Time
To Discharge The Commander In Chief.
By Jeff Wilder
OpEdNews.com
When
asked in an interview what kind of president he considered himself to be,
George W Bush bellowed, "I'm a war president!"
Good term "War president". It evokes the classic images of the
big Indian chief, of General Patton. Brings to mind a man who's always got
the situation well in hand, on the sea or on the land (cue the Mighty
Mouse theme here).
After all, the most common nickname for the president is Commander In
Chief. However, as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, undoubtedly America's
leading "War President" (this side of Abe Lincoln anyway), once
observed: "The President is the Commander in Chief, and he, too, has
his superior officer - the people of the United States".
Apparently Bush never got the memo on that.
In the military, it is a habit to discharge soldiers when they can no
longer serve. Sometimes the discharge can be honorable: sometimes it can
be dishonorable.
On the basis of the last 4 years, it is time to give this commander in
chief the discharge.
It's not my place to say whether the discharge should fall into the
honorable or dishonorable category. I will point out that on the basis of
a performance evaluation, Bush should definitely pack his bags and return
to civilian duty.
As I watched TV earlier this evening, I noted something about many of the
ubiquitous political ads. Most of them try to toot the horn of the
particular candidate they are for. Of course, many of them also attack
their opponents. But the ones put out by the Bush campaign seem to be 5%
case for re-electing Bush, 95% case for not electing Kerry.
Is it possible that Bush realizes that he doesn't have much of a record to
run on and that the best thing to do is slam his chief opponent?
Does Bush realize that much of the public is beginning to understand that
he's currently running on empty, to quote Jackson Browne, and that many
people are planning to vote less for Kerry and more against him?
There are some who will argue that the best thing to do is re-elect Bush
and let him clean up the mess he's made, instead of leaving it for whoever
gets chosen to replace him.
That argument, while valid to a point, overlooks a few certain
possibilities.
First off, there's the possibility that George W may wind up making things
even worse in the next four years.
Another more disturbing possibility is that if Bush gets re-elected and
either croaks or is impeached (although a strong case could be made for
impeaching him right now), who will take his place. Dick Cheney? Then what
if Cheney can't handle the tasks? The next in line would be either Dennis
Hastert or Tom DeLay. Shudder immensely at the thought of the last one.
No my fellow Americans. Now is the time to discharge the commander in
chief. He must be discharged because he has failed to live up to his most
important responsibility as commander in chief. He must be discharged
because he was sworn to uphold the law, yet has no problem circumventing
the law if he feels he must.
He must be discharged because he has mistaken fiscal irresponsibility for
fiscal conservatism. He must be discharged because instead of making
America safer, he has dropped the ball repeatedly and led the rest of the
government into doing so.
But the most important reason for why this current commander in chief must
be discharged is because he remains unaware of FDR's most famous bit of
advice. And the only way to drive that point home is to exercise it in the
most drastic way. Bush may be commander in chief. But it's the
responsibility of us, his superior officers, to remove him from his
dangerous position.
Bio: Jeff Wilder is a 26-year-old freelance writer from Southeastern
Florida. An independent thinker who refuses to let himself get tied down
to any one religious or political ideology, Wilder has written articles
for numerous online sites and publications. E-mail address: NOSPOL@aol.com
Website: http://members.aol.com/NOSPOL
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