Ever think about how we could easily obliterate any country in the Middle East and they could do absolutely nothing to stop it? If it were the other way around, and America’s existence rested on the goodwill of Islamic governments, what chance do you think we’d have?
It seems strange we have such power backed up by the world’s greatest military and yet we have trouble convincing countries such as Iran to at least not actively work towards killing our people. That’s because as soon as we commit militarily, a good portion of the country starts questioning everything. Some think it’s a mark of our civility, but that seems to be making a virtue of spinelessness. If we don’t even have the moral courage to know our right to defend ourselves as a country, how can anyone take us seriously? It doesn’t matter how skillful and committed our military is; the enemy just has to target the weakest link — the average American’s will to see through the mess of war — and they win.
What can make us serious again? Another huge attack against us, but it shouldn’t have to take that. Also, the longer it takes for us to strike back, the worse it will be for everyone — us and the enemy — when we’re finally dragged kicking and screaming to do something.
That’s where a leader is supposed to come in. Everyone is eventually going to lose focus in a large conflict and not prioritize correctly, and the job of a leader is to keep pushing us back to focusing on what’s important. The whines of the spineless can be loud, but a good leader should easily be able to speak over them easily and distinguish himself from the noise.
Leadership is the most important quality we need in a president right now. We will strike back when struck again, but that’s reacting, not leading. A leader will give us the courage to take on our enemies now before more lives our lost. Are any of the presidential candidates prepared to be that leader? Because, if not, eventually a lot of people are going to die.
The problem is actually one of perception. Even as governor Bush was an outstanding administrator and leader, but he did not like to “blow his own horn”. In this country, we became used to eight years of listening to “the Blowhard Slick Willie and Hitlery Show” and we now expect a president to break out in a speech, even when it is inappropriate or he has nothing at the moment to say. This does not mean he is incapable, merely that he has other things on his mind.
One of my goals in life is to have sex with Barrack Obama’s wife. I’m not really attracted to her, and it’s not about the challenge of trying to seduce her. It’s just that, if I get caught, I know for sure I won’t have to worry about being attacked by her jealous husband. At worst, he’ll make a speech – I can deal with that.
Slight rant:
150 years of wars fought out of our own back yard will do that.
Those people overseas are bitter enough to keep fighting becasue they experienced ruined cities, invasions, and liberations for hundreds of years. Suckers.
Not even terror attacks will shift American opinion. Since tactically, no axis in the world has the resources, drive, or basic ability to defeat the US tactically, it’s a waiting game for the whiney losers (read: liberals) to bring it down internally; and even though it pisses off drama queens like Coulter and Malkin who love to hype how we’re going down the crapper, our society isn’t spinning out of control any worse than it always is.
Are things going to get worse? I think so. We’re due for a bad recession, we’re due for another off-generation, and we’re opening our fly for suicide bombs and home grown terror in a more frequent manner.
Are we doomed? Hardly.
I stopped getting all excited. When we draft the Iran invasion up, I’ll reenlist. Until then, I’m going to sip on my coke and enjoy my day. I’ve got my gun (and it’s bigger than Franks =P)
Frank- Good comments and I sincerely agree with you. But, would add that our so called Congress sucks too. Immigration, ending dependance on middle east oil, Iraq. It all seems to be a game of them lining their pockets at our expense.
This goes for Repubs and dems. I cannot stand Pelosi, Murtha, Reid but Bush, Rove and Cheney are no better. Just different heads on the same beast…
Frank,
When you wrote that you were going to start branching out by starting another blog(s), my first thought was that you were making a mistake. I thought you were going to try (and probably fail) to prove yourself more than “just” a humor writer, causing a degredation in the quality of IMAO for no good purpose.
After this post, I am looking forward to your new projects. The essay is thought provoking, dead on and (this may be the most difficult with the approximately 6.02X10^23 political blogs out there) fairly original.
[Thanks, but I don’t plan on much serious political commentary on any of the new blogs. They’ll focus on things I know and am working on such as study of humor and making money at blogging and writing. -Ed.]
An analogy his administration has used before to defend themselves is Truman – He had very low approval ratings by the time he left office and is now considered a great President. I think Bush has decided he’s going to do what he thinks is the right thing to do and let historians sort it all out later, that he won’t care about his popularity right now.
