'Do Veterans Look At Obama With Great Expectations?'
By Thomas D. Segel (11/21/08)
Harlingen, Texas, November 20, 2008: You see it in news publications and hear it on the electronic media…"Great Expectations". This is the mantra heard again and again about the upcoming Obama presidency. "A new day has dawned in America", "Yes, we can!"
For those of you who may have forgotten your high school literature, “Great Expectations is the classic Charles Dickens novel about Pip, an orphan boy from humble beginnings, who fights his way upward into the ranks of high society. Many are the star struck journalists who have placed this label on our President-Elect.
But, how do the veteran and retired military community view the person who will soon make his address 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.? Though veterans have served in all branches of the military and are a combination of all political parties, most are very conservative in their views. They abhor the liberal left of politics. They are angry and disappointed with the Republicans who let ego, elitism, power and immorality end their majority position in Congress and cause the loss of the White House. They really hate the far left agenda.
Leo Robert is a retired Marine Sergeant Major. Writing from his home in State College, PA he says, “You will continue to see folks crying about Obama, but until the GOP takes control and starts showing leadership, he will be the winner. I think the GOP did this to themselves. They just didn’t learn. Many have told me that maybe Obama will wake up America, but right now, this is what we deserve.”
Noel Pritzi works with the disabled military retiree organization. He retired from the Army and is himself disabled. Noel admits to voting for McCain, but says that with Democrats controlling both houses of Congress and the Oval Office we need to “…support the President and his cabinet. After January 20, we will begin to see changes…or the same old problems. We can see the troops will be out of Iraq in 2011, which is a good sign. At no time should we bail out the Big Three, nor should we bail out the next problem, credit card debt. I was raised to buy only what I needed and save the rest.”
Many veterans see the new administration chalking up failure after failure and trying to pass off everything as being caused or created by Bush and Company.
Tony Nathe is a veteran who understands what is happening in Washington…and what should be happening. He says, “if both parties would focus on the future of our country instead of the future of their elections we would be much better off. However, I don’t think that is going to happen. The good side is the DNC now has total control. Veterans and we military retirees should take NO MORE EXCUSES after January 20, 2009. They will no longer be able to blame anyone but themselves.”
Colonel George R. Givens, US Army Retired, writes from Paige, Texas. He believes, “We should respect the man and the office he holds until he shows that he is not worthy of that respect. Even then, we should talk about the man, not the office. Just because he will be the President that does not mean we have to agree with every proposal he comes up with. It is our right and duty to fight him tooth and nail if he proposes something that is not good for our country or attacks our individual rights…when he starts with his socialistic, gun-grabbing programs, as many of us suspect he will…then Katy-Bar-The-Door. The gloves come off!!”
From Hawaii, Captain Ed McCourt, a highly decorated Marine retiree still remembers the oath we all swore to when in uniform. “We are still Marines”, he says, “and I maintain it is our duty to support the new Commander in Chief regardless of his party affiliation. We must come together as one United States of America and show the rest of the world that America has not deteriorated to the level of a third world rogue country separated by race, class or religion.” He continued, saying, “I sincerely believe that Americans will come together once again and show the world that we are truly the leaders they have admired for more than two centuries.”
When seeking veteran comments, I posed an observation that, “ Distrust doesn’t make wrong things out of things that have yet to be done.” Another veteran from Hawaii, Lee Webber responded to that thought saying, “I just have a hard time believing that if you pick the same folks that have done wrong in the past that they will somehow change this time around. I have a hard time believing in someone who denies that if you hang around, support, work for, or associate with folks who don’t like our country very much nothing rubs off. Now in my humble opinion, if you hang out in the barn long enough, you start smelling like the cows.”
Robert G. Garcia is a veteran who writes from California. He says, “I really don’t think the new president will make that dang much difference. He justifies that thought by saying, “That man doesn’t speak for the Latino issues or the Asian issues of this country”. He also reflects on the new President-Elect with these words, “I wish things would change. I wish people would conserve water and fuel. I wish people would engineer systems in a good way. I wish we had a smaller population and I wish people would stop littering the land…. but, it ain't gonna happen.”
One veteran who just signs himself Gunner pointed out a laundry list of concerns he has about Barack Obama. Most of what he said has been written about extensively in conservative media. He closed his remarks with “Obama will get his chance, of that I am sure. I don’t hate the man. But, I do recognize that he is a menace to our republic and as soon as he appoints a few Supreme Court justices the left will control all three branches of government…and that my friends is inherently dangerous.”
Paul G. Levesque is a retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant. “My view is that we are in for some trying times”, he says. “I really believe that the general population who voted this man into office did it for reasons other than qualifications. They were swayed by a biased media, unprecedented money spent on TV airtime, and a negative perception of the Republican Party because of the unpopularity of President Bush. I don’t hate the man, but I am afraid he came up through the ranks too soon and I don’t think he is ready to take on such a challenge. I really hope he surprises me and does great things for the country.”
There were those who held a minority view that nothing would be right in our country again because of this election. The majority of veterans, however, seem to be of the opinion that they didn’t care for Obama or his platform but were willing to, as one man stated, “Hold my fire and see just how he handles the job.”
My friend of many years, another former combat correspondent, is Gunnery Sergeant John Boring, USMC (Ret). From his home in Arizona John writes, “This old Marine did not vote for Obama, but when I saw how the nation had voted I set aside my dislike of the winner and resolved to support him and his administration the same as I would were I on the battlefield in Afghanistan or Iraq. I’m old enough to realize that perhaps I put my money on a horse that was not the best one in the field; that perhaps other voters, more wise than I, saw things in Obama that I could not see because of my age and dimmed vision. The majority has spoken – who am I to say they are wrong? I’ll place my trust in their vision and the man they elected. But, woe be to them if they are wrong!”
For most of those writing me from the veteran and retired military community that just about sums up their feelings about our President-Elect.
Semper Fidelis,
Thomas D. Segel
(Printer friendly version) Email: Thomas D. Segel
