Manly Men

It occurred to me the other day that patriarchy has been a disappointment.

A case in point was President Obama's pledge during his campaign two years ago to wind down the pointless war against Iraq and build up the useless war against Afghanistan. Why would someone as thoughtful as Obama promise to fight a useless war? The answer: he wanted to get elected.

In a patriarchy nobody wins the highest office by pledging to end two wars at once with no victory. Obama had to promise to fight at least one war or go back to the senate. (This resembles a history story from Ancient Greece.)

Once elected, President Obama began to withdraw troops from Iraq, bringing home about 100,000 Americans. The last 50,000 are scheduled to leave by the end of his term in office. So far, he's getting away with that part of his plan. According to internet sources, Obama is secretly funding 150,000 mercenaries at triple the pay to replace the departing troops, but that would be insane.

I understand that recent Presidents have been senile or clowns or burned out substance abusers, but I'm not ready to agree that Obama is insane.

Meanwhile, despite his campaign promises, Obama has said he plans to wind down the war against Afghanistan and start bringing home troops before the end of next year. That's not manly at all. Maybe Obama plans to run for reelection wearing a dress.

If he does, I'll vote for him.