President Lincoln once became so exasperated with the plodding of George McClellan that he complained his top general suffered from a bad case of “the slows.” Lincoln wanted McClellan to move Union forces with dispatch and decisiveness, to get after the Confederate Army and defeat it. McClellan preferred to study his options, to await developments, and play it safe. Were Lincoln with us today, he might well apply the same uncomplimentary sobriquet to President Obama’s handling of the crisis in Libya and the other revolutionary uprisings against dictatorial governments across the Middle East. While European and other world leaders have shown no hesitation about condemning Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s murderous actions, Obama has displayed all the symptoms of a classic case of the same malady that ultimately led Lincoln to relieve McClellan and replace him with more vigorous leaders.
Libyan streets have run red with blood because for nearly a week Gadhafi has used mercenaries imported from Africa and Libyan solders still loyal to him to slaughter demonstrators in the streets. He’s also used state-run television and radio to deliver rambling, semicoherent rants in which he promised death to his opponents and claimed they were simultaneously under the control of Osama bin Laden and hallucinogenic drugs. In response to such insanity and carnage, Obama’s most decisive move thus far has been to dispatch Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Geneva for talks next week at the U.N. Human Rights Council. Meanwhile, Obama is studying “the full range of options” that he might take.
