Ronald Reagan

Barack Obama And Executive Orders: The Truth, Rather Than Myths!

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Conservatives and the Republican Party constantly lie about Barack Obama’s use of executive orders, stating that he has issued more than 1,000 such orders!

Obama has made it clear that he will override Congressional inaction where he can, and he is absolutely correct in such assertions, but he is far from overusing the concept of executive order.

Somehow, when a Republican President uses executive orders aggressively, that is seen as alright, and even positive!

The fact is that any President will use executive orders to promote his agenda, and he has a constitutional right to do just that, and it has been done by all Presidents!

News in the past two days that Obama will use executive orders to promote LGBT employment rights, and to declare a large area of ocean off limits to mining and fishing, therefore protecting the environment, is in support of goals that Congress has been unwilling to take action on, after five years, so Obama is asserting his Presidential authority to do what should be done!

In reality, Obama has issued approximately 180 executive orders up to this point, while George W. Bush used 291 in eight years; Bill Clinton a total of 364 in eight years; and Ronald Reagan a total of 381 in eight years. At the same time, Gerald Ford used 169 executive orders in just two years and five months in office; Jimmy Carter a total of 320 in four years; George H. W. Bush a total of 166 in four years; Richard Nixon a total of 346 in five and a half years; Lyndon B. Johnson a total of 325 in five years; John F. Kennedy a total of 214 in three years; Dwight D. Eisenhower a total of 484 in eight years; Harry Truman the very high total of 907 in almost eight years; and Franklin D. Roosevelt the overwhelming total of 3,522 in twelve years!

But even Theodore Roosevelt used a total of 1,081 in seven and a half years in office; William Howard Taft a total of 724 in four years in office; Woodrow Wilson a total of 1,803 in eight years in office; Warren G. Harding a total of 522 in two years and five months in office; Calvin Coolidge the high number of 1,203 in five and a half years in office; and Herbert Hoover the high total of 968 in four years in office.

So both conservatives and progressives, Republicans and Democrats, have used executive order in large numbers, and Barack Obama is definitely on the low side of usage after five and a half years in office!

But do conservatives and Republicans care to speak the truth? The reader knows the answer to that question!

Most Popular Presidents In Their Lifetimes Number Only Four Since 1900!

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The job of being President is a glorious one, but also one of heavy burdens and responsibilities, and being popular when President and throughout your lifetime is a rare occasion.

So when one looks at 20th and 21st Century Presidents, only a few remained widely popular, even in the midst of crisis, and also in the years after retirement.

The only Presidents to have widespread popularity while in office and in retirement are:

Theodore Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan
Bill Clinton

Interestingly, all of the above are Republicans, except for Democrat Bill Clinton, who has just been judged the most popular President in the past 25 years!

All of these Presidents above, with the possible exception of Eisenhower, possessed great charisma, and while Eisenhower was not a great public speaker, his military heroism and leadership in World War II made him much honored, loved, and respected, for the rest of his life!

Happy 90th Birthday, President George H. W. Bush!

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Today is the 90th birthday of former President George H. W. Bush, whose wife, Barbara Bush, celebrated her 89th Birthday just four days ago! Bush is the third of four recent Presidents to reach the age of 90, along with Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, and when Jimmy Carter reaches 90 on October 1, it will mean four consecutive Presidents have reached that magical age. Only John Adams and Herbert Hoover, of earlier Presidents, reached that age!

The Bushes are the longest lasting marriage of all Presidential marriages in history, and will reach 70 years early next year!

President Bush seemed close to the end just 19 months ago, at Thanksgiving 2012, but miraculously overcame the crisis, and now, despite being in a wheelchair full time, the 41st President remains active with family and intellectual matters!

Bush has now been out of office for 21 plus years, and his time in office began a quarter century ago in 1989!

Bush has become much respected and loved as the years have gone by, even though he suffered a bitter defeat to Bill Clinton in 1992, the second worst performance of an incumbent President running for reelection in American history.

The Bush Presidency continues to be an area of growing interest and debate, but Bush has become an elder statesman, much admired and appreciated.

So Happy Birthday, Mr. President!

The Persecution Of Bowe Bergdahl By The Right Wing: Poisoning America,With Purpose Of Destroying Barack Obama!

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The case of Bowe Bergdahl is shocking in the intensity of the right wing attack on this soldier, who may have gone AWOL in Afghanistan, and was held captive by the Taliban for nearly five years.

The furious reaction to his release, in exchange for five top Taliban leaders who were at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center has led to death threats against his mother and father, and the decision to cancel the welcome home party planned in his small home town in Idaho later this month.

Meanwhile, Bergdahl remains in the hospital in Germany, and faces an impossible sitation when he returns to the United States.

