One common and troubling form of insanity is, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,” warned Albert Einstein. When individuals make mistakes, the consequences are limited. But when nations make mistakes, the results can be catastrophic. It is disheartening to see the world’s best hope for freedom and democracy, the United States of America, repeatedly making the same mistake at crucial junctures. Once again, America is at a critical point and facing troubles in several hotspots both at home and abroad.
I believe this rather unique definition applies in many respects to the 2008 general election and has been proven once again to the American people when taken in retrospect, we seem to forget the history of electing socialist Democrats into the Oval Office after the disaster that was Jimmy Carter in the mid-70’s with all too unintended consequences and negative results and again voted for an even more radical socialist in the person of Barack Obama in November 2008.
If ever there was a lesson to be learned from any of this, and all the flurry of rhetoric, it is never to expect different results just because there is a different actor in the role. Identity politics did not work when the actor was from Plains, Georgia, and it certainly did not work with Mr. Obama, only God knows where he was born. Americans seem to forget all those embarrassing moments and commit the same mistakes. Whether insanity, ignorance or repetition, it all too often is difficult to discern the differences.
Look at what happened in Germany more than eighty years ago with identity politician Adolph Hitler and the horrific consequences. America participated in another war to end all wars and lost over a million souls. No one can afford to think, at least now when they elected a man with no identity. Obama turned America into something unrecognizable, particularly, with all the checks and balances that are incorporated into the American Constitutional system. But when we look at the damage that former President Jimmy Carter caused some forty odd years before Obama during his one and only term in office, we should wonder how we did not limit the negative results of an administration that was transforming our republic right before our very eyes into a different America.
The irony is, no one moved a finger. No one tried to stop him. Former President George W. Bush disappeared for eight years and never said a word during the Obama’s Presidency. He only became active when President Trump was elected and then he could not stop attacking him. It is hard to imagine how easy it is to manipulate people and give them socialism. The Framers never envisioned how quickly people jump to the other side, and willfully blindfolded were led to vote for hope and change as so skillfully advertised during the Obama election campaign, giving away Obama phone.
Jimmy Carter proved during his one term in office what even an Annapolis graduate with eight years in the military does not necessarily mean you know how to lead. Despite his background, he should have been able to accomplish something significant as Commander-in-Chief but proved conclusively, the exact opposite.
A former military member who served during the Carter administration, stated and saw firsthand President Carter’s mostly inept handling of foreign policy, his weakness in dealing and using the most precious gift he had in the American military and judicious use of its power. He made the entire system, from the military to his administration, look weak because of his own personal uncertainties and individual missteps during those four years in office. His domestic agenda and economic policy was a disaster in and of itself and resulted in double digit inflation, ultimate stagflation, double digit unemployment at home and a foreign policy that tied his hands from gross personal incompetence and ineptitude around the globe. Even today, his half-hearted attempts at leaving some sort of legacy to the world, he is remembered only by further defining his inadequacies as a former leader of the free world.
The foreign policy disaster that was Iran exemplified the Peter principle beyond even Carter’s wildest nightmares. During the Iranian hostage crises which lasted four hundred forty-four days, the AP newswire reported some Iranian radical university students held Americans hostage, (later proven to be the elements of Khomeinist Islamist groups). Former President Carter to this day appears to barely remember it happened while he was in command. As someone who watched all of this unfold daily and within the military intelligence community, (besides the failed rescue attempt). Americans expected the President to do something substantive during the crisis. That never happened. At least those working there who saw the daily drama and all the actors, in the final analysis were extremely embarrassed for our country, for our President and for his failure to grasp the importance of defending and protecting his own countrymen from harm’s way, not to mention the honor and integrity of the United States of America. He failed at that too.
Carter’s basic misunderstanding of human nature, particularly from the standpoint of Middle Eastern foreign policy and their customs, was noteworthy and more than frustrating to watch. Former President Carter to this day is laughed at and ridiculed for his weakness and powerlessness in action and deed. And it is sad yet again to see him try to justify and defend that position and understand that end result will again demonstrate the shallow and baseless manner in which he approached a problem that still haunts foreign policy experts within the State Department to this day.
And the equally embarrassing problem with Obama as Commander-in-Chief as well. Obama was not viewed any differently than Jimmy Carter. He was after all, the Commander-in-Chief, but as with most Democrats, especially those who reside in the Oval Office over the past sixty years, and since the end of WWII, somehow, they find themselves embarrassed by their role and their connection to the military. They also feel some unbearable discomfort with even the thought of wielding their power to conduct and lead the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen: the American military.
Carter seemed to neuter America’s military capability and he certainly did not lead while Obama, who never was in the military, did tremendous damage to our fighting forces involved in both wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and later our engagements in Syria and Libya. Obama failed again to make good his promise to do anything when a bunch of Muslim jihadists massacred our ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi. Obama’s “toothless” rhetoric was proven useless and he immediately became a laughingstock, around the world and lost every inch of his credibility.
Obama’s actions have already been shameful even at his early stages of involvement. Many people, both military and civilian were dying in the two battlefields in which we were engaged and Mr. Obama did not seem to care and would not act decisively and instead focused on unconstitutionally passing universal healthcare here at home rather than conduct a necessary war on the terror front to a successful conclusion and victory with an intractable enemy. He did not even kill one single ISIS and Obama famously referred to ISIS nine months later in January of 2014 as the “JV team.”
You would think that the new leader of the Democrat Party wanted to embarrass America and its military might and managed to intensify his efforts to lose a war, the consequences of which would be more that dire and certainly disastrous. When speaking of insanity, this must be it, because I know we saw President Carter’s history repeated by Barack Obama and all the damage that has been done and is now being undone by President Trump.
From the time, Obama took his apology world tour, bad-mouthing the United States, singing the praises of Islam and internationalism, he showed vacillation and weakness at every turn. For one, he did not even find it in himself to voice his support for the valiant Iranians against the rule of fascist mullahs in the 2009 Green Revolution.
The results: Thousands of democracy’s best children of Iran were slaughtered, maimed, or imprisoned and the Iranian mullahs are emboldened and have tripled their speed in the quest for their ultimate weapon, knowing full well that you neither can nor will do anything to stop them.
Remember the Iranian hostage crisis? The mullahs turned their noses up at Carter and dared him to do anything. They wouldn't budge. The minute it looked like Reagan, the no nonsense candidate, was going to replace the indecisive delusionary Carter, the mullahs released the Americans. Obama was weak and inexperienced. He allowed a group of Islamic Republic lobbyists in Washington to tell him what to do.
And now the same kind of people want to repeat the same mistake again and elect Joe Biden who suffers from dementia as another Obama. I wish the American people would have learned the lessons of both Jimmy Carter and Barack Hussein Obama and they would never elect a Democrat into the office again. That may be a wishful thinking, but we can only hope and cross our fingers and ask our fellow Republicans stop this calamity from happening and voting by the tens of millions to reelect President Trump. Here comes November 3rd, 2020.