President Bush, Integrity; Barack Obama, Floppy Fish
If there was one thing you could always say about President Bush, it is that he always stood on his principles and values. He had an enormous amount of integrity and did not compromise any of those things for political expediency. He firmly believed every move and decision he made was based on what was best for the American people. He did not rely on polling data or popularity statistics. President Bush’s firmly held beliefs in a post 9/11 world are what guided him.
Now President Obama, on the other hand, stands on his teleprompter. As he has “navigated” his way through the first 100 days in the Oval Office, we have yet to really see the characteristics of integrity or doing what is right by the American People. At least two of his cabinet members should have been tossed; Turbo Tax Tim Geithner and Secretary Napolitano, both of whom have embarrassed the Oval Office and outraged the American people. If he really stood on principle and integrity they would have been gone.
President Obama showed signs of this early in the election cycle when he said he would accept public financing of the campaign, but when the primary season was over and he was the nominee, he opted out of the system and continued to collect just shy of 3/4 of a billion dollars, most of which is untraceable. That in itself goes against the Open Government Act by fully disclosing all donors.
President Bush walked his talk after the campaign. He worked with the Democratic leadership, showing bipartisanship on the budget, FISA, immigration and other issues. The only thing he would not compromise on (thank goodness) was a troop withdrawal time table. Democrats tried in vain to force his hand as the Obama backing MSM flooded the evening news night after night with each road side bomb image they could find. Very little attention was paid to the success we were having, only the carnage. This unwavering stance against a timed withdrawal was significant because he did not want give the emboldened insurgency a window in which to “wait it out”, and to prevent these politicians from micromanaging commanders in the field. True, there was pressures to change strategies in order to combat this issue, and the administration did just that; they initiated the “surge”. And guess what, it worked! Now Mr. Obama on the other hand has shown about as much bipartisanship as Iran has shown cooperation with the UN….Uh that would be none! The GOP has been completely shut out of the administration, being told to basically shut up and sit down because “we” (the Dems) won. So much for a new era of cooperation and open government.
What people fail to realize in Iraq, is that not only did we rid the world of a very evil dictator, who’s atrocities are well documented (so in fact there is you weapon of mass destruction), shut down Dr. Germ Rihab Taha (who was identified by UN weapon inspectors specifically), the mission also brought stability to the region as a whole.
If you look back, Moamar Kadafi quickly and quietly ended their rebellious ways and cracked down on terrorists in Libya. Syria also became much more user friendly, and cooperative. So there were broader positive effects.
Mr. Obama who was not a Senator when the Congress initially authorized action in Iraq, on the campaign trail he waved the “No More War” flag like the checker flag at the end of a car race. The election was soundly anti-Bush, and all the rhetoric that goes with that. ‘When he is elected president, we will be out of Iraq in 16 months at the most. There should be no confusion about that’.
Well as you all know, the mission (and I am not complaining about this) remains on target and is, in fact, in a winding down phase. We have consolidated much of our operations to specific areas in Iraq, handed over control and security operations to the Iraqi Army and Police force in many areas, continue to train and equip those forces so when we do leave, there will be stability and peace inside the borders. Mr. Obama’s rhetoric got him into the White House, but the reality of the situation on the ground in Iraq dictated his actions. And if the people who were so hell bent on completely ditching the quote “Bush Doctrine” (as Charlie Gibson tried to nail Sarah Palin with) they would have realized that this notion of up and run out of Iraq was not plausible in the least.
President Bush was thrust into a situation that day in September, unbeknown to America or our intelligence agencies. We went from a 20 plus year time of relative peace and suddenly thrust into war, against an enemy that does not belong to a nation or state, but operates in the shadows among innocent people whom they will sacrifice without any hesitation. Yes, mistakes were made. But this nation was kept safe, and still is, by those policies President Bush put into place.
Now we have a floppy fish in the White House. Yes he was thrust into an economic situation that has not been pretty. However, Mr. Teleprompter as not shown us anything except he is bent on a socialistic agenda and that he changes his word like we change underwear.
Now Mr. Obama wants to openly (yes there is that word open again) and without preconditions, have talks with these nations that simply hate the United States. Iran, who is pursuing nuclear weapons and calling for the destruction of Israel, North Korea, who has nuclear material but can not build a delivery vehicle, Venezuela, who just yesterday seized American Owned and Operated energy sites and equipment, and Cuba, where money can now flow freely without using a 3rd and 4th party intermediary. Oh yes lets not forget Mexico. Yet, another apology from Mr. Obama and Secretary Clinton for causing the drug war along the boarder.
