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What A Newt Gingrich Presidency Would Bring: A Wish For The “Good Old Days”

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With Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, suddenly rising to first place in the polls, he has become the new “Flavor of the Month” in the Republican Presidential race.

The question is will Newt Gingrich be able to sustain his first place position, overcome the odds, and become the 45th President of the United States, and what kind of President would he make?

What are his positives?

1. He is very intelligent, very articulate, speaks with assertiveness and a certain level of charisma surrounds him.
2. He has great debating ability, and would never be boring in a presidential race against a primary opponent or the President.
3. He would be more exciting to follow as a candidate for the White House than Mitt Romney, his likely major opponent for the nomination.

What are his negatives?

1. He is highly undisciplined and comes across as an egotistical, self promoter who loves the sound of his own voice.
2. He has a history of being a “flame thrower”, with reckless accusations, and utilizing character assassination and innuendo and distortions against his opponents.
3. He is seen as highly unethical in his dealings, as a “typical” politician of the worst kind, and of course, has the worst “family values” of any of the GOP candidates, all the others being only married once, not three times as he is.

If Gingrich were to end up as the Republican Presidential nominee against Barack Obama, it would cause the following scenario:

1. It would bring about a series of grand debates on the level of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, a discussion of grand ideas and concepts, fascinating to watch.
2. It would lead to the nastiest campaign in American history, as far as advertising and false accusations by both sides, since Gingrich has no limits to what he would claim about Obama, so the President would have to return the favor, with plenty of ammunition available against Gingrich.
3. It would lead to a great divide that already exists among the American people becoming wider, not more narrow, a regrettable situation.

What if Gingrich won, although it seems unlikely that would occur?

1. It would lead to an ideas oriented Presidency with a very strong, assertive executive branch, no lessening of the power of the office, and in fact, much more power would be likely.
2. It would cause a further splintering of the American political system, as Gingrich would not work to unite, and the political rhetoric would be at an all time high on both sides of the political divide.
3. It would lead to more high level corruption and scandals than at any time since the Presidency of Richard Nixon, and even, depending on the circumstances, a move to impeach President Gingrich if the Democrats controlled the Congress.
4. It would lead to likely warfare with Iran, Pakistan, North Korea and Venezuela, and growing tension between our nation and China and Russia, as Gingrich has no sense of tact in diplomacy, and would stir up tensions and confrontations, as he would cause animosities and fear that would be likely to lead to a much more dangerous world.
5. The economy would not improve, and the likelihood of abuse of civil liberties in the name of security would be likely, as Gingrich would advocate action against what he would call ‘radical, leftist elements”.

If the above is not convincing enough to make people realize the dangers of a Gingrich nomination and election to the Presidency, then we may look back on the present difficulties in five years, and wish for the “good old days”!

American Foreign Policy Challenge: The Top Ten Nations

Ronald Leave a comment

We live in an uncertain and dangerous world, two decades after the end of the Cold War, and the downfall of the Soviet Union.

Not only is there the threat of international terrorism, whether state sponsored, or outside the state system, but the challenges that various nations present to us are also imposing.

By areas of the world, without ranking, these would be considered the top ten nations that present a challenge to us for the long term.

Europe
The Russian Federation, with its authoritarian leader, Vladamir Putin.

Middle East

Egypt, with its revolution faltering, and the largest nation in population in the Arab world.
Iran, with its sponsorship of international terrorism in the Palestinian territories, and its development of nuclear power.
Israel, with its problems dealing with the Palestinians and terrorism, and alarmed by Iranian influence growing in the Middle East.

Asia

China, with its growing impact on the world economy, and one out of every four people in the world within its borders.
North Korea, with its maniacal leader Kim Jong Il, and his move to develop nuclear weapons that endanger the security of South Korea and Japan.
Pakistan, with its radical Islamic groups, and a deteriorating relationship with the United States, and dangerous because of its possession of nuclear weapons.
India, with the second largest population in the world, and concerned about the threat of its nuclear rival, Pakistan.

Latin America

Mexico, with its growing drug gangs, presenting an imminent threat to the United States border states, and its government unable to cope with promoting law and order within its national boundaries.
Venezuela, with its maniacal leader, Hugo Chavez, and his anti American foreign policy, and friendship with Fidel Castro

In these difficult times, we need a person who understands the world, and again, ONLY Jon Huntsman can truly challenge President Barack Obama and his strong diplomacy under the leadership and advice of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton!

