It's 3:00 AM: Do You Know Where Your Red Phone Is?

It's 3:00 AM, and the Red Phone rings. A staffer hauls President Obama out of bed to take the call. Whatever the issue is, Obama then calls the Head of the General Chiefs, while WH staffers call the Pentagon. Within half an hour, a meeting forms up in the WH situation room, and the assembled Chiefs lay out whatever plots and plans the Pentagon has been working on (since fricking VIETNAM, no less), that are related to the crisis du jour. Obama runs the situation through a reality filter, takes or adjusts the recommendations of the Joint Chiefs, and starts the ball rolling.

It's 3:00 AM, and the Red Phone rings. A staffer hauls President Clinton II out of bed to take the call. Whatever the issue is, Clinton then calls the Head of the General Chiefs, while staffers call the Pentagon...

The point is, we have a military elite that's well set-up for rapid response (what passes for "rapid" in the military, anyhow), is well studied-up in conflict scenarios, and well-prepared and -structured to prepare and inform WHOEVER the fricking president may be, to make well-informed decisions. Unless of course, like Boy George, they don't even read the daily intelligence briefings.

I doubt there is ANYTHING a President Clinton could do, to substantially hurry the process of evaluating a threat, and putting the responses into play.

UNLESS- Unless she were operating out of a knee-jerk mindset, of the sort that acts first and thinks later.

If this is what she's promising us, and with the example of the present failed presidency in mind, I'll hold out for someone who thinks through the consequences of his actions.

Bear in mind, that

1) the classic Red Phone is only going to ring if President Medvedyev wants to TALK about the issue (rather than let his Bears do the talking for him),

2) so-called "terrorists," likewise, will let the crisis speak for itself,

3) lacking such a fait-accompli, an issue of concern will allow days, in which to address the level and type of response.

The RedPhone@3AM meme is as fictional as the TickingBombJustfiesTorture meme, if less morally corrupt. If the phone ringing is not the Red Phone, the above scenarios are still valid, regarding decisions for action.

Lastly, don't EVER forget that

4) it's US who have made the world as dangerous to Americans as it is now. WE made sure that we're hated the world over, by explicitly disdaining our manifold opportunities to discuss our differences in a civil fashion with other nations. Reacting out of fear and hate, to threats from others, will only make our situation worse, in regards to the opinions and actions of other peoples.

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stop watching tv

tags: 3am  clinton  obama  red  phone