Sunday, November 22, 2009
Some Things to Rally Around
I've been very critical of President Obama. I'll freely admit it to you. But I DO respect the man, and I also respect the office. And, so, yes, I want to take a few minutes to say some positive things about the President.................................................................................................1) President Obama has spoken out on more than a few occasions on the importance of fatherhood. That, my friends, is a powerful message for the country (especially for inner-city kids) and I'm proud of him for bringing it up. 2) The President has put more federal funds into community colleges. I find this important for several reasons. a) It's an excellent job-training program and b) it's the only way that many folks can afford college. 3) I was very impressed with the way that Obama handled the Somali pirate situation. He was swift/decisive and I found that quite comforting. 4) I liked the way that he stayed out of the Iranian election fiasco. It seems that the President recognized our total lack of credibility in that region. And, yes, because of that, he resisted intense pressure from the sabre rattlers to act. 5) The President has assembled a rock-solid foreign policy team. Gates, Jones, and Hillary are all quite impressive, I feel. 6) I like the way that the President is taking his time regarding Afghanistan. I personally believe that this conflict could degenerate rapidly and, yes, if the President needs some extra time to avoid another LBJ/Dick Nixon calibre foul-up, I don't have any problem with it. 7) I heartily applaud the President's decision to halt the ban on federal funding for stem-cell research. It was a silly ban to begin with and, especially if you're going to throw these stem-cells away anyway, why the hell not use them for research (life-saving research, potentially). 8) And, yes, folks, I still think that this fellow's a pragmatist. I mean, sure, maybe it's not to the level that many of us had initially hoped for, but, yes, I still think that it's quite there and ticking. Is it there enough to save his Presidency? That, my friends, I could only speculate upon.
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3 comments:
Will,
I read a book by Gareth Porter,Perils of Dominance.Part of it dealt with Kennedy and LBJ and Vietnam.
He had excellent sources and he makes the case that both LBJ and Kennedy KNEW increasing troop commitment was the wrong thing to do.They KNEW it was unwinnable.Neither wanted us to be there, but ultimately both acquiesced due to pressure from their National Security advisers as well as fear of being called soft on communism by the other party. But the pressure from the National Security group was the stronger.
He didn't go into Nixon,but I wouldn't be at all surprised that the reasons were the same.
That sounds like a real good book. I'm going to check for it on Amazon.
The book also has some interesting info on US/USSR nuclear weapons delivery potential (ballistic missiles or bombers).
His info indicates the only way the Soviets could have hit us with nukes would have been thru nukes in Cuba,the Southeast would have been in range. Their ICBM's could have never hit us.Only delivery method would have been old slow bombers coming from over the pole on a suicide mission which almost certainly would have been shot down.
He makes no mention of Cuban missiles being a danger to Al Groh, but that may be implied.
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