OT: To My American Friends

[Guest guest]

*Howdy Martin,*

 

Long live your new King. This is the best Statesman I have seen in my

> 63 years. He has a long hard road, but if anyone can pull diverse

> interests together he can.

>

 

*President Obama is not going to serve as a diplomat .. he is going to serve

as a president. The classic definitions of a statesman are:*

* * *1. A man who is a leader in national or international affairs. He has

the power to serve this purpose though I believe he will initially do better

in the international arena than he will in the national one.*

**

*2. A male political leader regarded as a disinterested promoter of the

public good. I doubt that he is disinterested .. he has his agenda. Is he

interested in the public good? I think he is but everyone might not agree

on what that is.*

**

*3. A man who is a respected leader in a given field. This remains to be

seen. I hope he will become a respected leader .. he is now my president.*

**

*Being a great Orator does not make one a statesman or a leader .. we would

all do well to sit back and wait .. see what happens. To date .. he has

done but one thing .. stopped the trials at GITMO .. we must sit back and

wait.*

 

 

> To those who stick to their outdated ideas,

> stand aside and let a new broom sweep clean.

>

 

*If by saying " Outdated Ideas " you mean the Free Market System and

Capitalism .. which are outdated ideas in Social Democratic Europe .. I

believe that most Americans are not ready to see them swept away with a

broom. Granted we have taken a big hit and it would be fair to say that

attempts to save the Free Market System have (for the time being) destroyed

it .. but that does not mean that Americans are willing to cast it aside.

We are not Europe and even my Liberal friends don't want us to be a carbon

copy of Europe. You yourself have told me often how you disagree with

many political decisions that are common in Europe.*

 

*America did not vote Obama in because we have gone Liberal .. when someone

has a sharp stick up their butt they will choose any alternative and the

economy was a sharp stick. In time we might realize that the stick can be

even sharper .. and its still stuck up our butt. The question now being

asked by even many Democrats is .. does Obama have a plan for economic

recovery .. or is he making fiscal decisions based on his political

promises? He is a lawyer .. not an economist .. and the expert economists

are scratching their heads .. saying they don't know what must be done but

doing nothing is not the solution. A failure of the American system will

affect the entire world.

 

Obama himself has said that what he offered to Americans was a " Ray of Hope "

and a " Promise of Change " .. and folks jumped on that. One who has a

terminal illness might well Hope that tomorrow a new medical discovery will

save them .. and Change is always good when you don't like the present

condition you are in .. but sometimes Change can be so drastic that it might

not be digestible .. so we must sit back and wait .. and watch. There is

a cartoon out now .. in a Liberal publication .. it shows Obama dressed as a

Super Hero .. and his transition team saying something like .. we asked him

to change clothes but he refuses to do so. We must sit back and wait ..

and watch.*

**

*Obama now warns us of an oncoming darker economy and not to put too much

hope in his promises. He promises a plan to reduce budget deficits but his

inauguration ceremony was the most costly in history (more than $150

million) while the nation is in a deep recession. I am wondering where

that 5 + million Americans who complained about Bush spending $50 million

have gone .. they are either missing or they are willing to overlook what

they disagreed with in the past. Does the media still have a Slobbering

Love Affair with Obama? Yep! And it is correct to give him his time to get

situated and firmly in the saddle .. but then there should be no free rides

... and if there are then the media will lose even more credibility.*

*

I spent half my life in the uniform of the U.S. Army and served two tours in

Vietnam so I believe I have done my share to protect our freedoms. The cost

of freedom also includes opposing those who you believe would take freedom

from you. Some politicans remind me of TV evangelists or motivational

speakers .. lots of fantastic new material as long as the teleprompter is

running but when they are asked to speak extemporaneously they hem and haw

and perhaps it is not because they are carefully choosing their words ..

they just don't have a script and if one is not certain or not sincere they

probably need a script.

 

Last night I watched Obama at the Commander in Chief's Ball .. praising the

military .. but he has already asked his team to look at cuts in health care

costs for military retirees and their dependents. He is looking at making

us pay for TriCare for Life .. the program that picks up the Co Pay portion

after MediCare. When I joined we were promised free health and dental

care for ourselves and our dependents .. for life if we retired after 20

years service .. I did 30 years. They took both away from us long ago ..

they gave us Champus .. a program where we paid a good part of the initial

cost for medical care and a percentage of the remainder .. they took 100% of

our dental benefits. Now they might take away the medical benefits we get

after reaching age 65.

 

Why are they considering doing this now? Because the economy is such that

the military has had no problems filling their ranks for some time now.

Prior to the economic crash they paid big bucks to get people to join and

put themselves in harm's way but now recruiting goals are easily met .. so

Soldiers are maybe not so important now! I believe that we must all make

sacrifices for our country but in most cases soldiers have done that

already.

 

What will be his next move? My opinion is that he will try to put a cap on

Social Security payments. Meaning .. if you are paid both a military or

other form of retirement check and Social Security .. you will be capped.

Military folks pay for their Social Security same as do civilians. This

cap (of course) will generate more funds to be " shared " with others .. as is

the case with Socialism. And if we look at all of the savings these cuts

will generate we will find that even over a ten year period they will not

generate as much as the $350 Billion that has already been given away with

absolutely no tracking or accountability for the funds .. and no noticeable

benefits to the economy.

 

Are we in for more surprises? I think so .. I think we have yet to see

another string of defaults on loans made by FHA .. they too jumped on the

Sub Prime Leading Wagon.

 

Right or wrong .. Bush is going to be blamed for all the problems we now

face and those that have yet to come up .. so President Obama and team can

gamble and experiment with our Nation's future without fear of being called

to task. If he accidentally gets it right .. he wins .. if its wrong .. he

does not lose because it was Bush's fault.

 

I am a Conservative but I want my president to succeed. There is a

differing of opinions of how some things should be and I would be wrong to

not oppose him if I think he is stepping on it. President Obama is my

president and I want him to do well because if he fails then America fails.

*

 

*I feel comfortable due to the difference in the political systems of the

U.S.A. and Europe. Our Senators and Congress folks must stand alone for

reelection .. they can not hide behind a Political Party win as is the case

in a Parliamentary system. They can not become nameless and voiceless

entities that are members of the winning party. They are obligated to

represent their constituents or those constituents will send them packing

next election .. so .. there will be many times when they must vote against

their own party.*

 

*We have a new president .. and about this time I believe that he might be

staggering under the weight of the responsibility he inherited

yesterday. He will obviously know more today than he knew last week

because information in some of the briefings he has received would shock the

average American if they knew the facts. Because he is an African American

says much for the greatness of our country and our political system. I

will be 67 come July and in my lifetime I have seen our society go

from segregated toilets and drinking fountains to having a President Obama

sworn in as President of the United States of America. This makes me even

more proud to be an American .. but the evils of racism that we have been

able to overcome must not pop back up and stand in the way of Americans

judging our new president .. his race should never be an issue (I hope) ..

we must judge him on his politics .. and his success or failure. I

sincerely hope that we will be able to judge him on his successes. *

**

*Y'all keep smiling .. and God Bless America. :-) Butch*

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