He will be dogged by critics, threatened with assassination, and will have the worst case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that any soldier has ever had, and it would not be surprising that he might become a statistic, one of 22 former soldiers who commit suicide every day!

If Bergdahl has committed acts that he should be held accountable for, so be it, but the right wing has built up such a furor, including Oliver North, who participated in a similar action dealing with an enemy in the Iran Contra affair under Ronald Reagan, but now is a total hypocrite, not unusual for the right wing!

Face the facts, that the real purpose of this furor is to move to impeach President Obama, and the racists and fascists are out there with their knives looking to assassinate him, figuratively, and really, literally, if they had the chance!

We live in very dangerous times, and it is scary what is going on, and being encouraged by media unwilling to stand up to the right wing, including CNN and the major networks, minus MSNBC, the only channel that has any guts at all!

The Tragedy Of Young Americans Who Join The Military Without Full Disclosure!

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The political firestorm over Bowe Bergdahl being exchanged for five Taliban leaders at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp is unrelenting, and it is far from clear what the facts are, but yet, the right wing is in full swing on the attack, as they always are when it involves anything having to do with the policies and actions of the Barack Obama Administration!

Bergdahl may have been a deserter, and may have to face action by the US Army, if that is so, but that is far from clear at this point, and despite that, any move to bring troops home who are prisoners of war should be hailed, but not of course, when Barack Obama is the President, god forbid!

Ronald Reagan dealt with terrorists and evil forces in the Iran Contra scandal, and Israel has returned a thousand prisoners to the Palestinians for just one Israeli, live or dead, on the principle that they will do everything necessary to bring back their military forces, who are imprisoned or dead.

What is obviously overlooked, however, in this whole controversy is the reality and the truth that our young men and women are being propagandized, lied to, manipulated, at a naive age, when they think of the military, any branch, as “fun”, “adventure”, “a chance to do travel”, “the only possible way to get an education”, and as a way to “grow up”, when the military is very serious business, and recruiters lie through their teeth to get vulnerable, insecure, naive, ill informed young kids to commit to something they often have no conception of the seriousness involved, often something their own parents wish they did not do, but have no control over what an 18-19 year old does.

We see how many soldiers are not only harmed physically by being in the military and in a war zone, but psychologically, as they have trouble coping with what they see, what they participate in, what they witness, which stuns their image of themselves and the world around them.

At a time when only one half of one percent of the American people have been in the military, since the draft ended in 1973, most Americans do not appreciate the sacrifices, the turmoil created, the difficult times these troops have, engaged in unending wars with no purpose, unlike the Second World War, which was something everyone could understand.

It is also ironic how many, who have never served in war, are so quick to judge and condemn those who have, with Dick Cheney, the former Vice President and a draft dodger to boot, in the lead, but with most members of Congress and their offspring not having served, but very willing to send “cannon fodder” to fight wars for the oil and weapons industries, and make obscene profits at the expense of our young men and women!

As someone who did not serve in the military, the author has full respect for the sacrifices of the military, but has never supported the lies and deceit used by recruiters to convince young people, who have no direction, to sign up for something they are not mature enough to understand the full implications of, when they sign on the dotted line!

If Once You Do Not Succeed, Try, Try Again—Republican Mantra For Presidency

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Historically, Republicans who have sought the Presidency have discovered that the first try does not work, and that the old saying–“If once you do not succeed, try, try again!”–applies.

Such is the case in the past 50 years with:

Richard Nixon, 1960 and 1968
Ronald Reagan 1968 and 1976, 1980
George H. W. Bush 1980 and 1988
Bob Dole 1980 and 1988, 1996
John McCain 2000 and 2008
Mitt Romney 2008 and 2012

So such potential candidates as Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Jon Huntsman all have history on their side, although it is unlikely to be of much help in their favor, except, possibly for Jon Huntsman, the only “mainstream” candidate of the group!

Republicans In Congress At Six Year Mark Of Presidency: Record Horrible!

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Going back to the Eisenhower years, Republicans have not done well at midterm elections at the six year mark of a Presidency!

The Republicans lost seats in 1958 under President Eisenhower, 48 seats in the House and 13 in the Senate!

The Republicans lost seats in 1974 under President Ford, shortly after Richard Nixon resigned, 49 seats in the House and 3 in the Senate!

The Republicans lost seats and control of both houses in 1986, under President Reagan, 5 seats in the House and 8 seats in the Senate!

The Republicans had no gain in seats in the Senate in 1998 under President Clinton, despite the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and the Democrats gained 5 seats in the House of Representatives.

The Republicans lost seats and control of both houses in 2006, under President George W. Bush, 31 in the House and 6 in the Senate!

So the midterm elections in the first term of a President are VERY different than in the second term of a President, as evidenced by what has just been delineated!

So it is not time to despair for the Democrats and President Obama in the 2014 midterm elections!

