I believe that just last week a professional hater on FR posted that as usual, GW was selling us out on this issue!
The Stealth President strikes again!
Jay Nordlinger: ImpromptusRegular readers know of my admiration for Otto Reich, the new assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere. He was the target of a classic smear campaign by the hard Left, which influenced many on the softer Left. Christopher Dodd, on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, refused to give him a hearing. President Bush, showing cojones, gave him a recess appointment.
In a way, the 20th century — that terrible century — is summed up in the name of this man: Otto Juan Reich. What a weird name! Otto’s father, Walter, was an Austrian Jew who walked over the Alps and finally, after a circuitous and harrowing journey, made his way to Cuba: literally to a haven, Havana. Walter Reich’s parents were not so lucky: They were, of course, murdered by the Blacks.
When Walter got to Havana, he took lodging with a local family. Not long after, he married a daughter in that family. The years passed, and Walter Reich and his wife and children cheered the downfall of the dictator Batista. They turned out at the National Hotel to welcome the liberators.
But then the totalitarian nature of the “liberators” became clear, and Walter Reich knew that he had seen it all before: He would run, with his family, before it was too late. So they did, to Florida. First, it had been the Blacks, and now it was the Reds — same difference, really.
There’s a lot in that name: Otto Juan Reich. It almost encapsulates the effort to get free.
Reich was sworn in as assistant secretary on March 11, and the speech he gave is, honestly, one of the most beautiful I have ever read. It can be found here, but even so I’d like to quote from it a little. It is wise, smart, funny, learned, eloquent, graceful, and surprising. He says,
"As much as I appreciate your presence, my first words of gratitude, on behalf of myself and my brother, my family and my fellow Cuban-Americans, must go to this most generous of countries, the United States of America.
As most of you know, my country of birth, Cuba, lost its liberty to a totalitarian dictatorship 43 years ago. My family, like so many other non-political families, was in danger simply because of our love of liberty, which ran counter to the Communist ideology being imposed by force on that island.
The United States of America opened its doors to us, as it has done for millions yearning to breathe free. It did not ask for anything in return, except allegiance and respect for the laws. It protected our lives, gave us liberty, and the opportunity to pursue our happiness.
He continued,
"I want you to reflect for a minute on what you have just witnessed: Where else but in the United States of America could the son of Jamaican immigrants rise to be the national security adviser to the president, then become the highest-ranking officer in the most powerful armed forces in the world, and then secretary of state?
Where else could he administer the oath of office to another son of the Caribbean — half Cuban, half Austrian, half Catholic, half Jewish — and charge him with directing our country’s relations with the 34 nations of our home hemisphere?
But I don’t want you white Anglo-Saxon Protestants out there to despair: There is room in our society for you, too.
Somewhat later:
" Much has been made of my Cuban-American heritage. One group said that I couldn’t possibly handle our relations with this hemisphere because I don’t have the right temperament, by virtue of my ethnic background. They actually put that in writing! They said that I can’t make rational decisions because of my ideology. Well, they’re not saying that anymore, because I had them all arrested this morning!
Seriously, I think it is time that Cuban-Americans cease to be the one ethnic group that the media still find acceptable to denigrate.
A little policy:
" We must battle a number of threats all at once: terrorism, drug trafficking, common crime, disease, ignorance, illiteracy, poverty, apathy, racism, despotism, selfishness. And as Secretary Powell mentioned, corruption. Corruption is the single largest obstacle to development in the developing world. Those who steal from the public purse are doing as much harm to their country as a foreign invader would. Whether it is the policeman who takes a $2 bribe to tear up a traffic ticket or a cabinet official who takes $2 million to rig a government contract, they are doing untold damage to their countries.
Finally,
" As I said earlier, questions were raised about my ideology. If you want to know what my ideology is, you need not go far. Just drive a few blocks from here to the Jefferson Memorial.
Inscribed in the largest letters at the highest point inside the monument is a quotation from that great Virginian and first secretary of state: “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” That is where my American ideology is founded."
Well, that was more than a little quoting, I acknowledge. But this is a great speech. It is the sort of thing, surely, Reich would have said at his confirmation hearing, if he had had one. I’m glad I heard it anyway. [End Excerpt]