TomFlannery.com

We have crossed some sort of Rubicon here.

A US soldier, after 5 years of captivity, is brought home. And many of his fellow countrymen and women are outraged. Some genuinely so….but most simply because outrage is what they’ve been told to feel by the radio and TV they’re allowed to listen to (Not exactly boat rockers these people…but very reliable when election time rolls around).

But regardless of the level of sheeple-ness…all would prefer that Bowe Bergdahl be left behind…apparently. Because the US never negotiates with terrorists, except when the US….you know….negotiates with terrorists. Iran Contra ring a bell? Gipper? Rumsfeld and Saddam and the double secret probation handshake? Osama the Russian hating freedom fighter…give him some stingers! Anyone? Anyone? Is a US soldier’s life not worth 5 whacked out jihadists buried in a Cuban jail…..convinced virgins are waiting with open legs once they die?

Is that the argument?

If so, you sound sorta un American. Sorry.

Can we not prove the man’s guilt before we suggest that the proper punishment for him is to forever leave him in the hands of our mortal enemies?

Bergdahl has been accused of desertion. Serious charges to be sure. As I said…hopefully he’ll have his day in court and if he’s guilty….well…military justice can be brutal. It’s not for me to decide. Keep in mind that, if you believed initial press reports, Jessica Lynch fought to the last round, and Pat Tillman was shot by the enemy and died gloriously on the field of battle. Also keep in mind that Bergdahl has spent the last 5 years as a prisoner of the Taliban…who are surely not the most morally enlightened people on the planet. My guess is that his time with them was not always pleasant. I’m sure he’s glad to be coming home.

The truth is, nobody but Bergdahl knows the truth…yet.

But then the truth matters little in this case.

What the haters know for sure is that they hate Obama. I mean they really fucking hate him. Like Hillary hate. The kind of hate the lights up the sky in red white and blue clusters. The same people who were screaming about Bergdahl being held are now screaming that he’s still not being held. Because….you know….what good is outrage if it’s not coming out of both sides of your mouth at the same time?

They hate Obama so much that they have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. Their hate has mutated. It’s like cancer cells. It has no conscience. It goes after anything healthy.

And once again, Americans look like rank, raging goobers in the eyes of the rest of the world.

But we all must opine on this, do we not? Front page news. When you knock gun nuts off the front page, that’s the business. But hate sells. Hell….they hate Bowe Bergdahl’s father because he grew a beard.

I’m not sure why anybody would want to be President. Here’s a guy making less money than an NFL punter, and whatever he does is put through the meat grinder of social media and instant punditry….where rationality goes to die. Folks on the left see George W Bush Lite, while folks on the right see….well….a black guy in the Oval Office….but they see more than that.

Wait a minute….I’m not sure if they do. Regardless, if Obama was dying of thirst on the side of the road, these folks wouldn’t piss in his mouth for fear they’d be giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Let’s be clear here and tell it like it is. These lunatics would rather see a US soldier die than even suggest the possibility that Obama may have simply acted to re-unite a family torn asunder by a needless war. And if he did not act, and Bergdahl died while held captive by the Taliban…what then? If word got out that President Obama could have gotten him home by releasing some raw sewage from Gitmo? Sweet mother of Blanket Jackson! Batten down the hatches and Annie get yer guns!

The bat-shit-edness would be barely fit to print. “Impeach” would be the most tame word they’d use. Ted Cruz might choke to death on his own bile. John McCain could once again conveniently forget that his country never gave up on him as a soldier. I mean….no point in being a hypocrite if you don’t intend to take it as far as you can go right?

And so here we are again, feeling outnumbered….once again allowing the inmates to run the asylum.

I do not know if Obama did the right or the wrong thing. I know it’s the kind of decision that I would not want to make. It’s the kind of decision a President has to make. Every damn day. History will judge him. It can be a ruthless bitch. Or, in the case of Reagan, it can fellate a reputation until the truth becomes irrelevant. It all depends on who is writing it.

Good luck Mr. President. You’re gonna need it.

In a bit..

–tf