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Barack Obama is to blame for his own policies. Period.

By Scott Tibbs, January 3, 2013

Barack Obama is responsible for the policies he implements. George W. Bush is not responsible for the policies Obama has chosen to implement. Why is this so difficult to understand? Why is it so difficult for Leftists to assign blame to Obama for Obama's own policies?

A December 30 letter to the editor criticizes George Will for supporting drone strikes against terrorists, condemning him for embracing John Yoo's theory on how to combat terrorism. "Yoo is author of the document for George W. Bush justifying torture," the author explains. Absolutely nowhere in the LTTE is Barack Obama mentioned, much less blamed for this policy - even though by September of 2012 Obama had already authorized six times more drone strikes than Bush did during his entire eight years in office.

Folks, this is absolutely ridiculous. George W. Bush is not President and has not been President since January 20, 2009. The fact that Obama has drastically increased the number of drone strikes is due to one person and one person only: Barack Obama. Why was there no mention of Obama in the LTTE?

Obama is the one who implemented the increased number of drone strikes. Obama is the one who ordered the extrajudicial assassination of an American citizen who had note even been charged with (much less convicted of) a crime. Barack Obama is the one who ordered another drone strike that terminated that American citizen's 16-year-old son. How is it possible in any sane world that George W. Bush is to blame for an action that Barack Obama took over two and a half years after Bush left office?

On a side note, it would be really nice if some Republicans (other than Ron Paul) would take a stand against the extrajudicial assassination of American citizens specifically, as well as express concern for the increased use of drone strikes generally. This does raise legitimate concerns with people on both the right and the left, and more discussion needs to take place on this issue. Obama should not be able to do this with no serious public scrutiny.

If we are really interested in bipartisanship, and if we are really interested in seeing Democrats and Republicans work together to find solutions that both sides can agree on, then we need to stop this kind of hyperpartisan bovine feces. Democrats need to put on their big boy pants and deal with Obama's record honestly rather than childishly pointing fingers at Bush for decisions he had absolutely nothing to do with.