ONE YEAR GONE: Hope and Change – Miss Bush Yet?

One of the things I think most about is national security. Oh sure, my posts here at Big Hollywood are usually snarky takes on the idiocy we witness daily from clueless Hollywoodites like James Cameron, but national security issues feature prominently in many of my writings elsewhere. I also belong to a group in New York City, whose members gather monthly to hear experts speak about the various threats we face, especially from Islamic jihad.

American Nick Berg, just before his beheading by jihadists in 2004

Yes, jihad. That’s what it is. Not “the war on terror,” not an “overseas contingency operation.” Jihad. Say it. It’s not that hard. I often wonder how the experts whose lectures I hear sleep at night, knowing what they know about an ideology whose adherents want to kill us all.

And I often wonder how serious President Barack Obama is about keeping Americans safe. Considering the results of his first year in office, I’m definitely not encouraged.

We’ve just completed the year 1AB – After Bush – and are starting 2 AB in a quite more subdued manner than just a year ago. Back then, all we heard was how an historic election would bring about Hope, Change and Pink Sparkly Unicorns for all American citizens and all “undocumented citizens,” known to you and me as illegal aliens. But all that Change has changed. It seems that historic elections are less important than having competent people in charge.

Think about it:

We have a man in the Oval Office who has appointed more “czars” in one year than the Romanov dynasty produced in three centuries. These czars are not approved by the Senate, do not have to be voted in – or out – by the American people and are accountable to no one but the president. Shadow government? Only his hairdresser knows for sure.

We have a man in the Oval Office whose Secretary of Homeland Security seemed more worried about the threat of right-wing extremists than jihadists. And TSA nominee Errol Southers not only thinks that global warming should be on par with terrorism, he also thinks that the biggest threat domestically is from white supremacist groups. Not to defend any kind of supremacist, but when’s the last time you heard of a white supremacist trying to blow up an airplane or bomb an airport or shoot down his Army colleagues…?

That’s what I thought.

We have a man in the Oval Office who took three days to address the Christmas Day crotch bombing incident, yet back in July, was quick to say during a press conference that a Cambridge police officer had acted “stupidly” in the arrest of Obama pal and Harvard professor Henry Gates Jr. – even though he admitted he didn’t have all the facts (and then held the snort-worthy “beer summit” to make amends). Is it any wonder he hasn’t had a press conference since?

And, it turns out that the president received a high-level briefing just three days before said crotch bomber attack about possible holiday period terrorist attacks against the U.S. I suppose we could say, “Give the guy a break. He’s only been in office a year.” Yet GWB hadn’t been in office a year, and he was relentlessly berated for not stopping 9/11 before it happened, with critics citing the fact that he received a briefing while on vacation a month before, warning that Osama bin Laden and company were planning on hijacking a U.S. airliner. But if you count 9/11 as the starting point (and it wasn’t, really; there were numerous attacks beforehand), we’ve been under attack for over eight years. It’s not like The One had absolutely no idea that it might happen again.

Yes: Bush made mistakes aplenty during his eight years in the Oval Office. He wasn’t perfect. His desire to give illegal aliens amnesty enraged me, as did his propensity for spending way too much of our tax dollars. He also failed to name the enemy – Islamic jihadists – preferring the more benign “War on Terror.” Terror is a tactic. You can’t fight a tactic. He also deferred too much to his generals, tended to put loyalty above holding people accountable for their mistakes, and he should have canned George Tenet as CIA director right after 9/11.

But I truly believe that national security was a high priority for President Bush. President Obama? Not so much. This devoted Alinskyite is so busy with “the work of remaking America” by trying to take over one-sixth of the economy under the guise of “health care reform” and otherwise interfering in the free market, it leaves him little time to defend it from outside threats. Not to mention deferring to royalty overseas by constantly bowing and scraping, behavior more befitting a court lackey than President of the United States.

By the way, bowing to the Saudi king is perceived as weakness on the part of America. Way to go, Barry.

Back in December, a poll cited 44% of respondents saying they’d prefer to have Bush back in office. And Obama himself saw a rapid decline in popularity, falling below 50 percent back in November.

Do I miss Bush? For all of his flaws, yes. I believe he was a man who cared deeply for his nation, while his successor cares more about fundamentally changing this nation than protecting it.

People have begun to wake up to the fact that Hope and Change isn’t what it was cracked up to be. Whether they woke up soon enough remains to be seen.

[Ed. Note: This article was written prior to Errol Southers withdrawing his nomination.]