The perfect ticket, or the perfect storm
By Henry Lamb (07/29/07)
Progressives, liberals, socialists, and those further to the left, see 2008 as a fantastic opportunity to create the perfect ticket: Hillary and Obama. The first female president, and the first black vice president. Hillary will have eight years to lead the world, during which gravitas-deficient Obama can grow up and learn how to carry the great democratic socialist tradition for another eight years. Imagine, Democrats in control until 2024. No wonder the left side of the political spectrum is pouring unprecedented amounts of money into the Hillary-Obama coffers.
People who line up on the other side of the political spectrum see this possible 2008 combination as the perfect storm, that could well sink the U.S. ship of state.
Consider first, the war. Both Hillary and Obama supported the most recent effort in the Senate to force the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq by the Spring of 2008. Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has said the war is already lost, and therefore, American troops should come home.
But the resolution would have allowed some troops to stay in Iraq to train the Iraqi army, and to protect the Americans who remain in Iraq, with other American troops redeployed to nearby friendly nations - just in case.
What’s wrong with this picture? Americans troops are already training Iraqis as fast as possible. American troops are already protecting the Americans (and Iraqis) who are in Iraq as well as they can. How can it possibly be better to withdraw an unspecified number of troops to do the job that fewer troops will be left there to do? How can it possibly be better to have American troops redeployed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, to wait until the terrorists decide to blow up another mosque - and then have to rush back to Iraq to chase down the perps.
This, however, is just the language of the Senate resolution, watered down in an effort to get some Republican fence-straddlers to join the Democrats. In their heart of hearts, Hillary, Obama, Reid, Sheehan, bin Laden, and virtually all the al Qaeda types in the world, want the U.S. to simply pull all troops out of Iraq - now, and let the power struggle produce the next Iraqi dictator, while Allah sorts out the souls of the victims.
Reid, and many of his cohorts, never miss an opportunity to recite the number of American casualties in Iraq, and then ask the question, “How much is enough, when does it end?” The answer, Mr. Reid, and everyone else who asks, is: “When we win!” When the objective is reached and the mission accomplished, American troops can come home with honor. Anything less is a disgrace - as was our Democrat-inspired withdrawal from Viet Nam.
What a magnificent image of the United States this withdrawal scenario would present to the world. America can be relied upon to defend its allies - unless, of course, the enemy shoots back, in which case, the U.S. will cut and run.
But the war is only one of the dark clouds on the Democratic horizon. Both Hillary and Obama - and the Democratic leadership in Congress, seem eager to expand the “...from each according to his ability, to each according to his need” philosophy. Listen to them discuss their eagerness to “tax the rich” to pay the poor, and to launch some version of socialized medicine. This philosophy can be found in which article of the U. S. Constitution?
Both Hillary and Obama - and the Democratic leadership in Congress - have prevented the expansion of domestic energy production, claiming that what’s needed is higher taxes on fossil fuels and more subsidies (which Hillary would take from the rich oil companies) for exotic wind and solar energy. This perfect storm could easily produce $5-per-gallon - or more - gasoline, and a doubling of heating and cooling costs. But then the Democrats would be sure that the blue-tailed, yellow-bellied sap-sucker would be safe in its habitat.
Another ominous cloud swirling around the 2008 election is the Hillary-Obama - “It Takes A Village” - notion that the United States should play nice with the U.N. and the militant Muslims who hate everything that America stands for. Hillary wants to talk to Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. She’s already traveled to Syria to have a sit-down with president Bashar Al-Asad. She thinks her “diplomacy” will convince them to abandon their hatred of America.
Sixteen months before election day, the storm clouds are gathering across the land. Fortunately, in this country, we still have an opportunity to select the captain of the ship of state. Perhaps there will arise a person who can chart a better course for the future, a course that will honor the Constitution, and keep our ship of state’s bow toward the principles of freedom, and avoid the perfect storm the Democrats promise.
Henry Lamb
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