Trips to the barbershop (or for the ladies, the hairdresser) can be enervating and time consuming, but they can also be instructive. I made that discovery a few short days ago, as I overheard two Brooklyn barbers discussing the multilateral intervention in civil war-torn Libya. As a BBC report about the United Nations sanctioned bombing blared from a high-definition television set, one man pointedly wondered aloud, to nobody in particular: "What is President Obama doing in Brazil as Libya is being bombed?"
The barbershop scene is interesting for several reasons. It underscored the extent to which President Obama, buffeted by weeks of headlines telegraphing indecision and mixed signals about how best to confront Libyan Leader Muammar Gadhafi's brutal suppression of political dissidents, surprised many by ultimately joining an international coalition to enforce a no-fly zone in the North African country. It is also noteworthy for another reason in particular: the discussants were black men -- a group often counted among the president's strongest supporters (on customers, this particular establishment uses smocks adorned with President Obama's image).
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As the country and the world at large debate the wisdom of imposing a no-fly zone in the strife-torn North African country, comparisons to former President George W. Bush's still controversial decision to invade Iraq have flown fast and furiously. Naturally, the action has sparked a riveting debate about whether the action in Libya is justified or legitimate. They've also prompted a tremendous amount of angst and soul-searching amongst President Obama's ardent fan base, many of who believed the president they voted for represented a 180-degree turn from his predecessor.
Leaving aside for the moment the jarring inconsistency of a Nobel Peace Prize winner ordering a bombing of a sovereign country, there are obvious questions that beg for answers. Do the president's supporters have reason to feel betrayed? And is the Libya bombing another example of American supererogation? Important similarities and differences between Iraq and Libya should be noted. At least for the moment, the military campaign in North Africa appears narrowly defined. The military action was given the explicit backing of the U.N., an institution to which the president and his base remains unfailingly deferential. And President Obama has made a painstaking (although wholly unconvincing) effort to draw a distinction between humanitarian intervention and unprovoked or pre-emptive war.
That being said, it's difficult to imagine that the reaction to an overseas war would be greeted with such muted opposition if the president in question who had ordered it were named Bush. Despite the frequent meme that the former president unilaterally attacked Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush rallied an even broader coalition to the United States' side than the Libya campaign. He also prepared the country for war well in advance, with an endless stream of public statements and -- perhaps most importantly -- Congressional authorization. Former President Bush also announced his decision from the place where every commander-in-chief should make the momentous decision to commit troops to armed conflict: in the Oval Office.
By contrast, President Obama's decision to strafe Libya came just as he departed on a poorly-timed junket to South America, leaving both Democrats and Republicans alike sputtering with indignation about his lack of consultation or approval from Congress. The news also came on the heels of days filled with breathless headlines about the president's NCAA-bracket picks -- hardly the portrait of a decisive, serious and focused wartime leader. And most observers were less than awed by President Obama's ponderous decision-making on the issue: when France and Britain agitate for a military confrontation as the U.S. sits on the sidelines, you know you've got problems.
To be sure, no consensus exists about this conflict, which is still in its early stages. Even among conservatives often accused of being "warmongers", a sharp fissure has opened up between those who support the Libyan action and those who harbor grave reservations about entering yet another Middle East conflict. President Obama's erstwhile supporters have demonstrated their own conflicting (and, it should be noted, often self-serving and hypocritical) impulses on the topic. Professional political gadfly Dennis Kucinich has even gone as far to call for the president's impeachment. The stinging rebuke President Obama received from Nation of Islam firebrand and Gadhafi apologist Louis Farrakhan is an indication of how most black supporters likely would have reacted had it been President Bush ordering a bombing of Libya, rather than the nation's first black president.
President Obama's fans can't plausibly claim surprise. In truth, the president's newly-discovered hawkishness on Libya is hardly the first time he's done something more in keeping with his predecessor than his carefully-cultivated campaign persona. Candidate Obama vowed to shut down the controversial Guantanamo Bay detainee facility; President Obama has kept the center open, and for the most part has preserved most of the anti-terrorism policy architecture President Bush left behind. Since taking office, the president's actions have been a whirlwind of cognitive dissonance, contradictions, head-spinning reversals and naked political expediency. Par the course for a regular politician? Certainly. But what the public should expect from an avowedly "change" candidate? Hardly.
Conventional wisdom often says that black support for President Obama is unshakable, as the pride of having the White House's first occupant of African descent outweighs all other practical considerations. My experience at the barbershop, however, indicates something else entirely might be stirring. It shows the extent to which the president -- and those advising him -- may be grossly overestimating his ability to charm Main Street into perceiving reality according to his wishes.
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Tuesday, March 22nd 2011 at 8:10PM
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