Posted on 12/20/2004 2:23:27 PM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Firing Rumsfeld over this flap would only encourage the jihadis
During the presidential campaign, John Kerry vacillated between two anthems: Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender" and "I Won't Back Down," by Tom Petty.
Bush used "Still the One" until its composer, John Hall, told him to cease and desist. There is no indication the President cared. He's not a music lover. But every administration needs a theme song. Since Kerry no longer needs one, Bush should borrow one of his.
"No Surrender," despite its title, is a melancholy tale of youthful determination gone soft. Petty's hard line - You can stand me up at the gate of hell, but I won't back down - is a better fit for the President.
Of course, it is Bush's pugnacious self-confidence, even more than his Texan Christianity, that drives critics berserk. Sophisticates trained to value irony, self-doubt and skepticism (except, of course, regarding global warming), they see uncertainty as the mark of intellectual honesty. In fact, they're certain of it.
During the election campaign, Democrats begged Bush to cop to a mistake - just one teensy-weensy error. He refused, partly, I think, out of sheer sadism. A class-traitor if ever there was one, the President enjoys pushing the indignant squeal button of his fellow Ivy Leaguers.
Now Bush's critics (including some self-interested Republicans) want him to admit that the war in Iraq has gone wrong by firing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The immediate justification is equipment shortages, an issue that made headlines when a G.I. complained to Rumsfeld that he and his buddies had to rummage in scrap heaps to "up-armor" their vehicles.
The President has no reason to do this. For one thing, his policy in Iraq is not a failure. But it will be if he listens to his detractors.
The U.S. can't lose a shooting war in Iraq. Its military might is too great. But insurgencies are fueled by optimism. The hope of the jihadis and Saddamites is that they can persuade Americans that this war, like Vietnam, is unwinnable.
Bush's job is to take that hope away by making America's enemies, in Iraq and beyond, believe that the U.S. cannot and will not be stopped.
Reelection helps. Nobody in the Middle East read the results as a vindication of Republican principles on gay marriage, abortion or Social Security reform. It was seen as a mandate for war. Bush is the strong horse, and he has been given four more years to run.
The Arab world understands the determined use of force almost as much as it is mystified by irony (bitterly cynical humor is another story). Bush's victory, followed by the successful election in Afghanistan and the brutal capture of Fallujah, has had a clarifying effect.
Suddenly, the Sunnis in Iraq are talking seriously about participating in the Jan. 30 election. This is not due to a spontaneous outbreak of Jeffersonian enlightenment in Saddamland. On the contrary, it is a cool appreciation of which way the strong horse is running.
Similar appraisals are taking place around the region. Cairo wants to help the U.S. broker a Palestinian peace with Israel, and pro-American articles are breaking out in the usually poisonous Egyptian media. The Palestinian leadership has admitted that armed uprising is counterproductive and is preparing for its own free election.
It's too early to declare victory, but this is progress. Nothing would halt it faster than Rumsfeld's forced resignation. Everyone from Casablanca to the Khyber Pass would take it as declaration of defeat.
No wartime President can afford to be Hamlet, or even Bruce Springsteen. This is Tom Petty time: Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around/And I'll keep this world from draggin' me down/... I won't back down.
Bush should get the song translated into Arabic, Persian and French and have the Marine band - conducted by Donald Rumsfeld - play it at his inauguration.
Thanks.
Which is exactly why the Liberals and clueless RINOs are attacking Rumsfeld.They want us to cut bait and run.
Thanks for the ping!
LOL. Classic.
Thank you.
Armor installed within 24 hours of soldiers' complaint (97.6% Complete When Reporter "Faked" News)
Great idea. And they can make sure the Jihadi Patsies McCain, Hagel, Collins are seated as far in the back as possible....behind a post.
He's got to songs to use as a theme for tough decision making, and he can't decide which one to use! :^D
BTW, I seem to bump into you a LOT, Petronski!
This demonsrates your brilliant sense of humor.
Demonstrates it, too.
What the 'Rats and 'Rat media don't get is that the election is over - and that whatever temptation Bush might have had for unprincipled actions because of the pragmatics of re-election - it is long gone now.
Bush will rule for the esoteric good of the nation - a concept that 'Rats haven't understood for a long time, if they ever even did. Now - when they nitpick from all these trivial angles, like a 3rd world juvenile pickpocket, Bush can serenely tell them "Rumsfield is doing a great job, he has my full confidence - and you can cram it."
I suggest you actually read the transcript of the meeting that Rummy had with the troops. He didn't tell them anything except the truth. Obviously a lot of people cannot handle that! Can you?
bump! bump! bump!
100% SCUM is probably a bit too kind but I agree!
Great picture!
Big GWB and Rumsfeld ~ Bump!
Nothing like good armchair Generals to tell us how things should be done.
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