By Matt Towery
Friday, February 28, 2014
If anyone believes that this nation is truly left of
center, they should consider a new poll coming from the usually
administration-friendly CBS News. Their polling unit reports that a majority of
Americans are disappointed in President Obama and give him lousy ratings for
his handling foreign policy and the economy.
But perhaps the biggest failures of this administration
have yet to be recognized by most voters. The average American has no idea how
many executive orders have been issued to set in place the president's agenda
or how many new changes in rules and regulations this administration is
pursuing, many of which will have a profound impact on the lives of millions in
the future. Just consider the "minor" move the administration is
advocating that would place millions of seniors taking ant-depressants at risk
of no longer receiving the specific medication chosen by their own doctor to
deal with a serious problem.
Shifting medicines, upping regulations and creating red
tape has been a hallmark of the Obama years. But now comes the next major
blunder. President Obama is proposing a substantial reduction in our military
that could reduce our troop levels to the lowest since 1940.
Perhaps the only person who should take comfort in this
is former President Jimmy Carter, who has forever been the butt of jokes and
comments for having allegedly dismantled our military during his years in
office. I have noted before, Carter did make reductions, but his actions were
not as drastic as those proposed by Obama. Moreover, Carter served admirably in
the Navy and was never thought to have an intuitive bias against all things military.
I do not doubt that Carter, in his years as president, believed that America
was indeed exceptional.
And there are some points of fairness to be given to the
administration's position. The argument that we must beef up our ability to
protect against cyber-attack is real and persuasive. And sometimes the
innovations that come from shifting from manpower-driven efforts to those of
technology do pay off. Even Carter's years led to the development of what
became drone technology. And it should be added that cuts Carter made occurred
while the nation was in the grips of an inflationary and dismal economy.
But Obama's cuts come in the middle of what he would have
us believe is a great economic recovery. Which begs the question of what impact
Obama's newest military proposal might have on what is truly an already jobless
recovery.
There is a good chance that even Democrats in Congress
will reject the administration's proposed cuts. There are aspects to it that
would hit the pocketbook of those lucky enough to remain part of the military
and their families, and even Democrats in Congress are rejecting that notion.
Still, it seems that the president and his team are
ignoring the so often repeated notion that "those who fail to remember the
past are doomed to repeat it." It was less than 25 years ago that Saddam
Hussein chose to occupy Kuwait and force the U.S. to deploy troops in a massive
operation. And just years earlier, the Soviet Union was still intact and the
threat of armed conflict was an ever-present part of a Cold War.
Are we sure another resurgence of a Soviet-like power is
not in the making? Can we be sure that other nations, seeing weakness, test our
will and might in years to come?
Yes, conflicts in the world are more complicated and yes,
our nation has likely committed too many troops into too many wars where an
ultimate victory proved temporary at best.
And no, I do not agree with Dick Cheney's comment that we
should cut food stamps rather than troop levels. That simply sounds so callous
and only puts an angry and ugly spin on an otherwise reasonable concept that we
can make other cuts in many areas, rather than reducing our troop levels.
Imagine that in the very same week he learns that most
Americans consider his presidency a disappointment. Barack Obama decides to
press forward with this added effort to dismantle America's strength.
It's looking more and more like in his mind, the only
thing exceptional about America is Barack Obama.
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