What is Important in a President

A friend shared this video with me and asked my opinion of it.  The Firewall - The Enigma.  Here is my response to her.


"I've not read Dreams of My Father but there seems to be a fair amount of controversy with regards as to the original author, which if true would mean it is at least part fiction spun to sell a product.  So I would have to take with some reservation the excerpts Bill Whittle pulls from the book, the assumptions he makes with regard to motivation and the supplemental information he provides about the communist influence from school and church that may have shaped his Mothers life and perhaps his Grandmother.  It is a compelling story regarding the socialist and communist influences that perhaps shaped his life and which clearly shape his politics today.  You can see in his actions the belief in state ownership of the individual, and control of the market place.  In his public policy you can see the desire to enforce a socialist system at the cost of our economy, and when given any choice the need to interject an ever larger government presence.  When the Congress and the Executive were under a single party control that was the major push.  You can know all this by observing his action today, and you could have known that if the last election had been about issues and not personality.

One of the opening statements made by Bill Whittle was that to know what someone will do you had to delve into his upbringing and background.  I do take some issue with that.  It is only now, in the age of instant communication and the internet that all the gory details of the candidate become "critical" to the opinions of the voters.  The problem with today's primary process is we allow the personal attacks and debate about character to submarine the discussion of real and important issues.  Talking about an opponents infidelity is so much easier than being forced to lay out how to tackle the national debt.  How much did the nation know about Thomas Jefferson when they elected him the 3rd President?  Surely the knowledge of his alleged affair with Sally Hemings was never put on the record.  How about when U.S. Grant ran, did the press hammer him for his drinking?  While in hind sight that may have been a good thing I don't think it would have made a difference to the election.  I was raised in a small town in the Hudson Valley, called Hyde Park, so lets talk about my home town hero Franklin D. Roosevelt... so much could have been brought out but never was.  During his Presidency he implemented more socialist reform than anyone and the nation loved him for it.  The press never pointed out he was incapable of walking more than a few steps or he was having a long term affair with his secretary, although both facts were widely known to the press.  I doubt it was widely reported he was  controlled by his Mother and was considered a "Momma's boy."  Would it have mattered in his elections?  Would the nation have been better off if we had known? What the nation did understand in 1932 was he wasn't a Republican (blamed for the stock market crash), and in 36 he was putting people to work, and in 40 he was putting many more to work as we built up our wartime industries.

In our history the real issues are usually glossed over because they are often too abstract and complex to put into campaign speak or sound bites.  What is understood by the politicians in the Presidential election is a large portion of the country always votes Democratic or Republican and if you are to win you need to persuade that small percentage of uncommitted to side with you.  I think that is why the Democrats choose Obama, he brought out in hugh numbers the black communities that are usually apathetic non-voters.  I can assure you the turn out here in the South was huge compared to just four years earlier."



So we now come to the question on what is important in a President?  Is moral character critical, how about patriotism, or a strong religious foundation?  I think each of these qualities bring both value and risk, for each is hard to define in a universal sense for all the nation.  


When John F. Kennedy was running for president the Nixon campaign played against protestant fears he would be subject to Vatican influence.  In todays world this is hard to imagine, but in 1959 it was a very real fear that Kennedy had to address head on.


Clearly our President should be a patriot, but how do you quantify that?  If he is opposed to immigration is he a patriot? What if he is in favor of states rights?  Does that make him unpatriotic?  If he thinks big government is the cure for all that is wrong is he by default unpatriotic?  How about baseball?  If he can't name all the teams in the American League should he be declared a Canadian?  We have fundament extremists who wrap themselves in the cloak of patriotism, if the President were to interfere with their activities would he be unpatriotic?


The same things can be said about moral character.  Each of us bring a slightly different sense of what that term means and no one can live up to everyone's definition.  Some of our better Presidents were philanderers.  Andrew Jackson married Rachel Donelson Robards while she was still married to Lewis Robards.  While there may be some debate over his or her knowledge of the situation he did then enter into a number of duels to defend her honor.


So you ask what do I think is important?  I think the President needs to have the following qualities.  A strong sense of self, a vision he or she can articulate, the courage to make a decision and stand behind it, the ability to ignore the crowd, the humility to admit when he/she has made a mistake, and finally a willingness to compromise for the greater good.  Several of these characteristics are linked and I will explain why I think them important together.


As the President, he/she must govern for the nation, not the party they belong to.  Therefore there will be times the President must be prepared to go against his party for a common good.  This requires a very strong sense of personal worth and confidence, courage to make decisions and face the consequences and a willingness to compromise.  We see very little of this in the current President, who is in a non-stop campaign mode.  In the 1960's, we can look to Lyndon Johnson and see his ability to work with Republicans for the social legislation as an example.  No one questioned his Democratic credentials so when he needed to bend a little to achieve the goals it was possible.  As much as we may dislike Richard Nixon for his failures, these same strengths played a part of his ability to open up Communist China.


