WILL OBAMA BECOME JIMMY CARTER?

Last week Jimmy Carter took time off from his ongoing campaign to redeem his failed presidency to scold Americans for being racist in their opposition to President Obama’s struggling health care reform efforts. Like just about everything else Carter has said or done in the last 40 years, he’s dead wrong on that one too. But his re-emergence, however brief, got me seeing some unnerving parallels between the worst president of the 20th century and our current president, the man so many people hope will be one of the great ones.
Jimmy Carter has made a career of denigrating and apologizing for the American way of life. In his world there is no bright line separating right from wrong or friend from foe. Whether it’s sitting down with North Korean despots or selling out our Israeli allies in the Middle East, Carter’s always been in the blame America first game. That’s his call and thankfully the American people had the good sense to send him packing in 1980 ushering in the Age of Reagan. His opinion counts for very little these days and no amount of photo-ops with Habitat for Humanity is going to change the fact he was a disaster as President.
What does concern me are the early indications that President Obama is going down that same apologist path. It began shortly after the inauguration when Obama went on what many saw as a world apology tour. American resolve and national security initiatives were interpreted as colonialist oppression. By about April, I was pretty sure I was hearing the faintest hint of a French accent in our new President.
On the domestic front, Obama is listing left as he attempts to spend and legislate the country out of economic trouble. He sees no problem having the government own or control the means of production, making private citizens defacto government employees. If the federal government owns the banks, auto companies and other key industries, how does that make us much different from Cuba? I wonder if Fidel and his brother Raoul have thought about a “cash for clunkers” program, given Cuba hasn’t produced a new car since Castro socialist regime took over. Maybe Obama could sell them some GM cars with Jimmy Carter as the TV pitchman.
But let’s get back to national security and the Obama administrations new pantywaist policy decisions. Let’s start with Attorney General Eric Holder and his insane decision to investigate and potentially prosecute CIA intelligence officers for possible harsh treatment of terrorist detainees. Let’s even concede some of these interrogations went a little old school on us and involved knocking some of these guys around. Given we know these interrogations saved countless lives here and abroad, we should be handing out medals not subpoenas. The effect this will have on the military and intelligence community will be catastrophic and long-lasting.
Carter had a similar attitude toward the military. He actually discouraged military brass at the Pentagon from wearing their uniforms as a way of downplaying American power to visitors. When Reagan was made aware of this on his first visit to the Pentagon as president, he immediately ordered all personnel into full uniform and legend has it grown men cried that day in the halls.
Now comes yet another indication that Obama feels we haven’t sent enough conciliatory signals to the people who hate us and our way of life. Remember Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber. He’s the reprobate who tried to blow up a Miami-bound American Airlines flight on Dec. 22, 2001. Merry Christmas! Fortunately Reid was thwarted by crew and passengers as he attempted to light a fuse connected to powerful explosives in his shoe. After six years of harsh isolation, the Obama Justice Department has ordered the British-born terrorist be allowed to associate and pray with fellow jailed Muslims. One of the flight attendants, Hermis Moutardier, who helped subdue Reid said simply “What’s wrong with our system?”
What’s wrong, indeed? Our government has the right and the obligation to keep us safe from enemies foreign and domestic. We shouldn’t be in the business of appeasing our enemies by prosecuting the CIA or having Richard Reid high-stepping it around the prison yard with his al-Qaeda home boys. Obama seems to be following the Jimmy Carter business model and if he is, he could be a one term wonder too.

Teddy, Rose Kennedy and the Pope

TEDDY, ROSE AND THE POPE

For those of you still mad at me for chastising Ted Kennedy’s deathbed request that the law be changed to allow the Massachusetts Governor to name his successor, understand I stand by my opinion but regret the timing. Ted Kennedy’s death did have me reminiscing about the number of times I spent with him. Everyone I suppose has a favorite Teddy story because he was a larger than life person and he was who he was. Here’s my favorite.
I had been invited by a family member to Hyannis for the Memorial Day weekend in the late 1980’s. I stayed at “the big house” as the home of Joseph and Rose Kennedy has always been known. The house and the adjacent Robert Kennedy house were full of Kennedy’s and houseguests. I remember sailing over to Martha’s Vineyard with Teddy and a gaggle of Kennedy siblings and cousins. After some shopping and lunch, everyone was driven to the airport and we took a private plane back to the Cape, leaving the sailboat there. Only a Kennedy can leave a spectacular sailboat like you and I would a car at a shopping mall.
Everyone then returned to the house and cocktails. At some point we all headed into the dining room for lobsters with all the fixings. As we began the meal, we heard the clank of the elevator which was located at the far end of the sun room adjacent to the dining room. The elevator had been installed years earlier after Joseph Kennedy suffered a debilitating stroke. While Teddy was living in the house, his mother was living there as well although in a much diminished physical state. She had suffered numerous strokes and lived upstairs with round the clock nursing.
Suddenly there she was, the iconic Rose Kennedy, resplendent in a beautiful dress and grand hat, being wheeled into the dining room. I remember everyone there pounding the dining room table chanting “Grandma, Grandma.” At that point in her life it was difficult to know how aware she was of her surroundings so the table pounding and chanting was intended to rouse her.
Teddy immediately asked the nurse to wheel his mother next to him at the head of the table. I recall him saying “Mother, I knew you’d be down if you thought we were having a party.” There was no response but Teddy kept on talking and began telling his mother about his recent visit to the Vatican. Kennedy had just returned from a conference in Europe and a Papal audience.
“Do you know what the first thing the Pope asked me, Mother? He asked me how is Rose Kennedy?” At that point Mrs. Kennedy appeared to focus and stiffened in her wheelchair. We were all just watching and listening. Teddy then went on to ask his mother, “Do you know what his holiness gave your son Teddy?” (It was obvious Teddy wasn’t sure his mother knew which son she was talking to.) Again, she seemed to brighten at the mention of the Pope.
“Mother, the Pope gave your son Teddy Papal absolution.” At that point Mrs. Kennedy opened her eyes wide and said in that famous voice “Well Teddy, I certainly hope you got it in writing.” There was about a three second delay as everyone processed the fact she spoke and what she said before everyone laughed and cheered and started pounding the table again. No one was laughing harder than Teddy but in a few seconds I saw him begin to tear up and he asked everyone to leave the dining room as he wanted to be alone with his mother. We all left the room; Teddy closed the door to the dining room and sat there for at least an hour with his mother. You could hear him sobbing at times from the other room. He adored his mother and was so moved she was tuned in if only for a few moments. It was a moment I’ll never forget. Hopefully that Papal absolution has reunited him with his beloved mother.