Obamateurism of the Day

Here’s a rule every current occupant of the White House should make for himself: before asserting that he’s doing something better than his predecessor, make sure to double-check the claim first. Our old friend John “Doc Zero” Hayward at Human Events and Fox News do the work that Barack Obama should have done himself, before claiming that he’s acting more multilaterally on Libya than mean ol’ George Bush did in Iraq:

Speaking in Chile to defend his decision to launch Operation Odyssey Dawn, President Obama couldn’t resist taking a swipe at George Bush, in a clumsy attempt to make himself look superior.

As reported by Fox News, the President declared: “In the past there have been times when the United States acted unilaterally or did not have full international support, and as a consequence typically it was the United States military that ended up bearing the entire burden.”

Except, though, that’s not true.  For the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Bush lined up twice as many nations for his coalition than Obama has for military action against Libya:

Coalition Forces / Iraq vs. Libya

Coalition Countries – Iraq – 2003

Afghanistan,
Albania
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Colombia
Czech Republic
Denmark
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Georgia
Hungary
Italy
Japan
South Korea
Latvia
Lithuania
Macedonia
Netherlands
Nicaragua
Philippines
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
Uzbekistan

[Source: US State Department]

Coalition – Libya – 2011

United States
France
United Kingdom
Italy
Canada
Belgium
Denmark
Norway
Qatar
Spain
Greece
Germany
Poland
Jordan
Morocco
United Arab Emirate

Moreover, a number of nations lost troops in Iraq during the first few years of that campaign, notably the Brits, Australians, and the Poles, among others.  The US hardly went it alone in Iraq, militarily or diplomatically.  Frankly, it’s insulting to those nations that suffered those losses to hear an American President assert that the US military “ended up bearing the entire burden.”

Obama likes to call his handling of foreign policy “smart power.”  Maybe he should fact-check that claim, too.

Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at [email protected] with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.

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