So You Think the President Isn't Doing Enough

I am writing again about those of you (conservatives, entirely) complaining of the President taking the Russian President, Dimitry Medvedev, to a hamburger joint for lunch...

Bear in mind one thing... when Obama, or as some of you like to refer to him - BHO took office he was given two wars with no exit strategy, a true full-blown recession (unlike the declaration of a recession that Bush mentioned when he took office), a job lost rate of seven hundred thousand people per month, and the highest deficit ever - made worst by the only President to spend over ten trillion dollars during an eight year stint in the WH. Every one of these facts is true!

What bothers me to no end is the level of illiteracy that must be present for you to think that Bush meant anyone of you any good. Bush Jr. even rescinded the moratorium that his Father placed on oil drilling in the Gulf! If anyone of you can think of anything that Bush Jr. did that was positive and good for America - please inform me!

When Bush Jr. decided that he was going to give a tax cut to everyone, he didn't have the poor man's best interest at heart - no, he gave that tax cut to the rich. Each of you got six hundred dollars that bought you little to nothing when you went to Wal-Mart. That same year Lexus, BMW, and Sachs 5th Avenue saw a six percent increase in sales the quarter immediately following the receipt of checks by all - Wal-Mart saw a 1.5 percent drop in sales. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I got twenty-seven thousand when I normally would have gotten three thousand!

I could go on, but most of you never went pass the third grade and I doubt very seriously if you can comprehend what is written here. One thing that is a fact... we stop losing jobs this year because of what Obama is doing. We are definitely going to leave Iraq on time - God willing, Afghanistan soon after. The country is again being respected as a promoter of peace and tranquility around the globe - thank you Jesus.

Drop your prejudice (in some cases - racist) views and thank God that the President of these United States is making a difference - we didn't get here in two years and we surely won't get back to where we were before Bush Jr. took office in two years! Man up, do your part by electing officials that will support those things that are working for the good of America! Put America first by demanding that our elected officials do exactly that!

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

The Opinion of Those Who Do Count

They say the first hundred days of a President are indicative of whether he will or will not succeed in the Office of the Presidency.  Well, I am sure that there are naysayers to this barometer; I personally have no way of interpreting the next four years of a President’s tenure in office by his first one hundred days, but I can say that I like the methods utilized by this President most recently in Europe and again here in the American hemisphere more than I did those of the other President.

We can all remember with disdain the swagger of the ‘Texan’ born in Massachusetts.  We can easily recall the President that always walked around like he had two six guns strapped to his sides.  We remember these things because other world leaders remember them as well and they are on record for not liking it very well.  Some even challenged his swagger and won in a face down – the tiny Republic of Georgia can tell you very well.

The United States ‘was’ always known before the tenure of the forty-third President for its willingness to negotiate from a point of strength, its intense desire to use force only as a last result that is until 2003.  Surely we were attacked and mortally wounded on September 11^th, 2001 and we did something about it – sort of, but what followed gave America a new dogma that did not fit with the dogma of the previous two centuries.  We became warmongers and those launching us onto this path showed little insight.

Most recently, we have had critics of this President, chiefly among the opposition party; voicing their opinions in the negative against the attempts by this President to reverse the image that was held about the United States over the past eight years.

 

"Meanwhile, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich charged Monday that Obama's cordial greeting with Chavez sent a poor message to enemies of America by giving legitimacy and credibility to the fiery Venezuelan leader.  "What I find distressing, is that the administration opposes opening up oil exploration," but yet Obama "bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia" and now has reached out to Chavez, Gingrich said on NBC's "Today" show.  "Cuba releases zero prisoners," he said, "yet we make nice with Cuba. I'm for doing things methodically and calmly ... things that will work, but I'm not for deluding myself about smiles and words."

 

I am trying to make the connection here… help me if you can?  This President’s bow to the Saudi King was not normal posture, but surely did not denote the belittlement of the Office of the President anymore than the previous President’s offer of twenty million dollars to the richest producer of oil during a time when that United States badly needed a break in the price of oil per barrel.  That President promised American businessmen that he would go to Saudi Arabia and get the Saudis to increase their production of oil – they didn’t, and the President came away twenty million less and totally belittled by the incident.  

And, of course, we all remember the incidents leading up to the United Nations confrontation between Chavez and Bush… there can be no doubt that Presidente Chavez had stoked this confrontation with then President Bush and the United States for personal reasons, but as the saying goes, it takes two to tango.  More to the point, Bush could have been the bigger man by giving Chavez a smile and a handshake which would have defused the entire matter – just as Obama did at the Summit of the Americas, instead, he turned his back and ignored Chavez - solid diplomacy if I ever saw it.  Smile and the world smiles with you is what Obama accomplished with his greeting to Chavez.