Mr. Obama and his economic team have showered the coffers with billions and billions of dollars in order to prop up the economy. Thus far, nothing. New jobless filings hover around 600K and overall, 6.5 million people are out of work, and counting. Now that Chrysler and GM are making significant cuts, that is going to go up more this year. Not only does that effect line workers in the auto plants, but spills out to the suppliers and peripheral businesses that support them.
Mr. Obama, first week in office broke the most basic of his campaign pledges, saying that the practice of earmarks and pork spending would immediately come to and end. Say what? The first two things he signs into law are pork laden wasteful bills that did nothing. The Stimulus package, which failed to stimulate the American people, was shoved through the congress by the new Dem Majority in the middle of the night in which no one was even able to read. And what was in there (Mr. Dodd)? Bonuses for the executives at AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac!!! Next he signed an Omnibus bill that contained over 9000 earmarks, again pushed through on a Dem freight train in the middle of the night.
Now the administration continues to politicize national security doctrine as the administration stammers on what our evil interrogators did to terror suspects. This emboldens the enemy, teaches them our techniques so now they can prepare for what little we actually do. The September 10th mentality of the administration puts us in jeopardy. Many of the policies that Mr. Obama so vehemently touted against remain in effect. The naval prison at Guantanamo Bay was ordered closed yet remains open as Obama plans where to send its inmates; the president has yet to establish a coherent policy on Iran — following in the Bush administration’s footsteps and while American troops are being removed from Iraq, most will stay in place until 2010.
It is important to note that all the enhanced interrogation tactics that we used actually yielded crucially important intelligence that helped keep this country safe,” with the eight years of safety on the home front since Sept. 11, 2001. Even though congressional leaders claimed to be left out of the loop on these techniques, it was revealed that the same Dem leaders, who bewitched President Bush, were duly informed of those methods. But as Dems, true to color, they pretended to take the moral high road, and were thus outed as hypocrites using this issue for political expediency.
Obama’s own Director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, wrote an internal memo last week citing the “high value” information about Al Qaeda’s operations yielded by tactics such as water boarding, but its morality has been called into question by human rights monitors and many others both in and out of the Obama administration.
So therein lays the conflict with this administration. Integrity, direction, political expediency, governing by polling data, and letting Nancy Pelosi write its budget a mere 3 Trillion and some change.
So we as Americans have to wonder, where the transparency, openness, and new era of cooperation is. Yeah, that is right, so sorry, we lost.
Why Does Obama Smile When Speaking With Dictators?
I found this write-up very interesting and it made for a good read ~ enjoy!
The picture of the president of the United States smiling broadly as he met President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela startled me. Our president is a nice guy. Chavez is anything but.
The State Department maintains that Chávez has attacked democratic traditions and has put Venezuelan democracy on life support with unchecked concentration of power, political persecution, and intimidation. Foreign Affairs magazine says that Chávez is a power-hungry dictator with autocratic and megalomaniacal tendencies whose authoritarian vision and policies are a serious threat to his people. In testimony before the US Senate, the South American project director for the Center for Strategic International Studies said that Chavez’s government engages in “arresting opposition leaders, torturing some members of the opposition (according to human rights organizations) and encouraging, if not directing, its squads of Bolivarian Circles to beat up members of Congress and intimidate voters-all with impunity.”
In spite of a presidential term limit of six years, Chávez has suggested that he would like to remain in power for 25 years. Hmmm. An autocratic dictator who abuses human rights and undermines democracy being warmly embraced by the American president. There’s something wrong with that picture.
Then there was the incident of President Barack Obama seeming to bow before King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the G-20 summit in London. The president’s people denied it was a bow, but it certainly was a sign of great deference from the American president to the dictator of a country who just six weeks ago sentenced a 75-year-old woman to 40 lashes for having been secluded with her nephew after he delivered bread to her home. This is the same Abdullah whom, when asked why Saudi Arabia prohibits the public practice of religions other than Islam, said, “It is absurd to impose on an individual or a society rights that are alien to its beliefs or principles.”
Obama is also pursuing a renewed relationship with Cuba, a country which engages in systemic human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials and extrajudicial executions. Censorship is so extensive that Cubans face five-year prison sentences for connecting to the Internet illegally. And not only is emigration illegal, but even discussing it carries a six-month prison sentence.
Not only do we have this latest exchange with Hugo Chavez, and Obama taking a beating by Ortega and other Latin American leaders, but Fidel Castro is now calling Obama a liar in a round-about way and Iran’s Ahmadinejad is insulted and upset that Obama skipped the racism summit at the U.N.
Is it sinking in that dictators will yank your chain and use you as they have used everyone else, including their own, for their power, control and gain? These men have a history of abuse, hate, violence, you name it – it’s not going to change overnight for one man because his ego makes him believe it’s so.
Nothing anyone does will ever please these guys… They will always find an excuse to hate.
