The "Conventional Wisdom" Of Presidential Prospects VS. Foreign Foes by Doug Wrenn

The "Conventional Wisdom" Of Presidential Prospects VS. Foreign Foes: Are Senators Too Sedate? Can Governors Really Govern?

By Doug Wrenn

January 08, 2007

(Note to self: Some day, make a point of attending the "convention" which generates "conventional wisdom"!)

"Conventional wisdom," for whatever that's worth, dictates that senators make lousy presidents. They tend to be compromisers, and not executive leaders. Yet in the current presidential race, ironic distinctions are being made in this time of war as to who supposedly has the ability and experience to deal with are foreign adversaries and allies (like the senators) and who (like the governors) lacks such distinction. So, what's the answer? Be patient, my friends. Meanwhile, journey with me for a while into the microcosm of history of senators and governors who became presidents just during my lifetime.

President Kennedy- (Former Senator) No points for the Bay of Pigs fiasco, but made Krushchev blink during the Cuban missile crisis, although Krushchev made Kennedy "talk Turkey" (Large case "T."). OK, so, blink and counter blink. Later, Kennedy's advisors would become Johnson's soldiers in the debacle called Viet Nam. One must ponder if Kennedy was to be succeeded by a Texan other than Johnson named Ron Paul, what our intervention policy might have been. Coulda, shoulda, woulda…

President Johnson- As author Robert Caro aptly dubbed him, "Master of the Senate," and as the Peter Principle defined him, he should have stayed there. Johnson's sheer ineptitude abroad was only rivaled by his Big Brother, Nanny-state liberalism at home. Then wisest thing he ever did was read the tea leaves (and the polls) and blow out of town and head back to Texas, dumping the entire mess Kennedy started and he increased into Nixon's lap, and why not? According to Nixon, everybody already hated him anyway!

President Nixon- Former Senator and one time friend of Kennedy, until he learned his lesson the hard way, and then delved into the paranoia that everybody hated him! Peace with honor also meant a hasty retreat, and countless dead Vietnamese people left behind to show for it. But that's OK. He opened the door to China, and in has since come a multi- hundred-billion dollar trade deficit, hostilities over Taiwan, tainted toys, unfair trade practices, one shot down satellite, a rapidly increased and hostile Chinese military, funded by the US, etc. Oh, I'm sorry. Did I forget to say "Thank you"? "Detente" and "triangulation" have only turned into a big dent and our national strangulation, as the Chi-coms are now doing to us what we did to the Russians in the Cold War. If I didn't know any better, I would swear that Watergate was to Nixon what a cyanide tablet is to a captured spy.

President Carter- (Former Governor). Many trace the roots of our current woes with Iran to Carter, for his refusing protective custody of the exiled Shah, and the subsequent radicalization of Iran. Carter was stymied by the Iranian hostage crisis, which only ended when another former Governor named Ronald Reagan took the helm. During the energy crisis, Carter's ineptitude in dealing with OPEC was given testimony by long gas lines, and rationing on odd and even numbered days during an era dubbed "malaise."

President Reagan- (Former Governor) Made a mistake by having our troops in Lebanon, but realized his mistake and reversed, but sadly after the bombing of a Marine barracks. Retaliated against Libya for hostile action by bombing Col. Gaddafi's compound, (as well as several other sites) killing his daughter. This occurred while several of our so-called "allies" ran for the tall grass and denied us from flying over their airspace. Gadaffi later voluntarily gave up his nukes when a later Governor named "Dubya" flexed his muscles and showed some shock and awe in the Middle East. While the Berlin Wall fell on President George H.W. Bush's watch, the gradual crumbling was attributed to Reagan, by militarily competing with the Russians to the point that they could no longer financially match us. Reagan also told off Gorbachev and walked out of talks in Iceland when it was suggested that he sacrifice our "Star Wars" missile defense systems. While many of the Reagan's foes of the left considered him a 'cowboy," (a term that would ride again!), few doubted that there from this author of the phrase, "Peace through strength, " was clearly "a new marshal in town"! He also rejected the "LOST," or "Law Of The Seas Treaty," which would have given away our sovereignty rights on our shores, a matter apparently far less significant to the current Oval Office occupant. Regan did blow it, however, with allowing passage of amnesty immigration that has since been relatively unenforced and the precursor of our current and now exacerbated border and immigration woes. On foreign policy, some consider Reagan an ogre for Iran-Contra, while others recall his courage and daring by dispatching marines to the island of Grenada to rescue kidnapped American citizens. Roll the dice and call your number!

