When a military unit falls apart during wartime and a new commander is sent in to take charge and re-establish focus, he doesn’t achieve that by blaming the old commander and staff for the unit’s failures.

The Cheney-Powell-Limbaugh rhetoric would never have degenerated to its present state if President Obama hadn’t repeatedly, unnecessarily and unfairly blamed the Bush Administration for every policy that went wrong and is going wrong.

A new President, like a new military commander, should upon taking command accept full responsibility for all the unit has done, is doing now and will try to do in the future. He should immediately set about restoring order, boosting morale, and re-establishing the government’s and the nation’s self-esteem. That is what President Obama should be doing rather than his repeated pattern of finger pointing. As president, he fails to take ownership of the responsibilities that his office requires of him.

Recently Vice President Cheney has been speaking out in defense of the Bush Administration and its policies. This is to be expected since the previous administration has been constantly hammered by President Obama, his aides and staff and the news media. If President Bush would show some initiative and speak up, Cheney wouldn’t have to take on the entire burden of defending the Bush Administration’s strategies and actions alone.

General Colin Powell is a fine patriotic American. In my opinion, he is too liberal politically. But, he is doing just what he should be doing by speaking up, laying out his case, and taking the heat.

On the other hand Rush Limbaugh is an absolute delight. The Democrats wish they had him on their side. He runs around sticking pins in everyone’s arrogant balloons and keeping things popping, which is precisely what a good radio talk show host should be doing.

President Obama is easy to understand. He has no leadership experience and as President he is in over his head. His plan of governance seems to be to keep the nation and the news media so distracted by the failures of the last Administration, that they fail to notice the abysmal failures of the present one. 

Even worse than that, he loves to whine and grovel in front of other nations and world leaders. In furthering the perception that he is not trustworthy, Obama makes a practice of doing the opposite of what he promises to do. As examples:
 
He says his Administration will be transparent and all legislation will be posted on the internet five days in advance of a vote, allowing the American people to read and discuss it. But then he proposed a 787 billion dollar stimulus bill that even the Congress was unable to read prior to a vote, let alone private citizens.

Obama states that he will close out all military tribunals at Guantanamo but then declares that they will not be closed out. He says he will immediately pull all US military troops out of Iraq. This is followed by his statement that 50, 000 troops will remain in Iraq after the pull out. And by the way, did he fail to mention that he will actually transfer some of the soldiers from Iraq to Afghanistan instead of bringing them home?

General Powell says he thinks that the Republican Party has to expand beyond its conservative base. I agree and think that he’s absolutely right. Powell says that we should respect others’ opinions, especially his. Again I believe that he’s right.

Powell also says that Jack Kemp should be a model for the kind of leadership the Republican Party needs. I agree. I knew Jack as an old friend whom I not only greatly admired but also greatly respected.

On the other hand, Limbaugh says that Powell sounds more like a Democrat than a Republican. Yes, I agree that he does. 
Limbaugh says Powell voted for Obama because of his race. No one knows what motivates Powell except Powell. If he says race did not influence his vote, we have to accept that as a true statement.

Vice President Cheney says that Obama’s policies make America less safe. I agree. Moving terrorists from Guantanamo to main land USA is not going to make the USA safer. If anything, it could have the opposite result. If extending the olive branch of peace in humbleness and weakness to the leaders of Iran is going to make America safer, then ask the Israelis why they have not adopted that as their foreign policy?

There is an old hymn which reads in part, “Rise up O men of God, have done with lesser things.” It’s time for the Cheneys, Powells, Limbaughs and Obamas to stop assigning blame and focusing on the past, and for all of us to take personal responsibility for putting America back together again.