Friday, August 20, 2004

Are they Alike?

8/20/04


Question. How is the US Olympic movement, especially the men's basketball team like presidential politics?

I have been watching the 2004 Olympics on NBC this week and I have reached a conclusion. It seems that I am seeing the same type of "in your face" performances that I see daily in the political arena. The US men's basketball team played in a manner that we all expected. They were a group of individuals that were interested in showing how good they are. The issue of a team did not arise. Each player had to show he was the best there was. He had to do this, no matter what the consequences were to the team.

In the current round of presidential politics, I am seeing the same type of thing, particularly in the Democrat and National Media camps. On the Democratic side, I hear reckless charges of misleading or lying to the public about one thing or another. From the media, I see nothing that could hurt the Democratic candidate and nothing that could help the Republican candidate. Neither one of these two seem to realize that the fate of the country could be resting on these actions. Team America is at risk. We are at war. We need to consider this when we take actions that could hurt us in the rest of the world. When a representative of a major political party make statements that embolden our enemies it causes hurt to the country and the brave troops that defend us.

It is good that partisanship exists but as it once did, it should stop at the shorelines. Partisanship is the way compromises and decisions are made. Argue all you want about domestic policy and even foreign policy but stating you will "bring the troops home" during a presidential election time merely tells the enemy that if they can hold out for a little while longer they could win by default.

When not in a presidential race, make your arguments. Attempt to change policy. If the public supports you it will force the leadership to change. Putting any particular time limit on troop withdrawal is simply a bad idea. It is not a good idea to risk the lives of your soldiers so you can be shown as the most important player in the game. We should be a team!


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