On Dasher, On Dancer, On Prancer, On Vixen...

In Iraq, In Afghanistan, In Libya, In Syria...

Santa brings goodies to all the good children of the world.
The American government brings death and destabilization to all the "baddies" out there. Surely one day this will work to our advantage...

Maybe we'll be back at war by Christmastime, eh?

Just one question: is Syria's Bashar al-Assad a good guy, or a bad guy, in our latest analysis? Sure looks like a good thing, more and more, that we didn't routinely take him out, as we did the leaders in Libya and Iraq.

In retrospect, maybe we had little business determining another country's leaders for them? We sure don't like it here at home when our politicians are paid not to mind the interests of the people here at home, in order to save the world. (or pretend we are, anyway.)

Here's the background of Benjamin Rhodes, who spoke for the president today, telling us it will probably be necessary to ignore the Syrian border, and take the fight against the Islamic State to them there.

Rhodes grew up on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and attended the exclusive Collegiate School, graduating in 1996. Rhodes then attended Rice University, graduating in 2000 with majors in English and political science. He then moved back to New York, attending New York University and graduating in 2002 with an MFA in creative writing.

Whew!
At least the young man has a master of fine arts in creative writing. Good background for a presidential speechwriter and foreign policy analyst these days.

We're making it up, as we go along, it seems...

WAIT, there's more...

Rhodes then spent five years ... helping to draft the Iraq Study Group Report and the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
...
Rhodes was the adviser who counseled Obama to withdraw support from Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, becoming a key adviser during the 2011 Arab Spring.

So he's experienced at taking down leaders, and supporting destruction, but pretty much, he's a kid born in 1977 with a MFA degree who has been delegated to sell a Syrian war to the American people.

Good luck, kid.
I hope you're feeling really lucky. Stepping up and taking the reins like that, leading the country like this in trying times , and under the age of 40, you must have confidence oozing out your ears!

Hope this coming war is everything you wish it to be, and you can continue putting that creative writing to use. It's not like lives are on the line or anything; you can just crumple it up, and start over, right?