President Obama, President Bush and the Iraq War

[erpowers]

Recently, the media and a number of Republicans have been pushing President Obama to give credit to President Bush when he discusses the end of combat operations in Iraq. The argument being made is that President Obama should give credit to President Bush for the ending of combat operations in Iraq in that President Bush supported the troop surge. It has been announced by the White House that President Obama will call President Bush today and will at least mention him in tonight's speech. What do members of DU think? Should President Obama give any credit to President Bush when he discusses the end of combat operations in Iraq?

I do not think President Obama needs to mention President Bush in his speech tonight. My main reason is that I do not think the surge really worked. There were a number of things, aside from the surge, that helped conditions seemingly improve in Iraq. In addition, I think the argument can be made that President Bush is not the main reason combat operations are ending in Iraq. It is very possible that if President Bush had had his way combat operations would most likely not be ending in Iraq. President Bush never wanted to set firm goals for eventually leaving Iraq. For years President Bush argued against setting a timeline for leaving Iraq.

[zipplewrath]

1. Credit him with the SOFA

If you want to call that "credit". But Bush did negotiate the SOFA and Obama is executing it. He isn't cutting and running and he isn't "putting his own stamp" on it. I think most folks know that if Bush/McCain were still in charge, they'd be working overtime to try to get it renegotiated, but that isn't an argument the President wants to take on.

The surge isn't what's ending here, that was over before Obama came along. If Bush wanted to take credit for that, he had his chances.