Reply #39: Respectfully disagree.

[Caliman73]

Though progressives remember that Bush started and compounded the mess, I think that many in the population have moved on to the next thing. Yes, Fox repeats this message to score political points plain and simple. I tend to give a poster on DU a little more credit until proven otherwise. The reality is that President Obama is responsible for defining our reason to be in Afghanistan and the appearance is that the same reason given by the Bush administration is being given by president Obama. Naming is Bush's mistake will fire up people who already despise Bush, but I think the average American understands the Bush is out of power and has no more control over how the war is conducted. The sooner Obama gets us out, the easier it will be to say, "President Obama got us out of Bush's mistake in Iraq and Afghanistan. If in 6 years we are still there, then that would mean that President Obama did not end the conflict. Vietnam is not Eisenhower's war or Kennedy's war despite them putting in troops and escalating the conflict. It is considered Johnson's war because of the decisions he made about its conduct, even though 4 presidents were involved in the conflict.

I agree with you that pinning blame on Obama about the war is like saying that Regan was responsible for the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both are inaccurate. The problem is that by continuing to blame Bush, we do not push Obama to make the changes needed to get out. If we are still in Afghanistan in 2014 with Obama in his second term, would it still be Bush's war?