The President sets the tone for the country and, when successful, the goals we collectively strive for.  Thomas Jefferson had the courage to go against his previous beliefs on the role of government, when he saw an opportunity to purchase Louisiana from the French.  In one move, without seeking Congressional approval beforehand he doubled the size of the United States and opened the great westward expansion that dominated the 19th Century.  To undertake such an endeavor he had a vision far beyond the day to day management a weak federal government linking 13 collective states.


John Kennedy is known best for his ability to set those visions into the American psyche.  We will never know if we would have reached the Moon in the 60's if he had lived, but clearly we did reach it because of his vision and Johnson's willingness to push it forward.


I would also use Kennedy to illustrate a man with the strength to admit he had made a mistake and stand up to it.  Shortly after he assumed the Presidency he authorized the invasion of Cuba with a group of expatriates trained by the CIA.  He did not have the will to commit the necessary US forces to insure their success and the invasion failed on the beach.  Hundreds were killed, captured or wounded.  Although the effort began well before he came to office it was on his authorization it executed.  I don't recall him blaming Eisenhower for the failure.


Perhaps he had the foresight to see the quagmire Vietnam would become when he established the US Army's Special Forces (Green Berets) to attempt to keep our involvement in the Communist insurgency small, but we will never know for sure.


Having a vision and not being able to articulate it is almost like not having a vision.  We need only to look to the 41st President to see how his inability to clearly communicate the grand ideas into a vision caused him problems.  After the first world war, Woodrow Wilson helped create the League of Nations, but was unable to persuade Americans that we must be a part of it.  That failure doomed the League to become the ineffective agent it was, while it allowed German expansion in Europe.


Presidents will not always make popular decisions but they must be able to make them and stand behind them in the face of rising controversy.  Reagan made the decision to win the cold war.  Something all his predecessors since Truman had either attempted or felt impossible to accomplish.  In his eight years as President he built an Arm's race that eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.  Without firing a shot he won a war we had been engaged in since 1949.  His decision unified Germany, freed the nations of the Warsaw Pact, and reduced the threat of nuclear war to a level last seen in the early 1950s.


This event gave Bush the elder the ability to maneuver when Iraq invaded Kuwait.  Without it, we would have risked war with Russia if we chose to engage directly, or we would have had to fight through surrogates.


So, with all that said what do I see in our President?  I see a man who blames others, who when he makes a choice will change it if he feels the winds of opinion pushing against him. I see someone who even when attempting to compromise cannot resist slamming the other side, a man nether gracious in victory or defeat.  I see a gifted speaker, when the teleprompter is working, but at other times is no different then his predecessor.  I don't see a man guiding this nation for the common good.

Did I Hear Correctly?

Did I see the news clearly this evening?  Speaker of the House Boehner suggests we reduce tax breaks for the oil companies and the first thing the President does is say how he would increase spending?

Standard and Poor’s is threatening to downgrade the US credit rating, because of our debt and spending versus income imbalances and the very first thing the  President can think of when he learns the Republicans may be willing to consider a tax increase is to lay out how he would spend it?

No wonder the Tea Party is gaining in popularity every day!

April 25th, plus 31 Years

Today the birds are talking amongst themselves, the air is clear and the day starts cool, but the humidity is growing until it will become oppressive.  We hit golf balls, my son and I.  It is nice to spend a few minutes alone, without the stress of family responsibilities.

At the chapel a remembrance of those who on this date 31 years ago were in the wrong place, at the wrong time.  The speaker lauds the courage of the team, the men who died are heroes.  He talks about all that has stemmed from our failure and how we are better than before.  We have better equipment, we have better training, we are better funded now, but has anything really changed?

An old question haunts me, and again I ask myself, was I courageous, or just naïve?  Where the men who are now heroes, courageous or where they like me, just less fortunate? 

What is courage?  How do you know if you are courageous? Merriam Webster defines courage as the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere and to withstand danger, fear, or difficulty.  When we flew into Iran the evening of April 24^th, were we being courageous, or just doing the job we had trained years to accomplish?  Maybe the right answer is a little of both.  I speak for no one but myself when I say that the fear of being left out of this adventure far out-weighted the fear of death.  The fear of screwing up and causing a problem was much greater than the fear of what lay before us.

I’ve written in the past about the mindset of the community I am a part of.  We are by training and our nature competitive.  If we weren’t we wouldn’t do this job, we are to varying degrees risk takers.  Some are emotional and others are calculating, but each holds a personal view of themselves that leads them to the uncertain challenges of flying.

