Veterans Continue To Voice Concerns On Obama Presidency

Harlingen, Texas, November 26, 2008:  When it comes to forming beliefs among those in the veteran community it is a very hard sell.  It matters not if they are retired from a career in uniform or just served under the flag for a single tour of duty, most have a very strong “show me” mentality.

This attitude has, over the passage of time, proven to them that little to nothing can be believed if uttered by politicians, printed in the main stream press, or flashed across their television screens by the major networks.  Because of this, they have also migrated to talk radio and the Internet, feeling these are the sources where they can find answers to many of their questions.  The answers have been there, but so have misinformation, half-truths and a collection of unproven myths.  When it is pointed out that the information they collect may be wrong, their usual response is to say all the other side needs to do is provide them with proof their facts are in error.

George Jurjans is a retired Marine who shows his anger at the upcoming presidency and the remarks of more moderate military retirees saying, “…it appalls me to read these comments that echo nothing but complacency, rationalization and the immature – childish ‘wait and see, things might actually not be all that bad’ attitude.  I read no passion of commitment, no expressed concern.  I don’t know what else to say except George W. Bush spent more on veterans care and the military in general during his first term, than the previous two administrations put together.  Anyone who believes BHO will do even one tenth of that, or keep any other constructive promise he made might as well admit he also believes in the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny and that ‘check is in the mail’ statement.”

Bill Hemmingway, a veteran in North Carolina says, “I didn’t vote for Obama, but he needs to be given an opportunity to show us what he believes he can accomplish.”

Ray Madonna is a Marine veteran who would like to hear retired General Tony Zinni weigh in on the mixed feelings veterans have about the next president.  “The way I look at it”, he says, “Obama will be our Commander in Chief and he deserves a chance to do the job well.”

Dough Berry, another former Marine doesn’t even want Barack Obama to take office.  He claims Obama, “has no legitimate birth certificate and that means he is a non citizen, means he does not meet the requirements established by law, which equals no job.  His failure to present required documents means I do not have any trust or confidence.  He carries too much baggage from too many groups to be effective.”

Nihil Smith is another non-supporter.  He writes “I took an oath many years ago to Protect, Preserve and Defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, Foreign or Domestic.  I repeated that oath several times and was proud to serve my country in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service for the next 23 years.  I later took a (similar) Oath of Allegiance to the State of California.  I then pinned on a Deputy Sheriff’s badge.” With that information as a background he says, “I did not vote for Obama and I personally do not believe he has the experience required for the office of president, based upon his performance as a senator.  He failed to make any commitment on any bill except one related to live birth abortion.  His associations with Rev. Wright, who if he were a white man talking about black people the same way, would have been a card carrying member of the KKK and investigated by the government… That association is a big unanswered question.”

Mathew Ford is an infantry veteran and seems to accept the words in his Pennsylvania newspaper, The Morning Call.  He writes, “In the Morning Call, November 12, 2008 President Elect Barack Obama stated ‘As your next commander in chief I promise every single day to keep that sacred trust with all who have served.’

Not so accepting, but not totally negative is one veteran who signs off as “Gramps”.  He writes, “I pray that God provides him the wisdom to govern responsibly and that as a Christian he seeks divine guidance.  Having said that it should come as no surprise he is reaching backward to the failed Clinton administration to fill key posts – not exactly “change” as he said he would make.  Still, I hope he is able to turn around the economy, keep American safe, and bring us together as a Nation.  While I am skeptical he can do it, I will pray that he can.  Only time will tell.”

Retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant Bill Buss say of Obama, “With all the garbage circulating on the Internet about him – outright lies, deliberate misrepresentations, and things taken out of context, it is hard to know what to believe.  I do believe that he can’t possibly pull off a lot of the things attributed to him, true or not.  At least not without the full cooperation of Congress and even with his party in control that is not likely to happen.  So, any problems we are going to have will be instigated by Congress.  It is my impression Democrats spend money like there is no tomorrow and everything they touch turns to s… But, then Republicans aren’t much better.”

Rick Redmon spent a career in Special Operations.  His thoughts…”The incoming administration, given the manner in which things took place, I have to say we are indeed facing some scary times ahead. There is something seriously wrong with those who fail to see a problem with the lack of full disclosure on all aspects of Mr. Obama’s life.  There are many things that came to light that should have been seriously challenged and were not.

“Obama preached bringing about change, but didn’t say what kind of change.  His lineage is in question.  He has no legitimate experience to speak of in many areas.  To be quite brutal, he doesn’t know the Constitution as well as he professes to.  No sir, I don’t trust the guy.  Too many unanswered questions.”

