So if waterboarding saves one life whether it be a US citizen or some one abroad, then it’s worth it, because al Queda doesn’t think twice about cutting some ones head off, civilian or military, you cannot persuade a fanatic to change their ways, but you can get information. Some times its valid, some times its not. But we treat them a thousand fold times better, than they would ever treat us!

The Democrats are notorious for spending tons of money on way to many projects all at the same time, so the projects don’t get the true attention they deserve.

Republicans on the other hand, usually have one major item that they tend to fund properly, and maintain the rest, in order to cut down the chances of blowing the budget. Unfortunately, Bush II’s war on terror, was a financial nightmare due to the poor contracts written and paid for to support the war.

If Obama wants to fix something and wants to prosecute people for wrong doing, then he needs to go after the companies that took government money, but did not carry out their end of the contracts.

He needs to properly fund the war, until the timely pull out of Iraq occurs, but must still fund Afganistan.

He has to be firm with North Korea, becuase they are just plain crazy and probably will use Nukes to either get South Korea back or just destroy it because they can not have it.

He cannot just cozy up to Chavez or Abadajon [IRAN](sp?) thinking that they will become our friends because he is nice to them and agrees with their political views.

He must as our leader, defend us from rhetoric and attack.
At all times holding that Big Stick just in case he needs it.

He cannot spend a Trillion dollars in his first 100 days in office, and plan on another 4 Trillion in spending during his first term, and complain about how much was spent in the Bush’s Eight years in office. (4 Trillion)

He can no longer blame Bush for everything that has happened, as a leader, he should take responsibility for what is going on (not saying claim everything that has happened as your fault) but he is now our leader, stop playing the blame game, and deal with it. That’s why Obama ran, not to win a popularity contest, but to be our leader.

You give credit of the three dead pirates to Obama? Obama had nothing to do with the Navy’s decision to have SEALs take the shots. The Navy had everything to do with it, if the Hostage at any point appeared to be in danger, the SEALs (who’s leaders had the authority from their positions as leaders) were to take the shots required. Obama wasn’t on a phone giving the word “go”. It’s like a SWAT team sniper situation, SWAT team is in place, they have the shot, they don’t call the Chief of Police to get permission, they take it. Due to the way they train and our laws and governing documents, that have been around since before Obama was even born, work.

The president has power to declare war, for 90 days, then needs to get permission from congress to carry forth, he doesn’t deal with hostage situations, even though he will eat up the publicity and take the credit. Or those who support him will say he had everything to do with it.

My statement above is the beauty of the military. Certain leaders, not just senior leaders, have authority to carry out attacks without going higher in their chains of command. Hence if our most senior leaders were to be taken out, the military would run just fine doing what they do, only a lot of field promotions would probably start occuring. It’s also why most other countries find our military very confusing.

And to your point on increasing the defense budget, while increasing it 5%, he shut off the supplementals (15-20% of the current budget) of additional spending, which are not a part of the set budget. When he stopped the “supps” to the military branches, yes, the programs suffer, but it isn’t just the missle defense program, its the surface warfare program for ship building, the aviation programs for aircraft development and flight training, the troop and mechanical programs for advancement of armor and equipment to keep the men and women on the ground safe, that ultimately loose the money, because the war is still going on and still costing money that comes from the defense budget so he can have programs like the trains to every where, large water park, and other pork programs initiated by the democrats. (Yes, I know that some of those were cut out or added by other Dems)

If Obama was smart (or any Democrat) they would stop their selfish issues and organize their party. Get their priorities straight and start fixing things one by one, instead of throwing money at everything all at once. If Health care is the majority leading priority, fix it first, use what money you need to get it running properly and then maintain. Then start on your next priority, ex. Education. But while doing that, you have to keep funding the essentials properly, which until every US citizen is home and safe, the war should be taking priority (whether it is a just war or not).