The problem is this affects his effectiveness in getting stuff done right now-whether it’s Gonzales, immigration, or the war. He could be doing a lot more than he’s doing to make the case for it. Even if it isn’t him speaking, get Tony Blair – there are a bunch of people he could send out there and I think this has reached the point where it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He has to count on things going well on the ground now (and some politicians in the Senate having the spine and the principle to accept just that) because he’s abandoned the media war for so long that, by itself, it’s a lost cause for the near future.
(plus, he should have made more of an ideological case for the war to begin with instead of the whole WMDs thing – like I’ve said before, since when do we need an excuse to take out dictators?)
Very insightful. Great post.
“We’re due for a bad recession,”
To play devil’s advocate, we’ve been due for that bad recession for a few years now. Not saying it won’t happen, but after I keep hearing “it’s coming, it’s coming” I start to get a little skeptical.
Sigh…of the current crop of Presidential candidates I do not see a true leader! A Ronald Reagan “Mr. Gorbachev take down this wall” type of leader! I only see politicians and that is NOT what we need right now! With somewhere around 100 million Islamic pricks interested in killing us, we need someone in office that will take the offensive.
Possibly – someone that will gather together a bunch of the leaders from these countries and simply tell them “any nuclear attack on the United States at any time will be answered with nuclear annihilation of each of your countries!” “There will be zero negotiations or time for talk!” “We will launch upon the first explosion here in America and your countries will cease to exist — and I have made this launch automatic. Even I can’t stop it!”
Good writing, Frank!
(insert argument here)…which is why we need Fred Thompson.
ah yes, the iran ordeal.
is anyone aware that one of the uses for the nuclear ENERGY that iran has is actually just energy?
they are exporting more oil than what they can produce for their country. therefore, they need other forms of energy, and that form is uranium enrichment. at no moment did the nation of iran claim that it wanted to “attack the USA”? at no moment. plus, it has no weapons built yet, and it would take a great deal of money for iran to build these weapons, and it doesnt have this money to build them.
put some logic into the situation, folks.
oh, and has anyone realized that before bush came along, the whole terrorism thing didnt exist?
aah, republicans. so blind and ignorant yet so dangerous.
“They ask: ‘Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?’ But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved” -Mahmoud Ahmadinejad October 28, 2005
“is anyone aware that one of the uses for the nuclear ENERGY that iran has is actually just energy?
they are exporting more oil than what they can produce for their country. therefore, they need other forms of energy, and that form is uranium enrichment.”
“Today, the Iranian people is the owner of nuclear technology. Those who want to talk with our people should know what people they are talking to. If some believe they can keep talking to the Iranian people in the language of threats and aggressiveness, they should know that they are making a bitter mistake. If they have not realized this by now, they soon will, but then it will be too late. Then they will realize that they are facing a vigilant, proud people.”
-Ahmadinejad, August 1, 2006.
For the… ummm… ‘logical’ poster… Since the expense of developing nuclear power, let alone building a plant, is more than enough to build all the oil refineries and gas powered plants to provide energy for the entire middle east, why the massive rush to gain nuclear energy? If Iran is so poor, and they are, why go through this absolutely unneccesary drain when cheaper technology and abundant resources abound for them? That the kind of logic you had in mind when you were loosing that verbal fart you passed off as a thought?
“President:
Demise of US, Israel Imminent
TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mualem here on Tuesday assured that the United States and the Zionist regime of Israel will soon come to the end of their lives.”
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8511030486
(Iranian News Agency)
“oh, and has anyone realized that before bush came along, the whole terrorism thing didnt exist?”
The parking garage of the World Trade Center, the USS Cole, and Oklahoma city all say “hello”
“oh, and has anyone realized that before bush came along, the whole terrorism thing didnt exist?”
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=World+Trade+Center+1993
damn, kendell, you beat me
Khobar Towers, Marine barracks in Lebanon, Somalia, and two Embassies in Africa would like to say hello to you as well
there will be Fred Thompson….
There’s a few dozen former hostages that might like to extend the courtesies of Iran to you as well
I hope the Fred! is for real. This essay explains why. Is there an ounce of actual leadership in any of the candidates declared for either party. Preemptive strike Ronulans, talking/raving about NAU ain’t it either.
All I have wanted from Presidential politics for the 19 years I have been eligible to vote is to be able and cast a vote FOR a candidate rather than AGAINST their opponent. I don’t think that is two much to ask.
