Quick – find me another Ronald Reagan!
Ξ February 4th, 2008 | → 4 Comments | ∇ My thoughts on... |
Well, tomorrow is “Super Tuesday”, the quadrennial multi-state primary showdown that often leaves just one man (or perhaps this year, one woman) staggering down the path towards the White House after fighting tooth and nail for his/her party’s nomination for President of the United States. When the primary season first began, there were dozens of hopefuls vying for the world’s most powerful position. By tomorrow night there could well be just two.
I’m usually pretty happy with at least one of the candidates (almost always a Republican), and quite often I could “live” with two or three of them. But I must say that this year the field is a little disappointing.
It seems like everyone running on both sides this year has a history of shifting positions on key issues, leaving me to wonder if even one of them really has any core values at all. I do have to omit Barack Obama from that generalization because he alone does seem to have a solid set of core values – all of which are diametrically opposed to mine. But to his credit, at least he does seem to have some.
I’m finding it rather hard to trust the rest of them however because they appear to be saying whatever it takes to get in the good graces of the particular audience they happen to be addressing at the time (Here’s a news flash for ya Rick – they’re politicians!). Oh well…
But the thing that bothers me the most is that there is no true conservative left in race. The ones who are conservative on national security are social liberals while the ones who are social conservatives are as weak as watered-down soda pop on illegal immigration or some other important issue. There really and truly is no one candidate left in the race who can accurately be referred to as a conservative.
Like him or hate him, Ronald Reagan was the kind of man we need to lead this amazing country of ours. Was he “right” on each and every issue? Of course not. That’s way too much to ask of any human being, President or not. But he was right on the ones that really mattered, and he stood his ground when what he believed to be the best course of action for our country went against that of Congress, the pundits, and the polls.
When he needed to, Reagan convincingly took his case directly to the American people, and today the Soviet Union and the Iron curtain are no more thanks to his backbone of steel.
When George W. Bush was running for President for the first time in 2000, I thought he would be a leader in the mold of Reagan, sticking to conservative principles and doing everything within his power to make America the strongest, safest, and freest nation on the globe. For the most part he has lived up to that ideal in regards to judicial appointments and the war on terror, but his performance in the areas of illegal immigration, spending, and trade have left much to be desired.
All in all, I’ve been quite disappointed in President Bush’s performance, and I’m afraid there’s plenty more disappointment ahead regardless of who ends up in the White House among those still in the race – Republican or Democrat.
I suppose a man the caliber of President Ronald Wilson Reagan doesn’t come on the scene all that often, and we were lucky to have him when we did. But with everything that’s going on in the world today, we sure could use another one - and quick.
on February 4th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I couldn’t agree more!
on February 4th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Welcome to the real world, Rick.
on February 5th, 2008 at 5:50 am
Well, we had a good choice with Fred Thompson, but too many people were concerned with perceived “electability” and went for the flip-flopper known as Mitt Romney. Had conservatives united behind Fred, we’d have had a much brighter future.
on February 5th, 2008 at 9:19 am
I can’t disagree with you Casey. IMO Fred would have made the best President out of the entire bunch. It’s a shame his campaign never caught fire.
The irony of your statement is that it appears that John McCain is now the most likely candidate to take the nomination, not Romney.
McCain will always have my respect as a man who endured 5 years as a POW in Viet Nam and then went on to find much success in life, but as President he’ll be more akin to a Democrat than a conservative Republican, and that’s a hard pill to swallow.