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uploaded : Saturday 1st Feb 2003 at 01:28 |
| Contributed
by : Mary Mostert |
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January 28, 2003
On Monday, in what they called ?prebutt-al? in contrast to ?rebuttal? speeches to President Bush?s State of the Union message on Tuesday night, leaders of the Democrat minority in Congress, Senator Tom Daschle and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, in effect blamed President Bush for the behavior of terrorists and terrorist states, the economic difficulties they cause. ?The state of our union today is anxious. The triple threat of war, terrorism, and recession are combining to make Americans unsure about their future, and unclear about the course our nation is taking.?
With their eye on Election 2004, they then proceeded to try to undermine the President?s efforts to do something about those problems. Daschle charged, ?At a time when we have only just begun to fight the war on terror, the American people deserve to hear why we should put hundreds of thousands of American troops at risk, spend perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars, risk our alliances, and inflame our adversaries to attack Iraq.?
Nancy Pelosi said, ?Since President Bush took office two years ago, a total of 2.3 million private-sector jobs have been lost -- the worst record of job creation for any President since the end of World War II. There are now 8.6 million unemployed Americans. The unemployment rate is at 6 percent, an eight-year high. People are hurting and families are struggling. With Americans out of work, children are being left behind. We must create jobs now.?
Actually, Labor Department figures tell a totally different story. The last time the unemployment rate was 6%; it was at the height of the so-called ?Clinton economic boom? in February 1996. After reading both statements in full, I was struck with the fact that America is very fortunate that it has in the White House a leader like George W. Bush who has the vision and the understanding of history needed to handle more than one problem at a time. Both Daschle and Pelosi, in their statements, seemed unable to see the overall impact of a variety of new problems the nation either did not have, or refused to face, in past years.
For example, Senator Daschle said, ?The White House has given many reasons: because Saddam is a threat to his neighbors, because he gassed the Kurds, because he tried to kill the first President Bush, because he?s making weapons of mass destruction, because - they say - he was involved in September 11.
?When they give so many rotating reasons, it makes people wonder which one is the real one, or if the real reason is none of the above. Above all, it makes people doubt there is a guiding principle.? From that statement it appears obvious that Daschle not only lacks the ability to grasp multi-faceted challenges, he also doesn?t know the difference between a principle and a policy. Fortunately, Bush knows the difference and has grasped the danger of allowing a ruthless dictator to run amuck, invading other nations, using chemical weapons on his neighbors and his own citizens, trying to assassinate a former U.S. president while stockpiling weapons of mass destruction that he may already be sharing with terrorists.
Undoubtedly, from what he has said, Daschle would have been in total harmony with people like the famous American pilot, Charles Lindberg, who formed a group called ?America First? after being awarded the German Medal of Honor in 1938 by Adolf Hitler , whom he praised as a ?great man.? Lindberg returned to America and spent the next two years on the radio and traveling the country making speeches opposing Roosevelt?s efforts to address the problem Hitler posed. He said in a radio broadcast in September 1939, two weeks after Hitler invaded Poland: ?If Europe is again prostrated by war, as she has been so often in the past, then the greatest hope for our western civilization lies in America. By staying out of the war ourselves, we may even bring peace to Europe more quickly.? At the time, that was undoubtedly true. Without help, Britain would have fallen to Hitler?s invading army. In the next two years, Hitler not only overran Poland, but he also captured The Netherlands, Belgium, France, the Balkan States, and the Battle of Britain was in full swing.
None of that made Lindberg change his mind. However, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 changed his mind. At that point, he realized Hitler and his German friends had deceived him. Thinking America would never be attacked, he had said in the 1939 broadcast: ??If war brings more Dark Ages to Europe, we can better preserve those things which we love and which we mourn the passing of from here, by strengthening them here, rather than by hurling ourselves thoughtlessly to their defense over there and thus destroying all in the conflagration. The German genius for science and organization, the English genius for government and commerce, the French genius for living and the understanding of life ?they must not go down here as well as on the other side.
?Here in America they can be blended to form the greatest genius of all. The gift of civilized life must still be carried on. It is more important than the sympathies, the friendships, the desires of any single generation. This is the test before America now. This is the challenge ? to carry on Western Civilization.?
Fortunately, others believed that the principles on which America was based involved something more than merely the ?science and organization, ? the ?government and commerce? and the ?genius of living? that Lindberg assigned to the various European nations. Some believed that stopping Hitler was a matter that involving morality, truth, honor, justice, courage and freedom, - principles upon which our nation was founded. To his credit, Lindberg finally realized when 2403 people died at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he had been wrong. He never dreamed America could be attacked. Unfortunately, the 3000 people who died on September 11, 2001 have not been enough to convince Sen. Tom Daschle and Nancy Pelosi that there is something more at stake here than their political survival on election day. The issue for George W. Bush is the survival of America if terrorists and ruthless dictators like Saddam Hussein are allowed to have nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, rather than an airliner full of jet fuel, with which to attack our cities.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com
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Mary Mostert is Senior Analyst, Banner of Liberty
http://www.bannerofliberty.com
 
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