Maybe, but it doesn’t get much funnier than digging a hole to bury dirt
antipc on April 30, 2012 at 1:22 PM
Jesus, the balls on this guy. Transitioning in Afghanistan? To what? We’re pulling out of there and it’ll likely end up the same as before. As for Iraq. Has Obama heard of the surge and SOFA? Both accomplishments of the Bush Administration. You know, the same bunch whose messes he claims he’s cleaning up?
What an a-hole. I hope Mittens really takes it to this piece of work. Just stop with the “he’s a nice guy, but…” nonsense. I’m not saying Romney needs to get personal with Obama, but quit trying to inoculate yourself from backlash from overly sensitive Americans who can’t handle the idea of a (half)black President being called the miserable failure he is.
Doughboy on April 30, 2012 at 1:23 PM
True that, the Russians and the Chinese keep backing us up voting on sanctions against Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and stopping genocide in Syria…oh wait.
Dr Evil on April 30, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Doh, forget to type Argentina.
cozmo on April 30, 2012 at 1:24 PM
I really can’t figure out who Obama is referring to, but I am beginning to suspect it’s France.
Dr Evil on April 30, 2012 at 1:28 PM
Leading from behind.
visions on April 30, 2012 at 1:28 PM
Guns traced to Fast and Furious began turning up at violent crime scenes in Mexico- 68,000 guns and Six years of violence between warring cartels have killed more than 47,000 people in Mexico.
That Fast & Furious ATF gunwalking into Mexico was a huge success with Mexicans, I hear/
Dr Evil on April 30, 2012 at 1:32 PM
I would have included Mexico, but the gangs that 0bama is supporting haven’t taken over, yet.
cozmo on April 30, 2012 at 1:37 PM
Of course, we won’t talk about the messes we’ve creted: Libya, Egypt, Syria…
michaelo on April 30, 2012 at 1:37 PM
The truth is that Obama did inherit a big mess from Bush and the GOP establishment, who were terrible stewards of our economy and freedom, but in the last 3.5 years Obama hasn’t been “cleaning up” the mess, he’s been making a mess twice as fast.
FloatingRock on April 30, 2012 at 1:40 PM
scoop that poop. Might help to get a bigger shovel…
affenhauer on April 30, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Oh, Barack. When will you grow up?
dczombie on April 30, 2012 at 1:44 PM
There is much f’ed up about Obama’s point of view, but perhaps the saddest thing is that he actually believes it to be true.
Deafdog on April 30, 2012 at 2:01 PM
“The war in Iraq is over.”
According to the timeline that the Bush Administration set. The Obama administration actually tried to extend that and flubbed the deal with the Iraqis.
“We’re transitioning in Afghanistan.”
We’ve seen more American deaths in Afghanistan during the Obama Administration’s 3 and a half year tenure than the entire 8 years of Bush.
“We’ve got the strongest allies we’ve ever seen.”
This administration has done everything to piss off traditional American allies such as Britain and Israel while trying to cozy up with traditional foes. And that’s when Obama, Biden and Hillary weren’t making gaffetastic flubs.
Try again there champ.
Queasy on April 30, 2012 at 2:04 PM
That’s oversimplifying things to the extreme. The Democrats were in charge of Congress for 2 years before Obama was inaugurated and Hillary became his SoS. And lest we forget, Obama and Hillary(and Joe Biden for that matter) were all sitting Senators in Congress for that entire 2 years.
Regarding foreign policy, Iraq was a war Bush elected to start, no argument there. But Hillary advocated and voted in support of military action as a Senator, so it’s disingenuous for Obama to make her out to be some sort of opponent of that war. And virtually every Democrat who ran for President in 2008 not named Dennis Kucinich was in favor of escalating the war in Afghanistan.
And as for the financial crisis, what caused that? The housing market melting down. Well this can all be traced back to the repeal of Glass-Steagall. Who signed that? Bill Clinton, whose record Hillary tried to gravy train off of in her bid for the Presidency. And many Democrats stood in the way of any reform of Fannie and Freddie during the middle part of the last decade when Republicans, including Bush, were sounding the alarm bells and warning what could happen if we did nothing.
Am I absolving Bush of blame? Of course not. The buck stops with the President. But this narrative that Obama and Hillary were innocent bystanders plucked out of obscurity and thrust into leadership positions at a time of unprecedented crisis and thus should be given a neverending pass for their own failures and inadequacies is not only disingenuous but frankly insulting.
Doughboy on April 30, 2012 at 2:04 PM
De Evil on Fire! Thx for the links.
bazil9 on April 30, 2012 at 2:05 PM
In no way shape or form did George W. Bush execute his foreign policy initiatives perfectly – no human being could – but he did a damned good job. I can say without fear of contradiction that he played his hand very, very well. He took his job seriously and did what he thought was the right thing regardless of what his detractors said.
Obama is representative of the reflexively anti-American progressive left who demonized every single thing that Bush did regarding foreign policy, only to do exactly the same thing once he got into office.
I loathe this SOB that occupies the White House like I have never loathed any public official in my lifetime, nor do I expect to loathe any one else in the same way. He is maliciously tearing this country to shreds for his own aggrandizement – and I have to tell you that if he gets reelected – this nation is finished.
turfmann on April 30, 2012 at 2:17 PM
What we really need in this country is an isolationist foreign policy. The oceans are large and will protect us.
a capella on April 30, 2012 at 2:26 PM
And how many years will future generations spend cleaning up YOUR messes, you SCFOAMF.
outOfElement on April 30, 2012 at 2:46 PM
A+
Del Dolemonte on April 30, 2012 at 2:51 PM
Cleaned up the mess?
Made it worse, dude.
Twice as many US military have died in Afghanistan in the 3 years of Obama than all the years of Bush.
albill on April 30, 2012 at 3:03 PM