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America will not likely see another Harry
Truman. He was the feisty
American President from Missouri who beat all odds to defeat Thomas
Dewey in the 1948 election. People
met him at whistle stops and shouted, “Give ‘em hell, Harry!” You always knew where he stood, like it or not.
He didn’t mince words. When
Drew Pearson wrote unflattering criticism of daughter Margaret’s piano
playing, Truman called the columnist a SOB. His motto was “if you can’t stand the heat,
stay out of the kitchen.” And
he lived by the belief that “the buck stops here.”
When he fired Gen. Douglas McArthur for insubordination during
the Korean War, he didn’t alibi and blame it on an aide.
He took the heat. Subsequent presidents haven’t been as
forthcoming. Dwight
Eisenhower lied about Gary Powers and the U2 flights, then had to
reverse his story. Lyndon
Johnson tried to cover up activities in Vietnam.
And Richard Nixon didn’t have the courage to admit he was
responsible for the Watergate breakin. His lies brought down the presidency when all he had to do
was admit the blunder. Gerald
Ford and Jimmy Carter offered bland presidencies, leaving it to Ronald
Reagan smeared by the Contra scandal and Bill Clinton’s sexual
denials. Clinton, particularly, could have avoided a lot of furor if
he had simply said, “It’s none of your business.” Politicians are very adept at answering the
questions you don’t ask to avoid the ones you do ask.
This is a talent of all politicians and not claimed exclusive by
one party. When they get
into the heat of the kitchen, they start looking for someone else to
blame. They take the
fragment of an excuse and build it into a massive barrier to hide
behind. Since the bombing of the World Trade Center by
Muslim extremists, bureaucrats and elected officials have been busy
finger pointing at each other. Nobody
has stood up to take the blame. The
tragedy was so horrific, almost 3,000 people killed in America’s
largest city, that it staggers belief that it could have happened in
America, that the guardians of our society were not on the job. When the blame was pinned on bin Laden who
boasted about it, even laughed that some of the airplane hijackers
thought they were stealing a plane, all the resources of the most
powerful in the world couldn’t find him.
His network of caves and supporters kept him hidden from all the
electronic spying science had to offer.
When our officials couldn’t find him, they looked for someone
they could find. It was as
if Madison Avenue had written the PR scenario.
Saddam Hussein was visible.
He was disliked. He had survived the Gulf War when many thought he should have
been wiped out. The Iraqi
dictator became the target. Although some intelligence now reveals he was
busier trying to write a mystery novel than developing Weapons of Mass
Destruction, that was the story line sold the American people. Americans reeling from the shock of 9/11 were threatened with
the thought that Saddam had atomic bombs and biological chemicals.
He was ready to bomb America, poison the water supply. Despite the disbelief in the United Nations and
the rest of the world, President George W. Bush invaded Iraq to stop
Saddam form developing and using Weapons of Mass Destruction. No sensible person in Des Moines or Dallas or Providence
seriously lay awake at night afraid of the demented dictator in Iraq.
Voices of reason were drowned out by the beat of war drums.
Our leaders exclaimed the elimination of Saddam would stop
terrorists and Vice President Dick Cheney said the Iraqi people would
greet us with cheers for bringing down their tyrant. President Bush borrowed a flight jacket and
stopped an aircraft carrier in mid ocean to let him fly in for a photo
op. He declared the war was
over, as if he really believed that would make it so. Same thing with his declaring, “We are winning
the war on terror.” God
help us if we were losing the war on terror.
People are afraid to fly or even to travel to foreign countries.
You can’t walk into the local courthouse without undergoing a
near strip search. Fanatic
bin Laden wanted a holy war against America by Muslims and he’s
getting it. He didn’t think America would be defeated by a terrorist
attack. A response by
America that would enflame the Muslim world against us was his goal.
He wanted this country to follow the pattern of how Israel
defends against Palestinian hatred with tanks. The result of 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq have
brought this country into a deficit that staggers imagination.
Privacy and rights guaranteed by the Constitution are suspended
in the government’s vigilance. It
is suddenly unpatriotic to even criticize the government in any foreign
or domestic policy. Our bungling in foreign policy has disrupted the Middle East.
The people who were supposed to be waving flags of gratitude in
Iraq now shoot rockets and send in suicide bombers.
Arabian oil producers have shown their gratitude by gouging
America with unprecedented oil prices.
We are not seen as liberators in their world, but occupiers who
want their oil. Money that could well be spent in America on
needs from infrastructure to education most go to repair the devastation
of war we carried unrequested into that country.
Politicians say we are supposed to close our eyes and mouths to
the quicksand we have gotten into.
We are supposed to utter phrases like, “Bring ‘em on” and
that will defeat terrorism. The President deserves neither all the credit
nor all the blame for the failure in Iraq.
He invaded the country with the blessings of Democrats as well as
Republicans in Congress. Some
exclaim this is not another Vietnam, but it certainly has the same odor
of mind decay from Washington. The
charred bodies of Americans hanging from a bridge was reminiscent of
Somalia. And there’s no solution in sight. What we need now are leaders in the kitchen who
can stand the heat, elected officials who can let the buck stop with
them, accept the responsibilities and put America back on track.
We need a Harry Truman.
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