Let’s go ahead and get one thing out in the open: America has done some horrible things to other countries. And by some, I mean a lot.
Our founders set the tone, committing genocide against our nation’s indigenous populations, and unfortunately, we still see our leaders doing irreparable damage – for instance, President Obama and his administration leaving Libya absolutely unstable in the wake of Moammar Gaddafi’s 2011 removal from power.
While international critics are questioning whether or not Obama will visit Hiroshima during his trip to Japan, nobody is left doubting how he feels about the state he left Libya in after he called his lack of preparation for the aftermath the “worst mistake” of his presidency during a press conference hosted by Fox News Sunday.
Maybe I’m a jaded millennial who has lost the majority of her faith in politicians’ abilities to be honest after growing up with Clinton and Bush, but I was stunned that he made such a loaded statement – especially against his own, albeit past, judgement.
What I saw when I watched his speech on Sunday was a man standing in front of the people he dedicated his life to leading, putting his pride to the side and leveling with them in regard to his own mistakes. I saw a man unashamed to talk about the growth he had to make both as an individual and as Commander in Chief in the five years since Gadhafi’s political ousting and subsequent death.
I saw a man talk about his own transgressions, knowing it could and probably would damage his reputation, but still prioritizing honesty over his name.
I saw a man – not a lying, pandering politician looking for an easy out to avoid any sort of personal accountability.
And that is something to respect.
It was a welcome change of pace stepping away from the political standard of spinning truths and pleading the fifth.
But, all due respect aside, the actions he rightfully acknowledged as the lowest point of his presidency need to be remembered for exactly what they were. They were destructive and irresponsible at best, absolutely disgraceful and unforgivable at worst. They are permanent, unable to be rectified by a public apology.
No matter which way you try and cut it, President Obama’s actions with Libya were deplorable in execution and he ruined, if not ended, a lot of innocent lives with of his lack of forethought. Libya is still reeling from the dissolution of their political structure in the midst of foreign attacks, air strikes and interference.
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Who knows when they’ll finally begin to regain any sense of stability and become strong enough to heal the wounds left by American actions.
Of course, there were hard decisions on every end of the spectrum at that point in Obama’s term. Of course, political advisers and international pressure influenced the way he went about trying to salvage the quality of life for Libyans suffering under Gadhafi. There really was no good way to go about traversing the situation as a whole.
But, that doesn’t mean there weren’t at least better courses of action Obama could have taken, further considerations he could have made before moving into action. There was not just one channel to explore, and in the labyrinth that was the process of deciding what to do, Obama took a wrong turn and landed himself in the weeds.
He wasn’t the only one to get cut in the process. Even if the eventual death of Gadhafi was welcomed by a decent portion of the Libyan population, the thousands of civilian lives lost in military action and civil conflict born directly from Obama’s indiscretions were most definitely not.
It’s fantastic to know we live in an America that is, even if just for the next few months, under the guidance of a president humble enough to stand in front of the world and lay out his biggest flaws. But, more so, it’s sad to know we live in an America under the guidance of a president who has something of this scale and gravity to be acknowledging.