President Clinton- (Former Governor) Scored points for bring peace to the beleaguered northern Emerald Isle (Northern Ireland), while his attempts at bringing peace to the turbulent Middle East seemed as fleeting and abysmal as anyone else who has tried. Clinton's signing of the NAFTA and GATT trade treaties have paved the way for the coming North American Union that some of us are fighting, and others are denying, while the rest of the country sleeps and obsesses, like overgrown children, over mindless college and professional sports. Like Nixon, Clinton made in-roads with China, but for campaign cash, and not for trade. In the process, the Chi-coms got to not only infiltrate our electoral process, but conduct espionage and gain a 25 year jump on their nuclear weapons technology, courtesy of Clinton's treason, while the rest of our clueless country was distracted by him playing slap and tickle with the White House buxom bimbo du' jour. Rest assured, if the impeachment hearings were televised on ESPN instead of CSPAN, Clinton would be now serving an extended term in a different federal facility, not in Washington, D.C., but in Leavenworth, Kansas, and without some of you sports sycophants ever even having to separate your posteriors from the couch, the remote from your left hand, or your beer from your right hand. OK, it's a commercial now….you can close your mouth and blink.

President Bush- (Former Governor) Like LBJ, tried to micro-manage the war, to our national detriment, until he finally listened more to his generals and less to his political plumbs and agreed to what is becoming a successful, albeit far too late in coming military surge. Bush was blamed for weapons of mass destruction never found in Iraq while Clinton allowed UN inspections to stop, giving (theoretically) Iraq plenty of time to unload the WMD's into Syria. Many of Bush's foes, including Mr. And Mrs. Clinton, as well as several Democrat members of Congress, and several of our allies also believed, either rightly or wrongly, that the WMD's existed, and existing UN sanctions from the Persian Gulf War, since repeatedly violated by Saddam Hussein, gave Bush the authority to re-invade, but to placate his naysayers, he nevertheless sought and procured redundant and unnecessary resolutions from both the UN (despite later obstruction from some of our so-called allies once again, this time because they were involved in the oil for food scandal) and Congress to re-invade. He has shown inexperience and timidity however, in dealing with Russia and China. He mistakenly blushed over his first meting with Putin, calling him a friend, and saying he could see his soul through his (stone cold killer and former KGB agent) eyes (Gag!). With China, he has repeatedly backed down over the April, 2001 EP3 plane downing incident, unfair trade practices and our endangered ally, Taiwan. His interventionist and domineering bumbling in the Middle East conflict gave Hamas new Palestinian parliamentary majority power, and on several occasions, he has impeded and restrained Israel from militarily defending herself from Hezbolah and the PLO. His incessant stalling of true immigration reform and border security has quite obviously been running interference for his vision of the North American Union, which he agreed to with Canada and Mexico in 2005. That agreement is slated to create super, transcontinental highways, (via huge swaths of eminent domain) replace the dollar with the "Amero," enter us into defense treaties with Canada and Mexico, usurp our courts, liberties and Constitution, erase our borders, set up more foreign facilities on US soil, fund for more infrastructure in those countries (as ours continues to deteriorate), etc… He has also requested Congress to "fast-track" several unfair international trade treaties with other nations who prosper on our dime, while usurping the constitutional congressional process. Only eight months into his term, however, this untested former governor (from a state with a "weak Governor" form of government) gelled our country together on one of our very darkest days, September 11, 2001. On July 4th, a couple years ago, the US was treated to a rocket display instead of fireworks. Bush & Company responded by telling North Korean dictator, Kim Jong Il that they are going to count to 3, and then 5…and then 10. I think it finally ended when they finally told him to wait until his father gets home, which likely will never happen. (Does anyone have a shovel?) At various periods of time, this President has acted like a coward, a naïve schoolchild, a clueless dolt, a treasonous spy, a gutsy and daring patriotic hero, and yes, even "a cowboy." One has to wonder what "accomplished" means when he tell us, "Mission accomplished," but I have a disturbing inkling that it kind of means something like what "is" means to Bill Clinton. Bush has held the line with Cuba, and in a brilliant and awe-inspiring strategy of cunning and statesmanship, traded some of our nuclear technology with India for mangoes. Hey, laugh if you will, but all they got was a bunch of silly nuke stuff. We got mangoes! Oh yeah, and that whole NAU thing? Don't worry…it doesn't even exist! (Don't you dare believe it, not even for a minute!)

Now let us fast forward to the remaining candidates who are or were senators and governors in the present presidential race:

Senator Clinton- Claims she has international experience from previously holding the designation of the unconstitutional and unelected title of "First Lady," yet she mysteriously refuses to release any documents during her stint of allegedly saving the world while straightening out doilies and placemats before state dinners. On the issues of the Iraq War and licenses for illegal immigrants, she has flip-flopped so often that she actually makes Mitt Romney look downright concrete on abortion and gay marriage. She boasts of strong, independent feminism, yet when the questioning got tough during a recent debate, she blamed moderator Tim Russert for basically picking on her, as she became suddenly as demure as she was in a previous Senate debate when her opponent, Rick Lazio, stepped off his podium and invaded her personal space. This is the same woman who once ridiculed stay-at-home Moms for "baking cookies," yet she supposedly has the chutzpah to stand up to fanatical tyrants like Ahmadinejad? Yeah, right! "I am woman….hear me whimper and blame men!"

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