Former President and Mrs. Bush at Fort Hood

The current White House Administration is already being faulted by some in the media for what appears to be an uncaring attitude concerning the shooting deaths at Fort Hood. On Twitter, Facebook, and other social sites the words “uncaring” “cares more about shout outs” and “insensitive” are being used to describe Obama’s attitude toward the tragedy. Even other countries are starting to notice Obama’s attitude. The Telegraph, Telegraph Link, calls Obama “bloodless” and notes that even Democrats are wondering where his feelings are.

As all the criticism mounts around Obama, one former President and his wife quietly made the trip to Fort Hood, met with families there, and kept the press out. Nonetheless, a visit from a former President never goes unnoticed and it took little time for the leak to reach The Los Angeles Times Times Link. Once again, to his credit, President George W. Bush showed a sense of connection with the people he served and commanded. The difference, this time he did it without the following of a White House photographer and the press. His actions proved that the tears, hugs and emotions we saw when he was in the White House were and still are genuine.

For all the criticism that he has suffered, all the negative press, all the protest, and even the shoe-throwing incident, George W. Bush remained constant. From the onset of his presidency, he set goals. When terrorist caused those goals to have to be set aside, he set new goals for the country and stuck with them. He cried when our nation cried and he hurt when the nation hurt. A lot of people thought those emotions were simply for the press. Today, through a leak to the press, we have seen that the emotions were not for the press, the emotions were for the country that George W. Bush served, loves, and continues to serve even as a private citizen. While this moment may go quietly by and unnoticed by much of the world, I want President and Mrs. Bush to know that many people are thankful for your visit to Fort Hood and to those suffering there. We are thankful for your continued thoughts and prayers for the nation you love.

Only The Starting Point

Facebook, bloggers, news feeds, and the Republican Party website is burning up with the news of Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey Governor races. On the Republican Party’s new website, there almost seems to be a sense that this is the start of something great for the party. You can almost hear the ring that “The Grand Old Party is Back” starting to go around the Internet. Other would be elected Republicans appear almost ready to claim victory in their own races, some over a year away, simply based on New Jersey and Virginia.

I will concede that having a Republican Governor can make a great difference on a state level and that it is an important step. In fact, I believe that we need Republican representation on all levels. However, everyone in the party should be reminded that the fight is far from over and when we really get down to the basics, Virginia and New Jersey governorships are not going to make a huge difference for the country. While not taking anything away from governors around the country, I believe our focus must be the U.S. Senate and U.S. Congress races due in 2010, and then the Presidential race 2012.

As the saying goes, everything in a country goes back to the top. During the Bush years, we had a “War on Terrorism”. This was a clear message to the world that we had enough and that 9-11 would not happen again on George Bush’s watch. Since the Obama Administration has come to power, we now have “Operations Abroad”. Our military is no longer fighting a war on terrorism they are conducting operations abroad. Our new administration has a focus to make “nice-nice” with those it views as our former enemies. One example of how intent this administration is on making “nice-nice” concerns the annual Day of Prayer at the White House. The Annual Day of Prayer was ignored this year with only a memorandum concerning it. A few months later, the President had a state dinner in honor of Ramadan. Obama elected to ignore a tradition started by a Democrat (Truman) and instead elected to honor a holiday supported in the Muslim world where he wants to make “nice-nice”. Moreover, before someone reads this and decides that I’m picking on Muslims, I’ll clarify and say I’m not. The fact is clear; those in the Muslim world (i.e. countries controlled by the Muslim religion) do not like the United States. They burn our flag, attack our military, seek our destruction and cheer whenever anything bad happens to us. Those, sadly, are the facts concerning how the Muslim world feels about America. Our President seems intent on being so nice to our enemies that he has even taken additional actions that should alarm every American. Consider the list below:
• Until this month, military recruiters had been told to stop recruiting new people for the military
• Obama cut sign on bonus’ out of the military for those joining
• The Military is being instructed to no longer use terms “War on Terror”
• Request for reinforcements from Generals in the field appear to be ignored
• To close prisons with terrorist, Obama wants to send the terrorist to countries that will eventually set them free
• Increased attacks in Afghanistan appear to be ignored by the Administration

The actions above do not appear to be those of an Administration intent on defending America. In fact, those actions appear to be just as Obama has made clear. He wants to “extend the hand of friendship to our former enemies”. I’m sorry, but when those he calls “former enemies” continue to bomb U.S. Military, threaten our country, and plan for their next terrorist attack, I do not consider that the words “former” and “enemies” should be used in the same sentence by our leader.

As I was indicating, change at the level of governors will not be change that we in the Republican Party can settle on. We must focus in 2010 and in 2012 on the real change, and as you can see above change at the top is the most important. We must start in 2010 by electing more Republican Senators and Congress representatives. We must follow this up by insisting that those Republicans stand up for the values of our party and the people who elected them.

After the smoke clears in 2010, we must have a Congress and Senate ready to fight the President on every action he takes that is not in the interest of our country. In 2012, we have to elect a Republican President who will remember that he is the President of The United States of America and not the best friend of the enemies of this nation. We are only at the starting point right now.