BOB
WOODWARD: Obama Is Showing 'A Kind Of Madness I Haven't Seen In A Long Time'
Brett LoGiurato | Feb. 27, 2013, 9:23 AM | 348,891 | 385
"Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting
there and saying, 'Oh, by the way, I can't do this because of some budget
document?'" Woodward said.
"Or George W. Bush saying, 'You know, I'm
not going to invade Iraq because I can't get the aircraft carriers I
need?'" Or even Bill Clinton saying, 'You know, I'm not going to attack
Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters,' ... because of some budget
document?"
The Defense Department said in early
February that it would not deploy
the U.S.S. Harry Truman to the Persian Gulf, citing budget concerns relating to
the looming cuts known as the sequester.
"Under the Constitution, the President is
commander-in-chief and employs the force. And so we now have the President
going out because of this piece of paper and this agreement. 'I can’t do what I
need to do to protect the country,'" Woodward said.
"That’s a kind of
madness that I haven't seen in a long time," he said.
Woodward's harsh criticism came after he stirred
controversy last weekend by calling out Obama for what he said
was "moving the goal posts" on the sequester by requesting
that revenue be part of a deal to avert it.
