The problem with Fred Barnes’ recent suggestion that President Bush needs a third term is that those critics who have underestimated President Bush in the last three general elections have done so because they thought that they could out-slick him.
The problem with Fred Barnes’ recent suggestion that President Bush needs a third term (some shuffling of his cabinet, some distractions from the issues facing America, the resignation of Vice President Cheney and his replacement with Condi Rice) is that those critics who have underestimated President Bush in the last three general elections have done so because they thought that they could out-slick him.
He did not win with tomfoolery but with tenacity. There is not one thing with changing the manner in which our great moral message is presented. Abraham Lincoln, at Gettysburg, in a few brief words and without staying off message at all electrified the thousands gathered there and generations thereafter.
President Bush is strongest when he speaks from his heart and soul and not when he is guided by polls and pundits through the salons of Georgetown. Rather than muddle the issues with fluff and fakery, he needs to stand like Travis at the Alamo and draw a line in the sand or like Washington at Valley Forge or like Ike in the agonizing decision to risk all on June 6, 1944, with a note accepting full responsibility in his pocket should the liberation of Europe fail.
The best weapon against Sinisterists, who crave only lies and power, is the clear eye of John Wayne on horseback facing seemingly impossible odds, reins in his mouth, rifles in either hand, and charging. It has been the cowboy – John Wayne, Ronald Reagan and now George W. Bush – who has thrilled the hearts of Americans and can do so again. We cherish heroes, and heroes and not cynical calculators.
So here are my thoughts for the last half of the President’s second term (and none of this third term nonsense.) First, he must be brief and clear. Americans sense that long and complex answers to morally easy questions smell bad. Second, he must not minimize the costs. Houston’s forces did not go into battle shouting “Forget the Alamo!” or Halsey’s ships engage the Japanese Navy snarling “Forget Pearl Harbor!” We all die, but brave and noble people choose the way in which they die.
The President should sit down with Speaker Hassert and Majority Leader Frist and request that both houses of Congress vote up or down in a roll call vote crisp, clean resolutions on the vital issues before us today. The House of Representatives can do this in a day. If the Senate balks because Harry Reid is uncomfortable voting to condemn evil or the murderers of innocent babies because of their hatred of America, until all the polling data on that question as been carefully scrutinized, then President Bush should exercise his constitutional power to recall the Senate into session on about November 1, 2006 and promise to recall them as soon as they recess until they vote yes or no.
Meanwhile the Republican National Committee should hammer the theme, in every way it can, “What are Democrats afraid of?” and “If they are as afraid to vote their conscience now, how scared will Democrats be of terrorists after the election?” What resolutions should be proposed in the House of Representatives and in the Senate? Here are my suggestions:
“Resolved, evil people around the world, filled with hate, have dedicated their lives to destroying America and destroying Israel. It is the sense of the Congress of the United States that these evil people must be defeated, whatever the cost in money, time or blood.”
“Resolved, bringing liberty, safety, freedom and hope is the grand and moral strategy of America in confronting this evil, and that it is the sense of the Congress of the United States that this grand and moral strategy can and must prevail.”
“Resolved, wars are by their nature unpredictable, grim and lingering. The Congress of the United States and the people of this nation can best insure that America wins its just and moral wars by uniting while the blood of our soldiers flow joining into a single and seamless common purpose, and that using setbacks in this war for personal aggrandizement is un-American.”
Too harsh? No, if anything, too soft. Recall the Finest Hour of Britain and the speeches of Churchill during those awful days? What did he promise the British people? Quick victory? Easy times? No: he offered “blood, toil, sweat and tears.” Guess what? The British people held firm and won. Fred Barnes’ heart is in the right place, but his head is too much in Washington. Americans and honest courage mix well.
Bruce Walker has been a published author in print and in electronic media since 1990. He is a regular contributor to WebCommentary, Conservative Truth, American Daily, Enter Stage Right, Intellectual Conservative, NewsByUs and MenÕs News Daily. His first book, Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie by Outskirts Press was published in January 2006.
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