Mike Bailey is a disabled Army veteran who has been fighting for needed VA benefits for many years.  He sees good possibilities in the new Obama Administration.  “President Elect Obama has an 80% positive voting average on veterans issues.  He has shown through his actions that he cares about the veterans’ medical care and compensation.  I have watched him when he was Chair of the Senate VA Committee.  Obama is on the side of the veterans.  I may be wrong but I think in President Elect Obama we may have a real Commander in Chief who will surprise the military community.”

Ron Whaley is a 100% disabled Navy retiree.  He reflects, “All I can do from here is try my best to support our new president and hope he is wise enough to NOT lean to the left as the Democrats want him to.  I will give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves otherwise.  We will see what happens in the first 100 days.  After that…all is fair in politics.”

Another Marine, John W. Collick, Jr. closes out the veteran comments with these words,
“There is nobody more furious about Obama’s election than I.  That being said, I am very concerned but am holding fire and praying he does a good job…I will never treat Obama the way the Left treated President Bush.  I will only attack on the issues when I disagree – and will explain why I disagree.  I expect Obama supporters will call us “hateful” whenever we disagree, so there must be substance to our disagreements.”

Collick ends with a thought that seems to reflect the mood of most retired military and veterans.  “I don’t believe Obama loves our nation and more or any less than I do.  I believe he wants to take us down a much different road than I want for our nation.  I think he is going to take us down the wrong road, but he will be our President and we need to show him proper respect.”

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Do Veterans Look At Obama With Great Expectations?

Harlingen, Texas, November 20, 2008:  You see it in news publications and hear it on the electronic media…”Great Expectations”.  This is the mantra heard again and again about the upcoming Obama presidency.  “A new day has dawned in America”, “Yes, we can!”

For those of you who may have forgotten your high school literature, “Great Expectations is the classic Charles Dickens novel about Pip, an orphan boy from humble beginnings, who fights his way upward into the ranks of high society.  Many are the star struck journalists who have placed this label on our President-Elect.

But, how do the veteran and retired military community view the person who will soon make his address 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.? Though veterans have served in all branches of the military and are a combination of all political parties, most are very conservative in their views.  They abhor the liberal left of politics.  They are angry and disappointed with the Republicans who let ego, elitism, power and immorality end their majority position in Congress and cause the loss of the White House.  They really hate the far left agenda.

Leo Robert is a retired Marine Sergeant Major.  Writing from his home in State College, PA he says, “You will continue to see folks crying about Obama, but until the GOP takes control and starts showing leadership, he will be the winner.  I think the GOP did this to themselves.  They just didn’t learn. Many have told me that maybe Obama will wake up America, but right now, this is what we deserve.”

Noel Pritzi works with the disabled military retiree organization.  He retired from the Army and is himself disabled.  Noel admits to voting for McCain, but says that with Democrats controlling both houses of Congress and the Oval Office we need to “…support the President and his cabinet.  After January 20, we will begin to see changes…or the same old problems.  We can see the troops will be out of Iraq in 2011, which is a good sign.  At no time should we bail out the Big Three, nor should we bail out the next problem, credit card debt.  I was raised to buy only what I needed and save the rest.”

Many veterans see the new administration chalking up failure after failure and trying to pass off everything as being caused or created by Bush and Company.

Tony Nathe is a veteran who understands what is happening in Washington…and what should be happening.  He says, “if both parties would focus on the future of our country instead of the future of their elections we would be much better off.  However, I don’t think that is going to happen.  The good side is the DNC now has total control. Veterans and we military retirees should take NO MORE EXCUSES after January 20, 2009.  They will no longer be able to blame anyone but themselves.”

Colonel George R. Givens, US Army Retired, writes from Paige, Texas.  He believes, “We should respect the man and the office he holds until he shows that he is not worthy of that respect.  Even then, we should talk about the man, not the office.  Just because he will be the President that does not mean we have to agree with every proposal he comes up with.  It is our right and duty to fight him tooth and nail if he proposes something that is not good for our country or attacks our individual rights…when he starts with his socialistic, gun-grabbing programs, as many of us suspect he will…then Katy-Bar-The-Door.  The gloves come off!!”

From Hawaii, Captain Ed McCourt, a highly decorated Marine retiree still remembers the oath we all swore to when in uniform.  “We are still Marines”, he says, “and I maintain it is our duty to support the new Commander in Chief regardless of his party affiliation.  We must come together as one United States of America and show the rest of the world that America has not deteriorated to the level of a third world rogue country separated by race, class or religion.” He continued, saying, “I sincerely believe that Americans will come together once again and show the world that we are truly the leaders they have admired for more than two centuries.”

When seeking veteran comments, I posed an observation that, “ Distrust doesn’t make wrong things out of things that have yet to be done.” Another veteran from Hawaii, Lee Webber responded to that thought saying, “I just have a hard time believing that if you pick the same folks that have done wrong in the past that they will somehow change this time around.  I have a hard time believing in someone who denies that if you hang around, support, work for, or associate with folks who don’t like our country very much nothing rubs off.  Now in my humble opinion, if you hang out in the barn long enough, you start smelling like the cows.”