Apparently Frank’s idea of a leader is someone who will boldly lead us straight into a mistake
where our troops continue to die every single day. Even the CIA has said the Iraq War is not winnable. The War on Terror itself is unwinnable. Terror will never ever end. There has always been
terror. We could win a War on Al-Qaeda but instead of going after Al-Qaeda and killing them Bush went after a different group of people in Iraq. This was basically playing right into Al-Qaeda’s hands and it has allowed them to strengthen. Frank seems to be wanting Fred Thompson as president and it’s fine to have a hero and everything. The problem is
Fred Thompson has basically put his stamp of approval on everything the Bush administration
has done so far in the War on Terror which is really bad. Why does Fred not say the Iraq War
was a mistake or point out some of the many mistakes made in the War to show how he would
have already finished it? So far Fred’s stance just seems to be “Hey dudes I’m really conservative. Watch me smoke this cigar and mock Michael Moore.” That’s not leadership it’s telling people what they want to hear. All the intelligence shows this War was a mistake and it has not helped the fight against Al-Qaeda. Bush getting up there and saying progress is being made and that these were the same people who did 9-11 doesn’t make it so.
The facts are what they are. And the fact is some of you on the right can’t seem to come to
terms with the fact that the Iraq War has been a total disaster. You are no different than the idiots on the far left who can’t seem to understand that illegal immigration is bad for America. It is an emotional blindness to reality that unfortunately does not seem curable.
Have a nice weekend everyone 🙂
did someone just fart?
Leadership is the most important quality we need in a president right now. We will strike back when struck again, but that’s reacting, not leading. A leader will give us the courage to take on our enemies now before more lives our lost. Are any of the presidential candidates prepared to be that leader? Because, if not, eventually a lot of people are going to die.
Well said. I feel the same way, it just breaks my heart to see America this way.
“oh, and has anyone realized that before bush came along, the whole terrorism thing didnt exist?”
Why don’t you explain that to Former Hostage?
There will be Fred Thompson
I have a sinus infection and took a couple of Percocet 30 minutes ago. They must be kicking in because I couldn’t figure out why you are advertising a “Booger Alliance” on the left…
There are several things that very few people want to admit.
1. The people we are fighting against (terrorist, fanatics, islamofascists et al) primarily attack targets and people they see as weaker than they. They’re basically cowards, but they are sly, sneaky, underhanded cowards. Since Britain lost Mr. Blair they (the bad guys) now feel emboldened to attack at will. Who’s going to stop the Mr. Brown? He couldn’t even find the number for the military with both hands, a sherpa, a guidedog and OnStar. We’re next.
2. Why are there no better leaders? Because we aren’t growing them, or even having them. Children will be the leaders of the world. Without capable, sensitive, brave, intelligent people to take over from us, mankind is, unfortunately doomed.
In the Middle East they teach their children to hate the west, but they also teach them that their faith and culture is worth dying for. As long as there are individuals teaching those values to their young people there will be war, destruction and devastation. Our children have to be prepared for THAT world, the real world, not some liberal utopia where everyone will always play well together.
We have to teach our young people better. They need to understand that freedom isn’t free, that all men are not peace-loving and that there are some things that are worth fighting for. This current crop of megalomaniacs are interested in one thing and one thing only, POWER. They don’t care about this nation otherwise they’d be trying to work together. All they care about is themselves and unfortunately when the adults in their lives were supposed to teach them about service, giving and integrity they instead taught them selfishness, dishonesty and greed.
I hope it changes but with so many people abandoning Judeo-Christian values – I don’t think it will.
Good post Frank, very thought provoking.
Have to disagree with Fart Chasm Man’s claim that the Iraq War has been a TOTAL disaster.
Saddam is dead. His two sadistic, rapist (and eventually nuclear-armed) sons are dead. Thousands of jihadists (who would have been around anyway) plotting mayhem instead went to Iraq to fight The Great Satan, and are dead. And despite the chaos and carnage, a generation of Iraqis have gotten a taste of freedom and democracy – no easy thing to give up.
And if the seed we planted fails to grow, hey, at least we tried, we will have learned a valuable lesson, and all the aforementioned scumbags are still dead. As for the canard that Iraq has compromised the War on Terror, someone is going to have to explain to me how you improve on ZERO ATTACKS…