Posted by
Ronald Lanham Jr. on Thursday, November 27, 2008 7:21:10 AM
Events over the last few days have shown that the worst of
the financial crisis has already occurred: fifty-two percent of Americans
elected Barack Obama president. It is a cliché that in tough economic times
people vote for Democrats, but it is what it is. The opposite cliché is that
when the issue is national security, the people usually vote for Republicans.
In this year’s election, people only saw the economic trouble and not the
threat from Islamic terrorists and rogue nations. After all, 9/11 was seven
years ago. That kind of thing can’t happen again, right? Wrong.
As I am writing this, the Indian people are picking up the
pieces from a major coordinated attack in the city of Mumbai.
There are hostages and over one hundred people are dead and hundreds are
injured. Of course, Islamic terrorists have claimed responsibility. Witnesses
claim that some of the terrorists were demanding American and British tourists.
Closer to home intelligence officials claim that they have
credible evidence that terrorists are targeting New York
City subways for Thanksgiving. The believed goal is to
close down Amtrak’s Northeast corridor. This would shut down holiday traffic,
as well as Black Friday traffic between Boston
and Washington, D.C.
As I said earlier the problem is that the Americans’ that
voted for Obama were only concerned with the economy. They apparently forgot
the harm that September 11 caused to our economy. And there are worse threats
than airplanes slamming into buildings.
Many on the Left have argued that they are just as strong
on national defense as Republicans. Yet Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairperson
of the House Financial Services Committee wants to downsize the military. In
addition, Vice President-elect Joe Biden told backers during the campaign that he
believed that there would be a major terrorist attack within six months of
Obama’s inauguration, “to test” the new president. He added that then-candidate
Obama might do some things in response to such an attack that people might not
understand. However, he pleaded with people to be patient with him. This
statement has always raised the hackles on my neck. It’s not because I feel it
confirms what Republicans said about Obama’s lack of experience. It’s because
it sounds much more Orwellian than I care for.
We are about eight weeks from the inauguration of a man
who has only three years of service on the national level. He did not sponsor
any meaningful legislation during that time and mostly voted “present” during legislation.
Somehow, he has become the “Chosen One” that will lead this country out of the
wilderness that the Left have claimed for the last eight years that we have
been wandering in. The Left claim that he has the practical understanding to
appoint experienced people that can make up for any lack of experience in any
given area. But in the end it will be Barack Obama that has to make the final
decision. If the American people have any sense whatsoever they will remember
that in 2012. Assuming that is, of course if some group hasn’t irradiated a
major city or infected large numbers of people with some horrible plague. If
this has happened then the only people that can be held ultimately responsible
for such a tragedy will be Barack Obama and the people that voted for him.