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June 17, 2003 Lately, I've been hearing an almost constant cocophany of whining and complaining from liberals and others who hate G.W. No, I'm not talking about their desperate cries of "WHERE ARE THE WMD'S?", or even their "WE NEED A REGIME CHANGE IN AMERICA" nonsense. Those arguments, as unfair and idiotic as they are, at least have some relevence to the political climate. No, the whining I'm talking about, as you may have guessed from the title of this piece, is over G.W. having the audacity to fly out to the USS Abraham Lincoln, on it's way back from Iraq, aboard a jet rather than just using a (much safer) helicopter. Democrats in general, and liberals in particular, are so desperate for an issue with which to make Dubya look bad, that they've resorted to calling his junket to the Lincoln, meant to congratulate the troops who performed so well in Iraq, a simple publicity stunt and a photo op. Well, so what if it was a photo-op? It didn't seem to bother the sailors and flyers aboard the Lincoln one bit. Anyone who watched the event could plainly see how excited, even elated, these people were that their Commander-In-Chief came to thank them personally for their efforts. The fact that he did it on a jet and not a chopper just made it all the more memorable. The bottom line is that whatever political benefit Dubya gained from this event, it wasn't the primary reason for it. The primary reason was to show the troops that their Commander-In-Chief appreciates what they did and continue to do for their country. I know Clintonites don't understand this concept, being reflexively anti-military, but most Americans do. Keep in mind that landing a jet aboard a carrier is often called the most dangerous job in the military. Hardly an ideal way to get a "photo-op", is it? And anyway, a sitting President ALWAYS has certain advantages over his opponents. They invariably don't have the same access or press coverage that he does. I'd also like to address the liberal contention that Bush somehow "abused" the power of the Presidency in order to get this photo-op. To this argument, I have only one reply: where were the people who are making this argument when Bill Clinton was in office? Our esteemed former President regularly abused the power of the Presidency, and he did it for two things: money and sex. Remember those 'overnight stays' in the Lincoln Bedroom? Remember those "White House Coffees" for big-ticket donors? Remember that little scandal involving the Communist Chinese illegally donating money to Bill's campaign fund in exchange for letting American satellite technology get funneled to them? And how about using the power of his office to obtain sexual favors from a 21-year-old-intern? Or the many and varied other women who he slept with and then tried to keep quiet? The list goes on and on, but I trust I've made my point. I'll take President Bush and his "photo-op" over Clinton and his outright abuse of power any day of the week. ------------ Email James Imbrogno: skifreak26@hotmail.com Comment on this column in the forum. ------------ |
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