One thing U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett can’t be accused of as he gears up for another reelection bid after 12 years in that office, and that’s leadership.
Bennet spent most of his career blindly following inept leaders, like President Obama and the 2009 troop surge in Afghanistan that failed to achieve its mission.
Bennet also followed along and supported Obama’s failed withdrawal in 2011.
Talk a walk down memory lane to recall how that worked:
The larger force was used to implement a strategy of protecting the population from Taliban attacks and supporting efforts to reintegrate insurgents into Afghan society. The strategy came coupled with a timetable for the withdrawal of the foreign forces from Afghanistan; beginning in 2011, security responsibilities would be gradually handed over to the Afghan military and police. The new approach largely failed to achieve its aims. Insurgent attacks and civilian casualties remained stubbornly high, while many of the Afghan military and police units taking over security duties appeared to be ill-prepared to hold off the Taliban. By the time the U.S. and NATO combat mission formally ended in December 2014, the 13-year Afghanistan War had become the longest war ever fought by the United States.
But when President Trump announced in 2019 troops would be coming home, that, Bennet said, was a bad idea.
Now that President Biden’s helter-skelter withdrawal from Afghanistan has led to the rapid collapse of the Afghan government and sacking of Kabul, Bennet has gone quiet and offered no critique on this historically bad foreign policy blunder, says the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
“It appears Bennet is just like every other Democrat up for re-election – too afraid to take a stand against the leader of his party who’s overseen a disastrous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan,” the committee said.
“Michael Bennet’s silence is further proof that he is a puppet of President Biden and Democrats, not a leader for Coloradans,” the committee said.
Bennet is playing follow the leader again this week, insinuating that he’s copying U.S. Rep. Ken Buck’s successful efforts to rescue Americans whom Biden stranded in Afghanistan.
Buck set up a hotline by phone and email on Monday for Americans left behind enemy lines to contact his office for help to get out of Afghanistan.
The Republican has tweeted all week about these and his other efforts to rescue Americans.
🚨Good news: My office just assisted a U.S. citizen who was stranded in Afghanistan and contacted my office for help. He is now on a plane home.
I will continue to do everything I can to help U.S. citizens get out of Afghanistan.
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) August 18, 2021
Biden refuses to commit to evacuating every American and Afghan ally from the country. I joined the Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans in issuing a statement to President Biden. See the full statement here:https://t.co/51wxJKGj11
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) August 18, 2021
In the past 24 hours, my office had 17 cases on Afghanistan:
🔘7 cases trying to help Americans get out of Afghanistan
🔘10 cases trying to help SIV family members get to safety from the TalibanWe will do everything we can to help. Contact: [email protected]
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) August 17, 2021
I am working closely with @RepJoeNeguse and @RepJasonCrow to save Colorado Army veteran Scot Henkel’s interpreter from Afghanistan. We cannot leave this hero behind.https://t.co/zsh8J9KOVw
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) August 17, 2021
This whole time, Bennet’s been on break in the High Country, holding a few meetings here and there on climate change and cozying up to the ski industry.
Why’d you delete your tweet @SenatorBennet?
Embarrassed that the people of Colorado and the United States see a Senate Intel Committee member is on vacation while Afghanistan burns and American citizens are still stuck there? #copolitics https://t.co/hRHGR1uPUY pic.twitter.com/L2ednNffty— Kristi Burton Brown (@ColoradoKbb) August 16, 2021
.@JoeBiden got it wrong on Every. Single. Level. We cannot lose our standing in the world because the president is asleep at the wheel & back on vacation at Camp David. Where is @SenatorBennet demanding that his party get their act together? #Afghanistan #BidenFailure #copolitics https://t.co/iKF397RUfd
— Kristi Burton Brown (@ColoradoKbb) August 19, 2021
And then today, boom! There was Bennet, finally stepping up to the plate nearly a week later to offer people “connected to Coloradans” for help.
Our office is working to help any individual connected to Colorado evacuate Afghanistan.
If you know anyone who is currently at risk in Afghanistan, please contact our office by filling out this form: https://t.co/Krtm6SzBNu
We will do everything we can to help.
— Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) August 19, 2021
Upon closer examination, it appears Bennet’s not actually helping Americans, but friends of Coloradans who aren’t U.S. citizens.
“We cannot promise anything, but we are doing everything we can to assist our Afghan allies and their families,” the form says.
And by help, Bennet means his office will forward the standard form to multiple bureaucracies for them to provide help.
Worst. Leader. Ever.