The Obama=Carter Meme Takes a Bit of a Hit

Not in terms of economics, that's for sure.  Obama is still doing his best to be worse than Carter on economic issues, but in terms of the use of the military, Obama has clearly separated himself from Mr. Peanut.

I'm sure that many people upon hearing that Obama had ordered a helicopter raid had flashbacks to the Carter years and the failed hostage rescue attempt in Iran.  Carter was a notorious micromanager, demanding control of the tiniest issue whether it be military options or scheduling the White House tennis court.  He decided to make the rescue attempt but was going to do it on the cheap - he wasn't going to send one man or one piece of equipment more than was absolutely necessary to accomplish the mission...assuming everything went perfectly.

Of course, it didn't.  The mission was fraught with problems and completely failed with two aircraft collided on the ground in a desert sandstorm.  We lost several men and two military aircraft and the mission collapsed.  We weren't even able to recover all the bodies of our casualties and the Iranians proceeded to desecrate our dead and drag them through the streets.

After the disaster of Vietnam, this failed rescue mission drove the image of the military in the eyes of the public and the world to an all-time low.  Instead of the world power that conquered our enemies in WWII we were now the gang that couldn't shoot straight.  Our military had lost its competence.

Of course, that wasn't true.  We still had a top-notch fighting force, but it had been hamstrung by poor leadership from the White House and the Pentagon.  It wasn't until the Grenada attacks in the 80's that this false impression began to turn around.

Obama, to his credit, decided to allow the guys that are supposed to know what they're doing determine the plan and strike package.  Even though one helicopter was lost to mechanical problems there was enough redundancy built into the plan to allow our forces to complete the mission without the loss of a single good guy.  Well done.

It's a good thing Candidate Obama has been nowhere to be seen lately or this whole thing probably never would have happened.