Normally on Friday, we attempt to keep things a bit lighter - and to a limited degree, we're leaning toward the positive today.
After all, it is a Friday, so we've got a weekend awaiting us at the end of our workday. There's another Husker football game tomorrow, which we plan on enjoying. Some of our staff are already on a short vacation, visiting family halfway across the country (including a relatively new addition to the family). And...?
We get to say 'We told you so.'
While we certainly don't revel in violence or death, we do believe the capture and subsequent death of former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi is a good thing, in a number of ways.
To start with, the revolution going on in Libya is now done. At least the shooting. Mostly. Any obligation that U.S. and NATO forces had to that conflict has now been thoroughly fulfilled. That means the French and British forces that were assisting the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) on the ground can rapidly transition to their homes. The American air support and drone bomber forces can also pack up their equipment and come back to the United States.
That isn't why we're saying 'We told you so' though.
When we first wrote about the fall of Libya in this commentary nearly eight months ago, we noted that the Libyan people were quite unhappy with Mr. Gadhafi, and had been so for some time. When he needed to be removed from his position, it had to be the Libyans that needed to do it - not an outside force from France or Britain or NATO. And while NATO did bomb his caravan just before Gadhafi was captured and killed, his capture and death came at the hands of his own people, as we'd thought it should.
That isn't why we're saying 'We told you so' either.
We're saying "We told you so" today for a commentary we wrote seven months ago today, along with a cartoon that made very clear that Mr. Gadhafi's time was up.
In that earlier commentary, we also noted that President Obama was beginning a process of helping the world understand that America no longer needs to play "Supercop" at the first sign of ANY danger. As Thursday's events proved, there are many other countries who have more than enough ability and capability to fill roles that were once thought to be exclusively reserved for the U.S.
For many years now, Americans from both the left and the right have commented that we we can no longer play "Supercop" to the world, for a whole host of reasons. Still, no American leader had taken us down that path successfully - until now. Without loss of American lives. Within our budget for such events. And within a short time period.
That's exactly what we said seven months ago, that President Obama would do.
We understand - there are still many detractors who can't bear to give President Obama credit for ANYTHING. If Obama walked on water, these wailing whiners would cry that he couldn't swim.
Now, however, as President Obama has indeed succeeded, as we thought he would, the only thing most of his critics can do is float balloons full of wishes and hot air, while our President turns his focus back to our most pressing issue - getting his Jobs bill passed.
It's usually good to win and be right. It's even better to win and be right for the right reasons.