 

America’s policy toward Cuba has been in existence since the failed invasion of Cuba some fifty years ago.  It has changed nothing, yet Mr. Gingrich decries the current administration for opening the rusty door of old dead diplomacy and shedding some new optimism on Cuban-American relations.  The Cuban government is more receptive now to the idea of solid relations with the United States than ever before – Obama's overture to the Republic of Cuba was received overwhelmingly by the other members of the OAS.  Again, consensus of opinion overrules in diplomatic situations.  Whether the Cuban leaders will reciprocate remains to be seen; however, by virtue of its statue, America gains much from being the first to extend the hand of friendship.

 

Mr. Gingrich says “I'm for doing things methodically and calmly ... things that will work, but I'm not for deluding myself about smiles and words”, but we never saw much of this in the way things were done when Mr. Gingrich and his fellow Americans were in a position to do so.  In fact, America became known for its willingness to disrespect its counterparts around the world with this phrase… “If you are not with us, then you are against us”.

 

The ability to get to a point of consensus with those considered to be your enemy is a difficult task, one that requires the use of every method or means at your disposal.  To be respectful of another is not demeaning.  Extending your hand in genuine friendship is not belittlement of yourself.  Flashing a smile with each person that you greet is an ice-breaker, and Obama uses all of these tactics well.  I commend you Mr. President for your ability to show America’s strength by flexing the muscles we use to make a smile with each person that you greet.

 

In a democracy, silence is not golden; it is condonance in the face of injustices; it is fear, where the thought of reprisal fosters control – Rodney A. Davis

The Threat Of A Nuclear Iran

During the course of my twenty year stint in the United States Navy I was in the Navy’s Reliability Program for most of that time. People in the Navy’s Reliability program have security clearances that allow access to nuclear weapons as part of their daily routine aboard ship. They have been scrutinized and found sound of mind and exhibit no outward indications that they would under any circumstances conspire to sabotage a nuclear device. They are reliable! In fact, in the early days before they realized that it was not the prudent thing to do, I attended a curriculum that taught me how to make, maintenance, and repair nuclear weapons.

For the pass three or four years the United States’ best intelligence has professed that the Iranians are as smart as I am, in that they are yelling at the top of their lungs that the Iranians have the capacity to make and will deploy a nuclear weapon any day now. Hmmm… didn’t we hear something similar to this just prior to the invasion of Iraq? If I am not mistaken, elements of this same highly technically proficient intelligence group produced evidence that contradicted the final report of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) that there were no WMDs within the borders of Iraq. In fact, the IAEA had conducted two hundred fifty inspections at the behest of the Bush-Cheney Intelligence group into areas of Iraq that were singled out as sites positively accessed to have been used by the Iraqis to manufacture WMDS.

All of the factors that would have indicated the mass production of nuclear weapons by Iraq are now being deployed by this administration to support the case that the Iranians are doing the same thing. I should point out here that the detonation of a nuclear device by the North Koreans has yet to be decisively proven as an event that ‘did’ occur. Japan, windward of North Korea, never detected any of the elements that would normally be associated with the detonation of a nuclear device. In addition, analysis of debris at the Syrian site has yet to indicate the present of a nuclear reactor as claimed by the Israelis in justification of their attack within the borders of Syria. The only thing that can be positively indentified is residue from the denotation of a nuclear device – namely the Israeli bombs used to destroy the buildings at that site.

Is it a good thing for the Iranians to possess the capability to produce a nuclear bomb, or a nuclear bomb itself – NO! Given the irrational behavior of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, current President of Iran, and the history of Iran under the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, I would not want Iran to possess a nuclear capability. As to whether the United States or Israel should be the one that has to make the decision to attack Iran, if it can be proven beyond a shadow of doubt to be in possession of a nuclear weapon, is another question that I would not want to answer at this time.

War is ugly and we should prevent the possibility of war by practicing diplomacy to its fullest extent. It is this writer’s belief that the Iranians are definitely in pursuit of the knowledge to fabricate a nuclear weapon, however; I don’t see them ever getting to the point that they will have a weapon and the capability to deliver it accurately. There are reliable equipments that will detect the detonation of a nuclear device. Iran will not be able to hide that test on the day that they attempt to join a unique club. On that day the free world, and all others who would be concerned, will have to make a terrible decision that will affect the way we live thereafter.