Roland Martin: "The Era Of 'Blame Bush' For Obama Is Over"

CNN.com:

With President Barack Obama's decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending 30,000 additional troops to battle Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, he has put his imprint on the war on terror, and at the same time, given up the Democrats' most famous fallback position: blame George W. Bush.

Couple that with the economy and we are seeing the end of the president's first year in office coincide with him having to accept the full responsibility for the condition of the country.

Obama rode into office on the "blame Bush" tidal wave as the nation sickened of everything he touched. The economy? Bush was horrible at stewarding it. Giving banks billions in TARP funds? Dumb idea by Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank "Mr. Wall Street" Paulson. Sick of billions going to the war? It was all the fault of Bush and his chief crony, Vice President Dick Cheney.

The blame Bush mantra proved effective because it totally silenced Republicans, who were loathe to defend a conservative president who began with a surplus and ended with a deficit, as well as the architect of a war in Iraq based on never-proven claims of weapons of mass destruction. They couldn't even muster the strength to call him a conservative.

In the short term, President Obama's Afghanistan decision is being approved by a majority of the country. A USA Today/Gallup poll taken a day after the speech at West Point showed a slim majority – 51% – approving of the plan. A CNN/Opinion Research poll found six out of 10 supporting the president's plan. While two-thirds of those polled continue to blame Bush for the situation in Afghanistan, escalating the war there was all left to Obama, and he has to hope this action plan works.

Geez, when an Obama stan like Roland Martin says the "Blame Bush" jig is up, you gotta believe him. Needless to say, I concur.