I think Obama is being lambasted as a wuss in one breath and then being told he is just continuing Bush policies (re: Iraq and Afghanistan) in the next. Yes, he stopped the missile defense program, but the treaty that Bush had abandoned was part of what helped cool down the arms race many years ago (along with the balistic missile treaty, which Bush also renegged on) and as a response, Russia is doing things like invading Georgia. We can’t muscle Russia around, so if we aren’t going to play nice, they aren’t either.

Someone said the handling of the pirates showed Obama’s weakness but three dead pirates and one in jail looked like a pretty good show of resolve to me. And North Korea did missile tests while Bush was in office too and he didn’t do anything at all in response.

Jack

“[Reagan] never placated to any foriegn official or idealogy (or the media). He said he was going to do something and he went out and did it.”

That sounds like Bush II as well, although it was done a lot more poorly in the second case. Which means it isn’t just the strategy, but the man. I still believe (wavering a bit) that Obama the man can push his strategy through to the right ends, but time will tell.

And Obama didn’t cut the military, he actually increased spending by about 3-5% as I recall. The Republican talking points say that he cut the military because he cut (Gates cut) some of the programs they like, such as the missile defense.

According to Hannity, Carter started the housing bubble based on that bill in 1977 that tried to get poor people to be able to buy homes. Even if that were true (which is crazy) does that mean that the Republicans were so incompetent that in 32 years they weren’t able to solve this problem? They certainly weren’t screaming about it until well after the bubble broke…

And only time will tell how sage Bush kept us. One domestic attack under Clinton, one under Bush. I’ll wait and see, but there isn’t any public info available yet on what was being planned in LA so who knows how much of a miss that was. And if you believe Ron Suskind (and all of his well cited sources in the Bush administration), Bush played politics with the London trans-atlantic plot and forced the Brits to move prematurely (against their strenuous objections) to help in the elections over here(and some of those plotters had to be released due to insufficient evidence).

Jack

Secondly, Reagan was by far one of the best presidents this nation has had in a long time, to bad no other candidates out there are like him. He never placated to any foriegn official or idealogy (or the media). He said he was going to do something and he went out and did it. He spoke honestly, and above all, represented the United States with honor. Obama hasn’t done any thing like this yet. Sure he talks but only to placate those listening at the time. He may have a gift of a silver tongue, but he is using it selfishly, not for the greater good of the US.

One thing we learn early on is, talking is by far the best road, but if you don’t have the means to inforce your stance, no one will truely listen.

Third, With Obama’s extravegant spending spree that he is doing, what does he do? He cuts spending from the military. He wants to help stimulate the economy and save jobs, yet he takes funding away from the largest employer of military, civilian, GS, and contractors in the nation. When you take away funding (even if you intone it to be from the war) it effects everything that is going on in the military, because the war takes priority! Keeping the men and women who are serving in harms way safe, by providing them the best equipement, training, and support they can, until they bring them home out of harms way.

Fourth, This whole economic mess originaly started in the Clinton term. He is the president that was in office when the “Everyone should be able to buy a home” program started. The very same program that started the whole housing bubble crash, which led to the banks not trusting everyone, which led to the economic down turn.

Fifth, Bush II may not have been the brightest president we have had, but at least he had established plans, plans that while they may have helped fill some peoples wallets, where still to protect the country. How many terrorist attacks have happened since 9/11 on US soil, once Bush started taking the fight to al Queda and the Taliban?

PS ACORN liberal blogers: Obama has stunk up Airforce One and the White House, just ask the liberal press. Michelle, you can’t burn enough Nag Champa in there, girl, to kill that awful stank. At least the Bush’s were clean.

Liberals hate America because they hate themselves.

And, WHY did she get an extension? Normally, people get deported when they’ve overstayed illegally in this country. How did she get an extension? Is Obama’s Homeland Security (Immigration Services) looking into the matter? Or, does she get special treatment because she is Obama’s aunt?