WRITTEN BY A.C. SMITH

I’d prefer to get away from the usual Republican vs. Democrat argument, but I cannot avoid it with this particular issue that’s really got me thinking.  That is, what leadership suggestions have the Dems proposed since the Reagan era that ended up being successful? The following are some observations that I would like to address.

Take the 1990’s surplus, for example.  Only with a Republican controlled congress were we able to finally balance the budget. You also have welfare reform.  Although President Clinton takes credit, this was originally pushed by the Republicans.  One thing I did not like was the quick closing of military bases and the reduction of our military personnel, which began when Democrats had a legislative majority.  While this reduced costs, I believe we definitely weakened our military might and emboldened our adversaries and added more problems for us ever since.

What have the Republicans done? George W. Bush was handed a recession, for which I do not remember him spending much time blaming Clinton. He talked about how we could get out of it, made the changes, and got results. His second test with 9/11 was just as bad (I believe) as the financial crisis Obama had to deal with in January. Bush hit the ground running while Obama is feeling his way. 9/11’s hit on the financial system could have been disastrous if it wasn’t for Bush’s leadership. Did you see what happened with America when the Democrats knew it was a political nightmare if they didn’t listen to the American people (at that time)? The Dems waited for the best opportunity to tear down the president for political gains in the next election, and succeeded.

Nevertheless, Bush did set things in place to keep us safe for a long period of time, including this time now. The policy changes, attitudes, and naivety shown to other nations by Obama is now decreasing the time previously set up to keep us safe. Hopefully, we will make it through Obama’s first term without further incident.