The release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has exploded into what some are calling President Obama’s biggest controversy to date.?The outrage is directed at the notion that the White House would “negotiate with terrorists” to release five detainees from Guantanamo Bay, in exchange for one American soldier, whom we’ve recently learned may have been a deserter.
As you can expect with any story involving President Obama, good or bad, there are of course a number of right-wingers calling for his immediate impeachment, despite many of them having been critical in the past of Obama’s perceived failure to act in getting Bergdahl freed, whatever the cost.
Of course, this is just as silly as any other instance of the right-wing crying impeachment… here’s a link to an article published in February of this year, discussing the prisoner exchange, while so many conservatives are saying Obama failed to give Congress 30 days’ notice regarding the exchange.?The surprise here wasn’t the exchange itself, but the fact the White House could actually negotiate it.?Funny no one seemed to think Bergdahl was a deserter until after he was released, and people started offering praise to the Obama Administration for a job well done… but I digress.
This?story has?left me wondering something: how would this story be playing out right now if the Obama Administration didn’t negotiate for Sgt. Bergdahl’s release??The answer should be blatantly obvious to anyone who follows this stuff with any regularity: they’d be demanding President Obama’s impeachment and threatening the White House with hearings and lawsuits galore.
“Why does Obama hate the troops?” they’d ask, as has been evidenced repeatedly by their reactions to every story involving Obama ever.
“Letting this American soldier rot overseas is despicable!?This is America! We never leave a man behind!?How dare Obama treat an American soldier — an American life — with such disregard?! All this stuff about Bergdahl being a `deserter’ is more lamestream left-wing media bias!?Free Bergdahl, impeach Obama!?Free Bergdahl, impeach Obama!?Free Bergdahl, impeach Obama!”
What I find ironic, if not?overwhelmingly tragic, is that many of these same people calling for President Obama’s impeachment over releasing five detainees of questionable value are the same people who will proudly tell you that Ronald Reagan was, in their opinion, America’s greatest president (or, in the very least, deserves to be amongst the top five).?After all, Ronald Reagan would never negotiate with terrorists, right??Well, there was that one time he aided Osama Bin Laden with financing, weapons and training, setting the stage for the rise of Al Qaeda, all to spite the Russians. But don’t bring that up… unless you hate America.
At the end of the day, conservatives wanted Bergdahl freed.?They can try their best to scrub the internet of any sign of that, but the release of Bowe Bergdahl is something they’ve been championing for months, if not years, and they’ve been critical of the Obama Administration all along.?So for them to call for President Obama’s impeachment, after his administration managed to successfully negotiate Bergdahl’s release, on terms they themselves defended in the past, is almost comically ridiculous, if not outright depressing.?For once in your lives, Right-Wing, offer credit where credit is due, because at this point, the rest of us just think you’re being silly.
Edited by D.H.
