I have tried very hard not to let this blog be composed of just my religious and political views but I hope that you will forgive me if today I break that rule. It is becoming more apparent every day that our President Barack Obama has lost his way or is definitely on a path that is different than what I believe our forefathers planned for this country. The quote “Give me liberty or give me death” exemplifies what our forefathers believed but they even carried this further to include all people that seek freedom around the world.
I received an email yesterday and I couldn't agree with it more so I am going to share it with you. Yes, President Obama's memorabilia will be worth tremendous amounts of money in the future but will it be because of his greatness or his failures?
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Arrogant Americans, Mr. President?
Peter Heck - Guest Columnist - 4/14/2009 7:50:00 AM
As I was sitting in church waiting for the start of the service, my grandpa came walking towards me pointing his finger. No matter how old I get, and no matter how long he has been out of the U.S. Navy, that's still an intimidating sight.As he approached me, his voice quivered as he said....
"We saved that continent twice...how dare my president apologize for this country's arrogance." My grandpa is right. Americans need not apologize to the world for their arrogance; rather, Americans should apologize to their forefathers for the arrogance of their president.
Barack Obama's first foreign trip as President of the United States has confirmed the naiveté so many of us feared during the election cycle.
But worse than that, it has also demonstrated that our president suffers from either a complete misunderstanding of our heritage and history,
or an utter contempt for it. Neither is excusable.
Garnering cheers from the French (of all people), President Obama declared:
"In America, there is a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world.
Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown
arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."
Consider that Obama spoke these words just 500 miles from the beaches of
Normandy, where the sand is still stained with 65-year-old blood of arrogant Americans.
Indeed, columnist Mark Whittington observes, One should remind Mr. Obama and the Europeans how America has shown arrogance by saving Europe from itself innumerable times in the 20th Century.
World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the wars in the Balkans were largely resolved by American blood, treasure, and leadership. But all that appears lost on the president's seemingly insatiable quest to mend fences he imagines have been tarnished by the bullish George W. Bush.
If Obama wishes to continue trampling the presidential tradition of showing class to former office holders and publicly trash Bush for his own personal gain, so be it.
But all Americans should make clear that no man even if he is the president will tarnish the legacy of those Americans who have gone before us.
Ours is not a history of arrogance. It is a history of courage, self-sacrifice, and honor. When abusive monarchs repressed the masses, Americans resisted and overthrew them. When misguided policies led to the unjust oppression of fellow citizens, Americans rebelled and overturned them. When millions of impoverished and destitute wretches sought a new beginning, Americans threw open the door and welcomed them. When imperial dictators were on the march, Americans surrendered their lives to
stop them. When communist thugs threatened world peace, Americans bled to defeat them.
When an entire continent was overwhelmed with famine and hunger, Americans gave of themselves to sustain it. When terrorist madmen killed the innocent and subjugated millions, Americans led the fight to topple them.
This is the legacy that generations of Americans have left.
If President Obama seeks stronger relations with the world community, perhaps he
should begin by reminding them of these very truths, rather than condemning his own
countrymen on foreign shores. This obsessive need to put down his own country, has caused blogger James Lewis to call President Obama a stunningly ignorant man who has evidently never spoken to a concentration camp survivor, a Cuban refugee, a boat person from Vietnam, a Soviet dissident, or a survivor of Mao's purges.
Unfortunately, I can no longer bring myself to give Mr. Obama that benefit of the doubt.
Not after looking at the pain in my grandpa’s eyes...a man who still carries shrapnel in
his body from his service to this country. As a student and teacher of history, I recognize that America has made mistakes..plenty of them, in fact. But one of the great things about our people has been their courage and humility in admitting and correcting those mistakes.
God willing, they will prove that willingness again in four years and correct the mistake
that is the presidency of Barack Obama.
I still have hope that our President will see what a great country this is and that the people that voted for him wanted change but he may have misinterpreted what that change was to be.
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