COMMENTS ON THE JANUARY DRONE ATTACK

American hostage killed in drone attack.

        Today’s announcement by President Obama that Dr. Warren Weinstein, a 73-year-old U.S. aid worker, who was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian social worker who had been a captive since 2012, had been killed in a January drone strike against an Al Qaida compound near the Afghan-Pakistan border has evoked the deep sympathy of the free world for the families of the two men. What a tragic outcome to the families’ long-suffering wait and agonizing hope for the rescue of their loved ones from their terrorist captors.
        Now comes the second-guessing and the predictable blame game. How could we have made such a mistake? Why didn’t our intelligence network know that the two men were being held prisoner in that compound? What went wrong and who was responsible for it?
        And of course, the Obama haters will point to the incident as another example of the failed leadership of “this president” and the incompetency of his administration.

A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT? THAT'S A GLOOMY PROSPECT INDEED!

         Among the horde of Republican hopefuls who have declared or are soon to declare their candidacy for president of the United States, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appears to be the current front runner by a very narrow margin.
        That should tell us something about the caliber of those who hope to represent the Republican Party in the 2016 presidential election! It tells us even more about the political discernment of the red side of the American electorate. How can any discerning voter want a President who would behave the way Scott Walker has behaved as Governor of Wisconsin? (See SCOTT WALKER FOR PRESIDENT?)

        On the blue side it looks as if Hillary Clinton is still likely to .be the Democratic Party’s nominee. Although none of the Republican candidates comes close to matching Hillary’s experience and qualifications for the office, given the Republicans’ historical effectiveness at negative campaigning she is by no means a shoe-in to win the presidency. The smear campaign has already begun, as predicted (see GET READY FOR THE HILLARY BASHERS).
        The same determined minority that enabled the G,O.P. gains in the 2014 mid-term elections will be working hard to win the White House. What a disaster that would be, if it should happen! It could happen, if the irresponsible majority who slept through the mid-term elections don’t exercise their right and fulfill their duty as citizens to vote.