norman
07-20-2008, 03:51 AM
Senator Barack Obama is not the second coming of President John F. Kennedy.
When have the Democrats not been weak on security? Before President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Democrats were strong on security (e.g., Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy). President Kennedy eloquently informed:
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." -- Inaugural Address (1961) (http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html)
President Reagan, who began as a FDR Raw Dealer, led the defection of Democrats, under the mantle of "Peace Through Strength," (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganatimeforchoosing.htm) beginning in 1964 and culminating in 1980. I would expect no less from America's greatest generation. President Reagan did not reject President Kennedy's fundamental premise. He refined and qualified it as follows:
"You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery [Patrick Henry]. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin -- just in the face of this enemy?... Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it's a simple answer after all.
You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." There is a point beyond which they must not advance. This is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength." Winston Churchill said that "the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits--not animals." And he said, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty." (id.)
I humbly petition the Senator from Illinois to learn from the greatest American generation that lesson. All the other issues of this campaign are academic unless Americans realize we are in a war that must be won (id.). The Senator from Arizona clearly understands what is at risk.
When have the Democrats not been weak on security? Before President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Democrats were strong on security (e.g., Presidents Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy). President Kennedy eloquently informed:
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." -- Inaugural Address (1961) (http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres56.html)
President Reagan, who began as a FDR Raw Dealer, led the defection of Democrats, under the mantle of "Peace Through Strength," (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganatimeforchoosing.htm) beginning in 1964 and culminating in 1980. I would expect no less from America's greatest generation. President Reagan did not reject President Kennedy's fundamental premise. He refined and qualified it as follows:
"You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery [Patrick Henry]. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin -- just in the face of this enemy?... Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it's a simple answer after all.
You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." There is a point beyond which they must not advance. This is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength." Winston Churchill said that "the destiny of man is not measured by material computation. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits--not animals." And he said, "There is something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty." (id.)
I humbly petition the Senator from Illinois to learn from the greatest American generation that lesson. All the other issues of this campaign are academic unless Americans realize we are in a war that must be won (id.). The Senator from Arizona clearly understands what is at risk.