George Bush now, John McCain in a year

Worldview Item of the Day for 29 January 2008

Uncle Jimbo over at Black Five points out that President Bush came to the hallowed halls of Congress to deliver one line, which he did fearlessly and in great defiance (see the Crittenden piece) of what pundits and politicians think a president in his last term should do.

I agree both with the selection of the line and on how that line reflects why I voted for George W Bush twice for president. That agreement and reflection also remind me why I will vote for John McCain to replace Bush when he leaves office in a little less than a year.

We find ourselves as a nation in the formative days of a long war against fundamentalist Islam and the extremism that it breeds. These are the days that will determine how this war will go, how long it will last, and ultimately whether we can prevail. These are the days that we need a leader with the foresight, insight, and character to lead a nation at war.

In short, we need a leader who believes in the importance of George Bush’s words and who is determined to see them sustained and repeated in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia. There is no other candidate who believes in those words and is more determined to see them through than John McCain.

As Americans, we have the luxury to worry about the economy and to want a better way to provide for our healthcare. Those are uniquely American concerns that were paid for through strength and security bought with the blood of Americans from Bunker Hill to Baqouba. We elect presidents not to provide us social welfare or a good economy, but because we know somebody has to make the hard decisions about how to keep us strong and free, and we would rather it not be us.

So, we can elect a socially aware president, thereby introducing the government more fully into our personal lives, or we can elect a president who will keep our nation strong and free so that we can figure those things out for ourselves.

Without hesitation, I vote for John McCain.

-=DLH=-