The mark of any good leader is the ability to surround oneself with a highly competent team of professionals who know what they’re doing. No one, not even this President, can be all-knowing. So, when seven past CIA Directors all speak with one voice and provide specific advice about how to preserve the Nation’s security (in this case, halt the Attorney General’s criminal investigation into alleged abuses in the CIA’s interrogation program), the President should listen and follow that advice. This advice is doubly true for the President who has no executive experience, no foreign policy experience, no experience in intelligence and no national security experience.
The President appeared on no less than five Sunday morning news programs on September 20. When asked about the additional troops requested by the very General (Stanley McChrystal) that Obama installed in May 2009, the President responded by saying no troops would be sent until he evaluates our strategy. That indicates we are just beginning to review our Afghanistan policy. Isn’t it odd, actually it’s quite sad, that the President failed to recall that he just concluded a “careful policy review” and adopted a “comprehensive, new strategy for Afghanistan” on March 27, 2009. Meanwhile, General McChrystal’s report and troop request have been languishing on the President’s desk since the end of August. The President has time to give countless health care speeches and appear on Sunday morning news programs. Why doesn’t he take the time to read the General’s report and make a decision?
While addressing a joint session of Congress on September 9, President Obama said he would largely solve the cost problem of his health care proposal by eliminating “hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud” from Medicare. Isn’t he just insulting the American public’s intelligence? If Obama is right and $500 billion can be painlessly removed from the Medicare budget, what is he waiting for? Health care reform isn’t a necessary element to saving half a trillion dollars. Why didn’t the administration begin harvesting these painless billions in savings when they took office eight months ago? I think the American people know the answer.
Israel is undoubtedly America’s staunchest ally in the Middle East. Did the President sell out Israel in his speech to the United Nations on September 23? In that speech, he called for an “independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967…” First, Gaza and the West Bank have never been contiguous. To make them so would divide a now contiguous Israel in half. While I’m sure the Palestinians love this concept, shouldn’t the President support Israel, the target of hundreds of Palestinian terror attacks? Finally, the President speaks of “the occupation that began in 1967.” Has he forgotten that the territory in question was gained following the 1967 war between Israel and several Arab states (Egypt, Jordan, and Syria)?
Contributed by Michael Zimmerman
Direct: 808-457-9683
Michael@Michael-Zimmerman.com
www.Michael-Zimmerman.com
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