Age Issue Shows Itself Again With Karl Rove Statement On Hillary Clinton

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The age issue is rearing its ugly head again with Karl Rove’s comment on Hillary Clinton and her health issue in the last months of her time as Secretary of State, when she fell, hit her head, and was hospitalized for a few days, and took a month to recuperate.

One must remember that Hillary Clinton set records for travel mileage as Secretary of State, enough to cause anyone health issues temporarily, but there is no hint that she is not up to the challenge of running for President.

Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden too, are both extremely qualified for the Presidency, and Karl Rove is going in dangerous territory in using the age issue, particularly when it is clear that Ronald Reagan was never the same after his gunshot wound ten weeks into his Presidency, and seemed lacking in alertness when debating Walter Mondale in the first Presidential debate in 1984; fell asleep with the Pope, and at cabinet meetings; is rumored to have been in early stages of dementia and Alzheimers in his second term; and had trouble answering questions on a constant basis at press conferences. It was often said that Nancy Reagan was his eyes and ears in more ways than one.

Since both Hillary and Joe are, clearly, intellectually, superior to Reagan, Rove’s comment only draws more attention to the shortcomings of Reagan, but also to other recent GOP nominees Bob Dole and John McCain, both of whom were in their 70s. Or is this sexism, because Hillary is a woman?

Having said all of the above, it is still reality that a younger Republican Presidential nominee in 2016 will likely be seen as having some edge over a much older Democratic nominee, as only Reagan has had the edge as the older nominee over much younger opponents. So it brings up the question as to whether it would be better for a younger, newer generation Democratic nominee, as with JFK in 1960, Carter in 1976, Clinton in 1992, and Obama in 2008. It is well worth careful consideration!

The “Man Up!” Attack Against Barack Obama In Foreign Policy Totally Outrageous!

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The Republican Party and conservatives will stop at nothing to attack Barack Obama in every way possible, including the accusation that he is weak in foreign policy, and that he needs to “man up!”, in relation to Vladamir Putin and the Ukraine Crisis; and also the problems with the Syrian Civil War and the Iran Nuclear negotiations.

If you left it up to “neocons”, neoconservatives who took us into the wrong headed Iraq War, we would be going to war against Russia, sending ground troops in Syria, and bombing Iran! Meanwhile, most of this group have never been in the military, have never fought under war conditions, but are very willing to send young men and women into harm’s way, and have little concern about what happens to them when they come home from war, physically or psychologically harmed, and cannot gain adequate services from the Department of Veterans Affairs!

This is total insanity, that a President who took out Osama Bin Laden, and has been steadfast in his willingness to use whatever means necessary to fight terrorism and Al Qaeda, is accused of being weak, refusing to get us involved in more ground wars that cannot be won in realistic terms!

Why is it that we never heard “Man Up!” toward the following Presidents and foreign policy crises:

Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Hungarian Crisis of 1956
Lyndon B. Johnson and the Czechoslovakian Crisis of 1968
Lyndon B. Johnson and the Pueblo Crisis with North Korea in 1968
Ronald Reagan and the Withdrawal of Marines from Lebanon after the Beirut Marine Barrack Bombing in 1983
George W. Bush and the Georgian Crisis of 2008

Why is it that things are different now, when all Presidents have challenges similar to what Obama faces, but are treated with more respect and deference? I think the answer is simple, and needs not to be said, but understood to be reality!

What The Right Wing Was Wrong About In History

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The Right Wing has been proved once again to be wrong, this time on Cliven Bundy, the anarchist in Nevada who refuses to pay his taxes, disobeys the Bureau of Land Management, and says he does not recognize the authority of the federal government.

This is NOT the first time the Right Wing has been wrong!

Consider the following:

Wrong on the threat of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in the 1930s
Wrong in their opposition to Social Security in the 1930s
Wrong in their condemnation of federal spending during the New Deal
Wrong in their glorification of Chiang Kai Shek as Chinese Leader in the 1940s through 1970s
Wrong in their support of racial segregation in the era of civil rights
Wrong in their belief of the detrimental effect of the 1960s on America
Wrong in their opposition to Medicare in the 1960s
Wrong in their blaming of the Left for the loss in the Vietnam War
Wrong in their demonization of Jimmy Carter’s Presidency
Wrong in their opposition to the Panama Canal Treaty because of fear of danger to American security
Wrong in their glorification of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency
Wrong in their demonization of Bill Clinton’s Presidency
Wrong in their support of the Religious Right evangelical Christianity in American politics
Wrong in their promotion of racist politicians even in recent times
Wrong in their attack on the environmental movement and climate change
Wrong in their promotion of denial of human rights and equality to gay Americans
Wrong in their demonization of Barack Obama’s Presidency

Is this enough of a list?