I realized later in life that not all share this need to excel, or the desire to be the first called.  I’m not sure how they can do their jobs without it, but it is there.  They find their fulfillment and satisfaction in other ways, and I am sure for them it is the right way.

After the service I return home to my family.  Families are the real heroes of any military operation.  The ones who must face the uncertainty alone, surrounded by friends and families who try but can not appreciate the fear and uncertainty of the future they feel.

C-130

There is a low rumble somewhere in the distance.  It is unmistakable if you’ve spent most of your adult life around it.  It doesn’t increase, nor does it decrease.  It is just there in the background.  It is the sound of a C-130 bringing its four Allison turboprop engines to life in preparation for a flight.  Somewhere in the world, as you read this, there will be a C-130 starting engines.  Some crew will be preparing for their mission.

The C-130 has been in continuous production since 1955, and in that time the aircraft that was originally built to provide the US Army with tactical airlift has been adapted for almost any mission you can imagine.

They have been used to snatch men from the ground with a system called sky hook, they have caught satellites falling from the heavens with the All American system, they have flown low, dragging a hook to have cargo pulled out of them to support Kah San, or they have had their cargo pulled from them with extraction parachutes.

The aircraft has landed on an aircraft carrier, and Antarctic.  It has been equipped with rockets powerful enough to lift it off the ground in 300 feet when it weighted 175,000 pounds or stop in in the same distance.   Some have been modified to be the most accurate and deadly close air support platform known, and are in continuous demand when special operations teams need help.  Others have been equipped with special radars allowing them to fly 250 feet above the ground on nights so dark and weather so thick you can’t see the hand in front of your face.  Other's search for survivors, or refuel other aircraft needing fuel to complete their mission.

It has sniffed the air looking for radiation, and it has dropped the biggest conventional bombs ever made.  But perhaps it is best known as being the first aircraft sent to help with disaster relief.  It has dropped food to starving people on every continent and it has brought medical teams to victims of floods, earthquakes, tsunami’s, droughts, and civil wars.

It has fought wild fires, and feed starving cattle cut off by blizzards.   When villages are isolated by weather the C-130 and its crews find ways to get to wherever they need to be.

When Lockheed built the C-130 they gave it a name, I doubt anyone appreciated how appropriate it would be.  Hercules, the Roman and Greek hero known for his strength and perseverance, I think the C-130 has certainly lived up to his legends. 

My Thoughts on a Thursday (Well Almost Thursday)

The world was without form, it had no shape, no substance or purpose.  There was no light; there was no life, there was … nothing.  The sun was not, the universe was not, there was nothing as we know it.

There were no believers, either true or false, as we understand them.  Atheism did not exist, evolution did not exist, and nothing, as we understand nothing, was all there was.

Yet somehow everything came from that nothing.  The world was formed, and light was created.  The air we see in the cold morning breath was made, the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, the life of this earth became.

Are we truly to believe this was all a random act?  How much harder it is to rationalize there is no God; than accept there must be.

Each of us must, at some point in our life, come to understand and accept our life and our role in that life.  If we believe we are in complete control, how difficult it must be to accept death.  Death may be postponed, delayed, put off, but it cannot be avoided.  If there is not a controlling force why is that?  Wouldn’t random chance mean at least some life forms would never die?

The Entitled

We have become a nation of entitled.  I think this began with the creation of social security and the belief the government had to provide a national retirement system and safety net for the elderly.  Shifting the burden of care from the family to the state.  From there it was a simple leap to create social welfare for the unemployed and the unemployment compensation for those who’ve lost their jobs and are in temporary need.  Each of these is arguably a good thing and something a socialist country does to maintain its hold on the people and legitimize its role.

When the nation is populated by young people earning a living and paying taxes the system can work, but as the workforce ages, and the ratio of those paying in to those drawing out decreases there is an inevitable tipping point where the system must fail.  Couple this with a large segment of the population that has grown up believing they need not work or pay taxes and we accelerate towards that tipping point.  

Tie in the social system that says if you don’t earn sufficient dollars you not only don’t pay taxes but the government owes you an earned income credit, how can we not believe we are entitled to whatever we want?

Finally, create a tax system that is so labyrinth in its rules and regulations that if you can afford a good accountant you need not pay any taxes.  Once you accomplish this you have a financial system that mirrors the US. 

If you made over $33,000.oo in 2008 you were in the top half of all wage earners in the US.  This half of the population paid 97.3% of all the personnel income taxes collected.  The other 50% paid the remaining 2.7% or collected from the top half, because they were entitled.

Somehow our elected representatives and senators see nothing wrong in this structure, and wonder aloud about the radical Tea Party movement.

A Morning Observation

On a sunny morning in Northwest Florida, corn feed leaf blowers don't work worth a tinker's damn.  This new ethanol mix is playing havoc with my lawn machines.