Alex Spillius: Obama and Bush – different approach, similar outcome
[Alex Spillius is The Daily Telegraph's Washington Correspondent.]
After eight years of George W Bush, a majority of Americans wanted a president who didn’t shoot from the hip, and that is certainly what they have got in Barack Obama.
When it came to taking action against Libya, the leader of the free world kept his pistol in its holster until the last possible minute.
We now learn that it was only last Tuesday night, at the end of an extremely tense meeting of his national security staff, that the president finally come down on the side of military intervention and decided to throw the crucial support of the United States behind UN resolution 1973, which passed just 48 hours later.
It was nearly a month since Libyans had taken to the streets, five days since President Nicolas Sarkozy of France had recognised the authority of the rebel council in Benghazi, and 15 days since David Cameron had told the House of Commons that he would seek a no-fly zone against Col Muammar Gaddafi’s air force...
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
After eight years of George W Bush, a majority of Americans wanted a president who didn’t shoot from the hip, and that is certainly what they have got in Barack Obama.
When it came to taking action against Libya, the leader of the free world kept his pistol in its holster until the last possible minute.
We now learn that it was only last Tuesday night, at the end of an extremely tense meeting of his national security staff, that the president finally come down on the side of military intervention and decided to throw the crucial support of the United States behind UN resolution 1973, which passed just 48 hours later.
It was nearly a month since Libyans had taken to the streets, five days since President Nicolas Sarkozy of France had recognised the authority of the rebel council in Benghazi, and 15 days since David Cameron had told the House of Commons that he would seek a no-fly zone against Col Muammar Gaddafi’s air force...