Posted on 07/08/2009 7:31:08 AM PDT by DFG
When McNamara -- the "Whiz Kid" from Ford -- was first named defense secretary, in December 1960, Time magazine gushed that he "reads widely and well (current choices: The Phenomenon of Man, W.W. Rostow's The Stages of Growth). . . . His mind, says a friend who has seen him in Ann Arbor discussions, 'is a beautiful instrument, free from leanings and adhesions, calm and analytical.'" Nearly 50 years later, the Associated Press would lead its obituary by describing McNamara as "the cerebral secretary of defense." In between, David Halberstam -- who was for the Vietnam War before he was against it, but that's another story -- wrote that McNamara "symbolized the idea that [the Kennedy administration] could manage and control events, in an intelligent, rational way. Taking on a guerrilla war was like buying a sick foreign company; you brought your systems to it."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I got this in an e-mail:
A reminder of how quickly things are moving in our country. A few items are overstated and are not literally true verbatim; but the sense of each item is either 100% accurate or very nearly so.
Observations on the President’s Early Days
1. Offended the Queen of England (The President’s gift to the world’s oldest reigning monarch? An iPod).
2. Bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia .
3. Praised the Marxist Daniel Ortega.
4. Kissed Hugo Chavez on the cheek.
5. Endorsed the Socialist Evo Morales of Bolivia .
6. Announced we would meet with Iranians with no pre-conditions.
7. Gave away billions to AIG also without pre-conditions.
8. Expanded the bailouts.
9. Insulted everyone who has ever loved a Special Olympian.
10. Doubled our national debt.
(10.a. Actually, tripled our national debt.)
11. Announced a termination of the space defense system the day after the North Koreans launched an ICBM.
12. Despite the urgings of his own CIA director and the prior four CIA directors, released information on intelligence gathering.
13. Accepted without public comment the fact that five of his cabinet members cheated on their taxes and two others withdrew after they couldn’t take the heat.
14. Appointed a Homeland Security Chief who quickly identified as “dangers to the nation”, groups including veterans of the military, and opponents to abortion on demand, and who ordered that the word “terrorism” no longer be used but instead referred to such acts as “man-made disasters”.
15. Circled the globe so he could openly apologize for America ‘s greatness.
16. Told the Mexican President that the violence in their country was because of us.
17. Politicized the census by moving it into the White House from its Department of Commerce origins.
18. Appointed as Attorney General the man who orchestrated the forced removal and expulsion from America to Cuba of a nine-year old whose mother died trying to bring him a life of freedom in the United States.
19. Saluted as heroes three Navy SEALS who took down three terrorists who threatened one American life and the next day announced members of the Bush administration will likely stand trial for “torturing” a terrorist who had played a part in killing 3000 Americans by pouring water up his nose.
20. Air Force One over New York City .
21. Sent his National Defense Advisor to Europe to assure Europe that the US will no longer treat Israel in a special manner and they might be on their own with the Muslims.
22. Began the process of nationalizing the auto Industry and the insurance industry. Fired the CEO of what once was the world’s largest company (GM).
23. Nationalized the mortgage business.
24. Announced that for all intents and purposes the Health Insurance Industry will be nationalized.
25. Fired an Inspector General without notice because the IG had challenged (federally-funded) expenditures made by a former NBA player, now mayor of Sacramento, through a charity the player operated. The IG was fired summarily despite the fact that Senator Obama had co-sponsored a bill requiring 30 days notice for such terminations together with a full explanation to Congress (which had not been made.)
26. Threw out 210 years of law and precedent by placing unsecured union claims ahead of those of secured creditors in bankruptcy court.
27. Contrary to campaign promises, President Obama urged the largest tax increase in American history by advocating Cap-and-Trade carbon emissions laws. This tax will hit lower-income people hardest, as it will amount to a tax passed on by corporations to consumers on every carbon energy sources, diesel, fuel oil, coal, natural gas, aviation fuel—in short, everything used to provide energy to our nation and its economy today. But using nuclear energy is out of the question.
28. Changed the overnight classification of demand deposits using daily transfers to different money vehicles so as to disguise the enormous and rapid increase in the U.S. money supply—it has doubled in 90 days. The sham transactions result in an “apparent” reduction of actual M1 by 70%.
29. Gave his first press interview as America’s 44th president to a foreign news organization—Al Jazeera.
1360 more days to go...
How many American boys died trying to clean their M-16s that the “whiz kids” rushed into the field for JFK/LBJ’s war? The guns were not even close to being ready and were not made for a humid, damp and dirty jungle war.
They went cheap, skipping the chrome bbl.
The guns were fine.
McNamare switched the stick powder (IMR, IIRC) to ball powder, which was in huge surplus. The ball powder left significant residue that gummed up the works.
30. Honduras....................
One of the first things I look for when buying second or third tier AR uppers and barrels.
I shouldn’t, really mustn’t do it, but ... just can’t help myself. The man is such a goose I started howling with laughter about half way through your list.
I know I should be crying, but this guy couldn’t get a job chasing roadrunners for Warner Brothers.
Every day, another cliff to run off!
God help me, but I miss the Gipper.
because MacNamara wanted his charts and strike numbers to reflect dozens of sorties when only one or two were necessary to take out a target. He would send in four planes with one bomb each rather than one plane with the four bombs it could carry. He was just another Democrat who didn't care about anything but himself. Whiz Kid...Baaaah!
I miss the Gipper...
THE entire US misses the Gipper - and I wish he would come back or someone exactly like him to bring back the US I knew...the 80’s were great and Reagan made it so!
McNamara has been busy trying to rewrite history for the past 15 or so years. What he failed to comprehend was there were many who had a very clear picture of who he was and what he did. LBJ dumped him to the world bank where he figured he could do the least damage.
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