Letter: Obama has done an ‘amazing’ job (April 27)
For the past three months I have sat back and watched what our president has said and done since Jan. 21. This man is amazing. Not only did he inherit the worst economic crisis in our lifetimes, a trillion-dollar deficit, and had to propose a multi-trillion dollar assistance to keep the county moving forward, there were historical amounts of home foreclosures and small family business failures.
He had to ask the American people for $700 billion of taxpayer money to bail out the morons and the greedy to keep Wall Street afloat, or the entire banking system would’ve collapsed. General Motors and Chrysler needed $28 billion to keep their operations going. Then he announced a $780 billion stimulus bill to help Americans get jobs and to stimulate the economy.
Iran and North Korea decided to test Obama, and now throw in the Pirates of Gulf of Aden. I observed some of the some of the so-called tea parties. In my opinion it was nothing more than groups of people attacking President Obama’s policies.
In reality he actually lowered taxes for most of us, and you will be getting a bigger tax return this year. I challenge the tea-party participants to give their returns back, since according you, he’s raised your taxes. Any intelligent person following this understands the President has done more in three months than the previous administration did in eight years.
I would now like to leave with a scenario. I was so impressed with the way President Obama handled the pirate situation. All our intelligence agencies, the military and the state department were working as one. The president had 17 briefings on the situation and had given the military commander on scene orders to shoot to kill if Captain Phillips was in imminent danger. There was no bravado, no Rambo or bluster by the president. He was heavily criticized by the tea-party attendees for not commenting on the situation.
We now know the truth. The president was on top of it, and made a very hard decision to issue shoot-to-kill orders. Captain Phillips could have been severely injured or killed. My hat is off to the Navy Seals, job well done.
Now imagine Sept. 11, 2001. Our country had just been savagely attacked, The entire world wanted justice. Just think, if someone had waited a day or two, gathered all his intelligence agencies together with the military and the State Department. I’ve been told that our special forces knew exactly where Bin Laden was. They had him in their sites. It would’ve taken 10 to 20 shots (justice done, game over), but instead we have a war that has dragged into its 8th year, with 4,274 of our brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers killed, also 678 more murdered in Afghanistan.
So, all you right-wing gun fanatic tax protesters, you have no reason to worry. The president isn’t going enforce any new restrictions on your ability buy and own guns.
And all the rhetoric about deficit spending began with a man named George, not Barack, so it appears to me you right-wing, conservative, tea-party-attending citizens have a serious case of amnesia.
Fred Thomas,
Madera
I read a letter in The Tribune by a Fred Thomas, who was so impressed with President Obama’s handling of the pirate situation, where as he states the president’s orders were to shoot to kill if Captain Phillips was in imminent danger.
I don’t know it Mr. Thomas ever served in the U.S. military, but anyone who is held a prisoner is in constant, imminent danger of losing one’s life, more so if held by pirates, who don’t abide by the Geneva convention on the treatment of prisoners. These pirates in a heartbeat would behead, shoot or hang a prisoner.
Here are the facts, by members of the Navy Seal team who saved Captain Phillips:
Upon arrival of the destroyer USS Bainbridge, the commanding officer of the ship requested permission from the commander in chief, Obama, to move in and take out the pirates to save Captain Phillips.
He was instructed by Obama, who incidentally never served a day in the military: Adhere to the rules of engagement.
The rules of engagement pertain to a wartime procedure, not to civilian pirates. What went on for four-plus days could have been accomplished in less than an hour. Every day the commanding officer of the USS Bainbridge requested permission from Obama to go in and save Captain Phillips. Obama gave the same order from the White House: Only if he is in imminent danger.
The only reason Phillips jumped out of the pirates boat and into the sea was simply to give the Navy a clear shot at the pirates and their rubber boat. He certainly knew he could not escape by swimming to the Navy ship as he would have been shot before he got there.
Finally the commander of the USS Bainbridge took it upon himself to do what is right, save Capt. Phillips, so he reported seeing an AK47 pointed at Phillips’ back. Maybe yes, maybe no — the end result was the captain of the USS Bainbridge saved Captain Phillips within seconds.
All the liberal TV news stations, radio stations and newspapers hailed Obama as the hero.
I assure you if the commander of the USS Bainbridge would have failed he would have been court martialed and hung out on the ship’s yardarm.
Wake up, all of you people out there who think Obama is the greatest of the greatest. Can’t you see what’s happening to the United States?
Obama, in his campaign speeches before he was elected, shouted, “it is time for a change.” Yes, change, from a free America to socialist America.
Just look who he bows to, shakes hands with and rubs shoulders with — the critics of the county he took an oath to defend, the very people who hate the United States, states our worst enemies.
Something to think about. If you want to save freedom, the time is nearing for the American people to rise up and start impeachments of Obama, Pelosi, Franks and Reid as they are about to flush our free country down the toilet.
Tony Mandes,
Madera
After reading the letter submitted by Fred Thomas on April 27, I, as a founding co-member of the Madera Tea Party Team, saw the need to rebut some of his statements.
Please accept my apologies for taking so long to reply. As a “right-wing, conservative, tea-party attending citizen,” as Mr. Thomas has labeled people such as myself, I have been busy at my job this past week and couldn’t spare the time to sit down and write until today.
I will not waste my time, nor that of the readers’, by debunking Mr. Thomas’ points item by item; instead, let me offer the following. His letter correctly states that President Obama inherited an economy in dire straits, but the author of this recession was not President Bush alone, as implied by Mr. Thomas. The facts will clearly point to policies crafted and passed by Democrats and their liberal ideologies over the past few years.
An example is the idea that every American must own a home no matter what it takes to finance it or whether or not they can actually afford it. We as a country now know what havoc this unfortunate bit of socialism has wreaked on our economy. I do admit freely and openly that President Bush did endorse and sign off on various pieces of legislation such as the aforementioned, much to the chagrin of conservatives. However, President Bush does not stand alone regarding the blame in this issue.
Mr. Thomas also claims that he “observed some of the so-called tea parties.” He also stated that, “in my opinion it was nothing more than groups of people attacking President Obama’s policies.” Sir, if you attended the Madera Tea Party you would have heard the speakers at that event clearly point out that Democrats and Republicans alike who propose policies that hamper free-market capitalism, that introduce confiscatory tax schemes (i.e. – Proposition 1A), and that cannot live within a budget are to blame. We mentioned President Bush by name and how disappointed we were regarding his role in our current economic situation.
The following are what we tea party supporters do believe: it is not permissible for our government to take from those who would work and give to those who won’t; it is not permissible for our government to use our tax dollars to bail out people or companies who can’t manage their own mortgages or balance sheets; it is not fine by us when the richest farm land in America lies unplanted because government bureaucrats won’t turn on irrigation pumps due to the “plight” of a little fish; it is not okay for you to rant and rave and lecture us concerning the unfortunate deaths of our military personnel fighting a very real and easily justifiable war while over 50 million unborn children have died at the hands of abortionists since Roe v. Wade was instituted.
These are the things that boil our blood, sir. These are the things that transcend political parties, and these are just a few of the things that rallied together those who attended the many tea parties around this great nation last April 15.
In closing, when we believe, through the examination of proposed policies and rhetoric coming from Sacramento and Washington, D.C., that our liberties and those of our children will be infringed upon, it is our duty as citizens to speak up. We will not be intimidated by your talk of bashing President Obama or your flagrant dismissal of our cause as that of a collection of right-wing nuts. Instead, we will call to the carpet those who are asking for it.
John Henson,
Madera