Strike one!

Tuesday – June 22, 2010

Strike one!

I had a conversation with a liberal friend who read yesterday’s FORUM. He said I was too rough on the President, because “look at what he inherited” from Bush and the others.

Well, you can imagine how I reacted. Just as I explain, in my Practical Guide to Conservative Organizing, when confronted with hostility, answer it with thought, respect, fact and humor. This is called the TRFH factor.

I started the conversation about my view this way: “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.”
-Ronald Reagan

This week, I will answer this question with each item I detailed in yesterday’s FORUM. I also hope to illustrate how you can address liberals. These three strikes should become the issues for the midterm. When the administration strikes out, our economy will also strike out in the fall, as a result of these three topics. They are; Iran, the Gulf Oil spill and Immigration.

The first strike, in the argument, is Iran. It is true the President did inherit a terrible situation. However, when you run for president, you must be prepared to handle the circumstances and not make unintended circumstances, as a result.

Since the Carter administration, this country has been held hostage by Iran. Carter failed to contain the radical element of the Komani government and the radical element of Islam. This country was held hostage for 444 days. When our embassy was overtaken by the revolutionary guard, the current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was seen in photos as one of the captors. The embassy personal were taken to various spots, blind folded and were interrogated. They were humiliated and were televised in lone appearances and postured in pre-written statements.

All of this was due to the Shah of Iran, who was a friend of the United States, who was losing his power and was forced to leave the country in an overthrow by the Ayatollah Kohmani, who assumed control and who radicalized Iran. He was the one who called the United States “The Great Satan”.

The back drop was oil and the power of a Middle Eastern Country defeating the United States, not only militarily, but through economic means by holding the oil in the Gulf hostage. Many of you may not realize it, but Iraq, under Saddam Huessien, was friendly with the United States at that time. Iraq was also an enemy of Iran during the same period. Carter tried to extract the hostages with a midnight military raid. It was met with disaster when the helicopters crashed in the desert at the beginning of the assault.

With this failed attempt, Carter also became a hostage, as was his nation when gas shortages and lines began to occur at the gas pumps. Gasoline was about .25 a gallon then and it rose dramatically to .75 and then to a dollar and more.

Flash forward. Every president since Carter has had to deal with Iran. Reagan became president when Carter lost his re-election campaign. Reagan won in a land slide victory. Iran was playing politics, because they knew Carter was weak and ill equipped to handle the situation on an international basis and was in trouble domestically as well. As soon as Reagan became President the hostages were released. This was another blow to a failed progressive liberal president.

George H.W. Bush won the election after Reagan’s two terms. George Bush started the action in the Gulf when Saddam invaded Kuwait. He was able to gain a coalition of Countries to fight against Iraq and their ambitions of expansion. His only fault was that he didn’t go to Baghdad to oust Saddam, his son W., did. Under Reagan and Bush, the former Soviet Union fell and the world seemed to be a better place because the mid east was somewhat contained through military action.

Then Clinton became president after defeating the first Bush. During the Clinton years, nuclear technology was stolen and then sold to Iran, after it made its way to Korea and China. This was the result of a President who was preoccupied and could not stand firm. Due to a sexual scandal, that he lied about, he was later impeached. During the Clinton years, terrorism rose dramatically. Our enemies saw a troubled president without focus. In his tenure, the first attack on the World Trade Center occurred. There were bombings at our foreign embassies and our U.S. warship, the Cole, was attacked by terrorists in a small boat in Yemen. I can say with some authority, that if Bush had won and Clinton had lost we might not have the issues today with the President we have today. Elections do have consequences. Clinton also gave up three chances to take out Osama bin laden.

Then, George Bush won a controversial election against Al Gore. Our Constitutional provisions worked and it should have been a signal to the rest of the world that we are a country of laws and that succession was peaceful. The Democrats never got over the loss. From day one of the Bush administration he was made out to be a villain and unqualified to be president. Again, our enemies saw a nation at war with itself. Our laws did not stop that horrific attack on 9/11, but our laws gave the president the authority to attack our aggressors. George Bush did not dither, he did not show weakness and he acted with focus and deliberation, only to be criticized by the Democrats when the death count was rising.

Bush decided to start the war in Afghanistan and then move it to Iraq. Sadam Huessien was ousted and caught and then executed for his crimes. In all of this time, just about every terror attack in the world had the fingerprints of Iran on it. I believe that Bush wanted to go into Iraq to do two things: bring democracy after Huessien was ousted and then to have boots on the ground when a decision about Iran had to be made.

Behind all the planning and calculated war strategy no one predicted that Barack Obama would become President. We are now confronted again with Iran. This time it is not a simple matter of an embargo that is being initiated by sea. It is not a simple matter of prohibiting commerce with Iran through our allies. It is not a simple matter of words by a president who is dithering like Jimmy Carter. It is not a simple matter of demanding through the U.N. that Iran stop their nuclear ambitions.

It is a matter of a president who is ill equipped to manage this situation on a world wide basis. It is a matter of being held hostage by a country that started modern day terrorism, as we know it. It is a matter of two past president’s who had failed to act and who did not show the resolve that our enemy is now demonstrating. It is a matter of presidents who have taken the easy road, instead of the hard road. Three President’s that we cannot blame are Ronald Reagan, George Bush and his son, 43.

I ended the discussion with this line: “Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.” - Ronald Reagan

My liberal friend Steve was silent and then said “I forgot about some of these facts.”

A side bar, as of this morning General Stanley Mcchrystal the commander in Afghanistan is on his way home after making critical comments about the administration and their war policy. These comments were made in an article in Rolling Stone. Like General McArthur facing Truman and then being fired for his comments, Mcchrystal will now face this president. The troops respected McArthur and followed him, our troops in Afghanistan respect and will follow Mcchrystal. They might not respect Obama in the same way!

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: If we are strong and make the arguments we will start cleaning up this mess in 133 days.