The World Needs Four More Years of George W. Bush
DIPLOMAD BLOG
This election is critical; perhaps the most critical since 1944, the last time the United States had an election in the midst of a shooting world war. And make no mistake about it: we are in a war against a foe that not only talks about and wants to come into our homes and kill us, but as we saw on 9-11 has the capability and will to do just that. As far as we are concerned, all other issues facing our country are secondary. That is why we are voting for George Bush.
We who serve overseas see the war up close every day. We see it in our bunkered embassies, and our armored cars; we see it in the intel and threat briefings; we see it when bombs explode and kill in places like Madrid, Bali, Jakarta, Baghdad, and Moscow; we see it in the growing list of names on the State Department plaque dedicated to those in the Foreign Service who have died for their country. We are stunned when we hear televised talking heads blather on about the “real issues” facing our nation being some domestic welfare program, or outsourcing, or importing drugs from Canada, or taxing those who make over $200,000, or Abu Gharib, or global warming. We can’t believe it when the talking heads tell us Presidential debates are “won” because one candidate is a better debater, or has better hair, or better grammar. We are stunned when fellow Americans take seriously the views of Europeans on foreign affairs -- Europe has not gotten anything right in the past 150 years.
We are amazed when we hear Americans call for a more sensitive, nuanced war on terror that “won’t push away our allies.” We are perplexed when we hear that George Bush's America doesn’t have allies when, in fact, we do: we have lots of them, but they are not the ones the spin-masters mention. The old sclerotic Europe of France, Belgium and Germany is not our ally, but we have friends all over the world who appreciate the fact that George Bush says what he means and means what he says. We have friends all over the world who daily go to war on our side against the terrorists and are petrified that they will left hanging out in the open and alone if a new administration comes to power in the USA that sees concessions to France and Germany and the UN as the epitome of policy.
The Old Europeans and the NY Times bunch don’t have a clue about how the world works. They think that words equal action; that feel-good resolutions and pronouncements at the UN, the International Criminal Court, or some other international fora will make evildoers reconsider. In fact, it’s worse than that; they can’t bring themselves to acknowledge the presence of evil, for them disputes are just misunderstandings open to resolution by men of goodwill. The Euros and their American imitators deny that Western civilization survives because the hard-pressed American taxpayer maintains 12 aircraft carrier battle groups, an incredibly lethal air force, and divisions of superbly trained and motivated marines and soldiers ready, willing and demonstrably able to reach out and “touch” any corner of the globe. The same crowd who told us the USSR was a superpower with whom we needed to reach an accommodation, now tell us that the USSR was never really a threat and that it “imploded” on its own, not because of anything the USA did. Likewise, they tell us that we are “overreacting” to 9/11 and that, as a consequence, we have lost the sympathy of the world. They deride our patriotism and reverence for the flag, and snicker when we stand at attention at the playing of the Star Spangled Banner. They believe in the Michael Moore version of America. They simply cannot comprehend how it is that rock-and-roll addicted, video game playing, orange-haired, suburban teen-age “mall rats” will respond to their country’s hour of crisis, enlist in overwhelming numbers, and then in weeks take apart the “fierce warriors of Afghanistan” or roll into Baghdad while hardly breaking a sweat. These people don’t have a clue, and we must not elect a President who takes them seriously.
It is a brutal and hard world outside the salons of Paris, Manhattan and Boston; the world is not a trendy 90-minute Hollywood or French movie where the good guys are actually the bad guys, and the bad are actually good, and everybody is some shade of gray.
The enemy is real. The war is real. We are in a fight for our lives. We need a President who understands that: George W. Bush.
# posted by Diplomad |