Robert G. Garcia is a veteran who writes from California.  He says, “I really don’t think the new president will make that dang much difference.  He justifies that thought by saying, “That man doesn’t speak for the Latino issues or the Asian issues of this country”.  He also reflects on the new President-Elect with these words, “I wish things would change.  I wish people would conserve water and fuel.  I wish people would engineer systems in a good way.  I wish we had a smaller population and I wish people would stop littering the land…. but, it ain’t gonna happen.”

One veteran who just signs himself Gunner pointed out a laundry list of concerns he has about Barack Obama.  Most of what he said has been written about extensively in conservative media.  He closed his remarks with “Obama will get his chance, of that I am sure.  I don’t hate the man.  But, I do recognize that he is a menace to our republic and as soon as he appoints a few Supreme Court justices the left will control all three branches of government…and that my friends is inherently dangerous.”

Paul G. Levesque is a retired Marine Master Gunnery Sergeant.  “My view is that we are in for some trying times”, he says.  “I really believe that the general population who voted this man into office did it for reasons other than qualifications.  They were swayed by a biased media, unprecedented money spent on TV airtime, and a negative perception of the Republican Party because of the unpopularity of President Bush.  I don’t hate the man, but I am afraid he came up through the ranks too soon and I don’t think he is ready to take on such a challenge.  I really hope he surprises me and does great things for the country.”

There were those who held a minority view that nothing would be right in our country again because of this election.  The majority of veterans, however, seem to be of the opinion that they didn’t care for Obama or his platform but were willing to, as one man stated, “Hold my fire and see just how he handles the job.”

My friend of many years, another former combat correspondent, is Gunnery Sergeant John Boring, USMC (Ret).  From his home in Arizona John writes, “This old Marine did not vote for Obama, but when I saw how the nation had voted I set aside my dislike of the winner and resolved to support him and his administration the same as I would were I on the battlefield in Afghanistan or Iraq.  I’m old enough to realize that perhaps I put my money on a horse that was not the best one in the field; that perhaps other voters, more wise than I, saw things in Obama that I could not see because of my age and dimmed vision.  The majority has spoken – who am I to say they are wrong?  I’ll place my trust in their vision and the man they elected.  But, woe be to them if they are wrong!”

For most of those writing me from the veteran and retired military community that just about sums up their feelings about our President-Elect.

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The Mournful Wail of the Vanquished

Harlingen, Texas, November 8, 2008:  It never stops.  Talk radio, cable news, the Internet and an unending barrage of email all bemoaning the loss of the White House and majority positions in Congress.  These moans never cease.  Sadly, most Republicans and non-affiliated conservatives refuse to point their fingers at the actual cause of their political demise, which in reality; they see every morning in the bathroom mirror.

Oh, the causes for loss are many, they claim.  The media was too leftist.  It was always cheerleading for Obama.  The blogs on the Internet were lying.  The Democrat campaign tactics were unethical.  It was the 4 to 1 money advantage.  It was MoveOff.org.  It was that woman from Alaska and her missteps on television.  It was the Bush presidency.  The blame was everywhere… and none of the complaints or excuses are worth a hanging chad in a Florida election..

John McCain did not run a good campaign.  He spent all of his time looking back at what he had done in the past, and very little effort was devoted to his vision of the future.  When he did project futuristic ideas, they were tossed out inconsistently.  Each day was a different pitch and nobody really knew his primary message.

He worked the “maverick” mantra to the point where it almost became a parody of the man.  It is true that a maverick is one who refuses to accept conventional wisdom and is an independent thinker.  But, a maverick is also one who cannot be identified as belonging to any specific herd.  For John McCain, this meant that even though he claimed to be a conservative, many thought he was not of that herd and did not accept him.  McCain even authored the campaign finance reform bill that created the financial climate, which became a major factor in his defeat.

Added to the tepid acceptance of McCain by many conservatives was the disrespect our American public developed for the Republican brand.  America saw a President who lost his vision and lost his way.  They saw a Republican Party that forgot it was the official steward of smaller government and voted for some of the largest federal expansions in recent years.  The GOP also forgot it was the steward of our nation’s treasure and outspent the opposing party they had always belittled as “Big Spenders”.  Those conservative-labeled elected officials filled every bill in Congress with pork-laden expenditures, even in greater numbers than their Democrat predecessors. 

As if these were not enough failings, we can’t forget the unending chain of lapsed morality and illegal dealings that brought disgrace to prominent members of the Grand Old Party.

But, there was a very unpopular war some cry out.  The economy crashed cries others. These claims are true, but there are still those at the grass roots level who feel neither the war or economic crash would have had a serious impact on the election if Republicans had kept faith with their proclaimed principles and remembered they were champions of conservative government.

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