Nov 28 2007
Lead America, Republicans: What the presidential prospects need to remember
During the 2004 presidential election, I predicted the Democrats would lose for one fairly simple, yet critically important reason: While he was full of sound and fury about Bush’s faults John Kerry offered no alternative, no leadership.
He had no vision. It is not enough to say how bad the other side is, you need to show you are better.
The Democrats learned. In 2006 they stormed congress on a platform rich with vision and promise. That so much of it has been false and empty is irrelevant. At the time, they presented a vision of promise to the voters, and the peopley bought it.
Now as the 2008 elections are finally creeping up on us, the same situation is facing us: Who will have the vision of leadership, and who will be full of sound and fury and no substance.
Don Surber ponders this in a well written blog, reposted here with his kind permission.
Note very closely the irony of who has the greatest vision of America.
We need our Tony Blair, our Nicolas Sarkozy.
While Democrats select a presidential candidate, Republicans seek a president. There are a bunch of Jimmy Carters on the other side who are willing to apologize for America’s greatness. Forget about finding the next Reagan. America can settle for another Tony Blair or Nicolas Sarkozy.
Wouldn’t it be delightful to hear Mitt Romney say: “Sept. 11 was not an isolated event, but a tragic prologue, Iraq another act, and many further struggles will be set upon this stage before it’s over. There never has been a time when the power of America was so necessary …”
Wouldn’t it be great to hear Rudy Giuliani say: “There is a myth that though we love freedom, others don’t; that our attachment to freedom is a product of our culture; that freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law are American values, or Western values; that Afghan women were content under the lash of the Taliban; that Saddam was somehow beloved by his people; that Milosevic was Serbia’s savior. … ours are not Western values, they are the universal values of the human spirit. ”
Wouldn’t it be great to hear Fred Thompson say: “There is no more dangerous theory in international politics than that we need to balance the power of America with other competitive powers; different poles around which nations gather. Such a theory may have made sense in 19th-century Europe. It was perforce the position in the Cold War. Today, it is an anachronism to be discarded like traditional theories of security. And it is dangerous because it is not rivalry but partnership we need; a common will and a shared purpose in the face of a common threat.”
Wouldn’t it be great to hear anyone say: “We promised Iraq democratic government. We will deliver it.”
Tony Blair said all those things and more on July 17, 2003, in an address to Congress.
Blair said: “How hollow would the charges of American imperialism be when these failed countries are and are seen to be transformed from states of terror to nations of prosperity, from governments of dictatorship to examples of democracy, from sources of instability to beacons of calm.”
Take that, archbishop of Canterbury.
Blair said: “Tell the world why you’re proud of America. Tell them when the Star-Spangled Banner starts, Americans get to their feet, Hispanics, Irish, Italians, Central Europeans, East Europeans, Jews, Muslims, white, Asian, black, those who go back to the early settlers and those whose English is the same as some New York cab driver’s I’ve dealt with, but whose sons and daughters could run for this Congress.”
Take that, John Edwards.
Blair said: “As Britain knows, all predominant power seems for a time invincible, but, in fact, it is transient. The question is: What do you leave behind?”
Take that, Ron Paul.
Blair is not the only foreign leader to recognize the importance of American leadership.
Nicolas Sarkozy recently told Congress this: “America did not tell the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who — with their hands, their intelligence and their heart — built the greatest nation in the world: ‘Come, and everything will be given to you.’ She said: ‘Come, and the only limits to what you’ll be able to achieve will be your own courage and your own talent.’ America embodies this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance.
“Here, both the humblest and most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned. That’s what constitutes the moral value of America. America did not teach men the idea of freedom; she taught them how to practice it. And she fought for this freedom whenever she felt it to be threatened somewhere in the world. It was by watching America grow that men and women understood that freedom was possible.
“What made America great was her ability to transform her own dream into hope for all mankind.”
In 3 paragraphs, L’Americain explained my country. How I wish those seeking my country’s presidency would say the same things.
Blair’s speech is here and Sarkozy’s speech is here. This space is available for the presidential candidate’s speech that best matches these 2.
Exit question: Wouldn’t it be heartening if one of our presidential prospects had the guts to say what Blair and Sarkozy did? Shouldn’t our leaders “get” America as much as the leaders in Great Britain and France?
And would you follow such a person, regardless of party? Because such a person, who understood what America truly is, what it truly means to be American might be worth following.
Trackposted to Sister Toldjah, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Rosemary’s Thoughts, guerrilla radio, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Big Dog’s Weblog, Chuck Adkins, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Allie is Wired, DragonLady’s World, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Republican National Convention Blog, CommonSenseAmerica, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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