A President Who Won't Speak Up For America

This month has provided the GOP with the best material yet to make a case that they are still the ones the American people can trust to act in our nation’s best interests, provide for the common defense and safeguard our national security. Consider what we have witnessed in just three months since Obama took office.

In one of his first acts as president he announced the closing of Guantanamo Bay in one year, yet offered no plans for what to do with the detainees afterwards… many of whom as Obama himself admitted “may be very dangerous.” This should have been for the GOP a harbinger of policy differences to come.

More recently, there was Obama’s "Apologia Americana" tour of Europe. And as a telling illustration of his world view, on the heels of North Korea's test of a nuclear delivery vehicle Obama put forth what is de facto a unilateral disarmament of our own stockpiles to serve as an example. In Prague, he called for the ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, an arms control treaty with Russia (as if they are the threat and not rogue Islamofacist cells) and another treaty to end the production of weapons-grade nuclear material. He then said in a stunning bit of historical parsing, "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act." But he failed to offer at the end of this statement any context mentioning the quick end to the war in the Pacific as a result and the literally millions of American and Japanese lives saved in the process. I can understand his statements coming from, say, Hugo Chavez, but not the President of the United States. Why is no Republican willing to stand up for America’s honor and denounce such a historically incomplete statement that makes our nation look hypocritical to an already leery world?

During the Americas Summit, Mr. Obama did little to promote our national interest but rather cloaked the anti-American cabal of dictators in our hemisphere with an air of legitimacy they could have only dreamed of a year ago. And what of Raul Castro’s overture to discuss anything including human rights, which Obama called “a sign of progress?” Brother Fidel promptly ended that hope and offered that Obama “without a doubt misinterpreted Raul’s statements.” Again, here was an opportunity for a Republican leader to question forcefully what Mr. Obama accomplished for his “engagement” besides the diminishment of his own office? At least someone should ask him how sitting through a 55-minute anti-US screed by Nicaraguan strong-man Daniel Ortega improved our relations in the region one iota? So far we have heard silence from the GOP on this matter.

Now with the release of the Justice Department interrogation memos, over the objections of CIA Director Panetta (hardly a neo-con) and four previous directors of the agency, yet another differentiating issue has been laid at the GOP’s feet if they can properly articulate to the American people just how much this could damage our security apparatus going forward. The GOP leaders also need to explain clearly and forthrightly to an electorate which has largely forgotten 9/11 the wealth of intelligence gained, and subsequent future terror plots foiled, in return for these techniques having been employed on some very mean characters including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind. And then remind them that such techniques going forward -- even in severe cases of national urgency -- have been taken off the table by the administration. Otherwise the DNC and far left with the alphabet media behind them will continue to distort this issue and frame it for its political gain. The GOP must show how detrimental this would be to our nation’s security if this narrative is left unchallenged.

Now is the most propitious moment since November for the Republican Party to re-define itself as the only party of national security. If there are any true leaders left in our circles, then this is the time to step up. The Party leaders need to be vigilant and make the case again and again to the American people that Mr. Obama’s vision of a more humble, more engaged, and better liked country, though appealing to the more optimistic angels of our nature, is simply not how the real world operates. That they prefer a nation respected over a nation adored. They need to also remind the American citizenry that there are still very dangerous threats in the world. And then ask if granting the protections of the Bill of Rights to non-citizens who are avowed enemies of the United States, just that we may sleep well in our moral beds, is worth the destruction of a US city or mass murder of our people. Furthermore, they must be ready to counter the argument that this is a false choice fallacy just because the worst has not happened yet. They must this time around vigorously counter the “fear mongering” charges so effectively employed against them in the last election to diffuse the national security issue on which the Democrats have been traditionally weak. Presenting a unified front in demanding the immediate release of all the memos related to the interrogations is a step in the right direction.

And finally, the GOP must put a simple question to the American people in 2010: based upon what you have seen so far, and given what you now know about the Obama world view and our country’s diminished place in his vision, which party do you trust to protect us going forward?