Obama: “It Was Only a Handshake.”
As we see here it was not just a handshake, it was a casual conversation with a man whom only a couple years ago called us an evil imperialist and had a seething hate towards the United States. This is perfect for the idealists who believe in Utopia and that all men are kind-hearted and value peace and equality, however, that is just not reality and meetings like this are detrimental to us as a nation. This was a casual meeting with no real understanding of what was said between the two (obviously no preconditions). Read more
Obama-Chavez: BHO Gets A History Book
Victor Hugo Chavez, after the brotherly love hand shake, gave Obama a book on Americas “interference” in Latin America over the last 50 years (At least Chavez did not get an Ipod with his speaches). Chavez went on to say Obama is “ignorant” and needs to be educated in Latin American History. Thank you Professor Chavez. Venezuela went on to tell Sec of State Clinton that he will restore their Ambassador to America:
That announcement crowns a week in which Obama rejected two centuries of U.S. “heavy-handedness” toward Latin America and raised the highest hopes ever for a rapprochement with Cuba, with which it severed ties 48 years ago. Venezuela under Chavez has become a close ally of Cuba.
So it seems 50 years of human rights violations, inhumane treatment of the people and heavy handed rule that includes state control of the press and air waves will be granted a cart blanch pass by this appeasing administration. Hillary Clinton and Obama spokes persons say there is much ground to be covered before anything concrete happens, but the apologetic rhetoric continues.
The Blame America Tour Continues – Next Stops, Venezuela and Cuba
U.S. President Barack Obama and Venezuela’s anti-U.S. leader President Hugo Chavez shook hands on Friday at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad, the Venezuelan government said.
Photographs released by Venezuela’s presidential office showed Chavez, a fierce adversary of Washington policies, smiling and clasping hands with Obama at the start of the summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders.
President Obama doesn’t have a one-on-one meeting scheduled with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but if Chavez were to initiate a conversation, Obama would likely go along with it, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Obama on Friday arrived in Trinidad and Tobago for the Summit of the Americas, a meeting of leaders from North and South America. While there are no plans for a one-on-one with Chavez, the Venezuelan president is expected to be among several leaders at a multilateral meeting, Gibbs said.
Pressed on whether Obama would have a conversation with Chavez, should the Venezuelan leader pull him aside and initiate one, Gibbs said, “Every time I pull the president aside to have a conversation we’ve had that conversation, so I assume he would do the same.”
“Perhaps we can start a new period of respect and relations that would be constructive,” he added. “I have the faith that that is maybe possible. But it would depend on the U.S., on the president’s attitude, attitude of the secretary of state, the administration. We will not accept lack of respect from anybody. We demand respect. We want honor for not only us, but all of Latin America.”
Perhaps since the rest of the world is now looking on and laughing, knowing the president is weak, those dictators such as Chavez are hoping they can use whatever they can for propaganda and political purposes. This is the way it has always been with dictators in the past – they use and abuse for their own power and control and hang that over the heads of their people to keep them oppressed. These leaders have some of the worst human rights records but yet the people on the left are somehow ok with speaking to despicable human beings like Hugo Chavez when they kill and treat their people like disposable peasants?
Flashback of Hugo Chavez in 2006:
“The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah,” Chavez told reporters, ending the statement with the Arabic phrase for “God willing.”
Chavez said that the United Nations is a “deceased” organization because it was formed to bridge the differences between the United States and Russia, and a brand new international organization would have to be formed to replace it.
Earlier, Chavez initiated a verbal assault on President Bush, calling him “the devil” during an insult-riddled address to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
“The devil came here yesterday,” Chavez said, gesturing to where Bush had stood during his speech on Tuesday. “He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world.”
Hugo Chavez will use any meeting with President Obama as a tool and a means to an end. He will try to garner respect and admiration from his people and say that he is becoming more powerful and Venezuela is moving up on the international stage.
Hugo Chavez has been a close ally of Fidel Castro since he has been in office. Cuba is another country that has long been embargoed based on the cruelty that Fidel has imposed upon his people seen through his human rights violations. Whenever funds have flowed down to Cuba, they have never made it into the pockets of the citizens but rather the Castro family, further impoverishing Cubans to a totalitarian government.
President Barack Obama asked Havana to make the next move to improve U.S.-Cuba relations, saying Thursday that he needs to see signs of changes on the island before he makes any more overtures.
President Raul Castro responded hours later that his government is willing to discuss any issue with Washington, as along as it’s a conversation between equals and Washington respects “the Cuban people’s right to self-determination.” “We have sent word to the U.S. government in private and in public that we are willing to discuss everything — human rights, freedom of the press, political prisoners, everything,” Castro told leaders at a summit in Venezuela.
