If the sun rises during the Obama Administration, everyone's going to get skin cancer.
Such is the thinking of right-wing radicals like Ed Randazzo. In Libya, a popular uprising ousts and kills dictator Muammar Qaddafi in less than a year. Families of those killed by his terrorist acts declare justice has been done. His death ends the Libyan civil war and allows Libyans to focus on rebuilding their country, pursuing closer economic ties with the United States, securing Qaddafi's chemical weapons stockpiles, and enjoying life without the capricious oppression of a madman at the helm of their country.
But because there is even the slightest chance that the death of Qaddafi and the victory of people power could undermine Republican claims that President Obama's foreign policy weakens America, Ed Randazzo wishes Qaddafi were still alive and in charge of Libya. He groans that the victorious people of Libya, now able to choose their own destiny, are the real danger. He says we cannot afford to give emergency aid to Libya or unfreeze Libyan assets for the new Libyan government to use to treat the sick and build the new Libya, even though that's exactly what we need to do to ensure Libya transitions to a stable democratic government.
And yes, that new Libyan government shows every sign of being democratic, says this State Department expert on Fox News, who calls on the Obama Administration to do more of exactly what Randazzo opposes:
...the Libyan people and the preponderance of their wartime leaders have demonstrated little appetite for anything other than real democracy. Their liberated cities have been administered admirably. And with victory coming at their own hands, along with help from allies, the Libyan people will feel an ownership of their new government from the beginning.
The U.S. should support this transition with the key things the new government needs to be successful. Most import among these is money—their own money. Now that the country is unified, there is no excuse to delay the unfreezing of all of the former Qaddafi government's funds abroad. The new Libyan government will need this to maintain order and support its cities until oil exports and the private economy can be resumed—and hopefully liberalized [Christian Whiton, "Qaddafi's Dead: Now Team Obama Must Do Everything It Can to Help the New Libya Succeed," FoxNews.com, 2011.10.20].
Not all Republicans suffer from the Obama Derangement Syndrome that sees every positive development during this President's term as a threat to their political agenda. I don't see the need to trumpet Qaddafi's death as a clear victory for the Obama Administration. But branding the victorious people of Libya as "the real danger" is simply nuts.
Qaddafi is dead. Libyans are free. Democracy has its best chance on the southern shore of the Mediterranean in decades. Building that democracy won't be easy—it never is. But we should celebrate the victory of the Libyan people over tyranny.
Update 10:59 MDT: Prediction: Randazzo's next blog post blasts President Obama for announcing our complete withdrawal from Iraq by year's end and demands that we re-invade Iraq to remain in position to invade Iran. Whoops: American Enterprise Institute wingnuts are already saying that.
Ed: the United States of Earth will live fine without you. Consider taping yourself to a propane cylinder along with a blasting cap and a can of starting fluid.