Barack Obama: The Foreign Policy Success, Greatest Since World War II!

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When one thinks about Presidents and foreign policy, we tend to have the image that Republicans, particularly Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush, are the great success stories, and to look down on Democrats as better in domestic policy than foreign policy, where they are perceived as weak!

In 2008, Hillary Clinton had commercials that made one wonder if Barack Obama was prepared to make tough decisions at 3 AM, in the area of foreign policy, where he was seen as a novice.

Well, here we are nearly three years into Barack Obama’s term, and what has happened?

1. Obama has had Hillary Clinton as his Secretary of State, arguably one of the very best in American history!

2. Barack Obama has had great success in improving the image of America worldwide through his cooperation with NATO, the United Nations, and the Arab League, a development no one would ever have believed when he became President!

3. Obama has been successful in the withdrawal from Iraq, which just today he announced would end by Christmas.

4. Obama has been able to move toward the idea of eventual withdrawal from Afghanistan, while not recklessly moving in that direction too quickly.

5. Obama intervened, in just the right amount, in Libya, and has now improved his image in that nation, many flying American flags, as Gaddafi has just, after 42 years, been removed finally as a threat to the international order. And it cost not one American life, only about $2 billion in expenditures, and showed that the international community could work successfully together!

6. Obama has been able to go after dozens of terrorists and eliminate them through our intelligence gathering and our drones, including Osama Bin Laden and Anwar al Awlaki, and these two terrorists, along with Moammar Gaddafi, have been successfully neutralized in a period of less than six months!

7. While there are certainly challenges in foreign policy, particularly with Iran, Pakistan and Venezuela, along with Russia and China, one notices a lot of rhetoric, primarily, as these nations and their leaders have realized that Obama is not a person to “mess with”! They recognize that he is one tough “hombre”!

Compare the record on foreign policy and national security of Obama to George W. Bush, and one wonders why Republicans and conservatives refuse to salute and honor the President for his accomplishments! The obvious answer is that they know this is his major strong point of all, and they are not about to give him the time of day!

Meanwhile, the GOP candidates for President sound like morons, as some of them actually are, when it comes to these issues, and it is clear that our foreign policy and national security would be undermined by a defeat of Barack Obama in 2012!

So the job of the Obama campaign team is to emphasize these achievements, and to work to convince the American people that Obama has more concern and better ideas about how to deal with the economic future, than members of the party who will not even allow funding of extra teachers and first responders because it might raise, very slightly, the tax responsibility of the obscenely rich!

In the Midst Of Domestic Political Debate, Growing Concern About American Foreign Policy! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

It is evident that the Tucson, Arizona tragedy of last week has been dominating political discussion and debate in the past few days, but it has become obvious in the past two days that American diplomacy is at a possible crucial moment that might affect the long term future of American foreign policy.

At the same time, we have the following realities:

Vice President Joe Biden went on an unannounced trip to Afghanistan to take stock as to what is being accomplished there, in what is now the longest foreign war in America’s history.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting the Gulf States, and warning the Arab nations of the need to unite against the possible deployment of nuclear weapons by Iran in the near future, which would endanger them, as well as the nation of Israel. At the same time, Iran is gaining more influence in Iraq after all of our nation’s sacrifices there.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is now in China, just as they demonstrated a stealth airplane model for the first time, and he has expressed concern about US-Chinese relations, a week before the Chinese President is due for a visit to the United States. Gates has also expressed concern that North Korean development of nuclear power is a potential threat to the security of the United States.

When has a Vice President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of Defense all been overseas at the same time, pursuing foreign policy issues? Without being certain, the author would tend to think it has never happened.

So it is clear that foreign policy issues are starting to come back toward being the key problems that President Barack Obama must deal with, in the midst of an environment in which there is no civility or cooperation between the political parties and with elements of the media.

How this nation is to deal with Afghanistan, Iran, China, and North Korea are crucial to the future of America. And this is without thinking about relations with Russia, Pakistan, Venezuela and other nations that we must not take our attention away from, as they all represent challenges to the United States!