GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

Obama Not Ready To Command Or Lead

by

The young veteran in the this video articulates far better than I could the primary reason why one should vote for John McCain in November: he is ready to be Commander-in-Chief while Barack Obama is not. The Left is angry beyond belief that gay conservatives would support McCain, considering how the Republican candidate is an avowed supporter of such things as DADT, which Obama has promised to repeal. Yet while I would agree with high school student William Sleaster that McCain doesn’t appear to be a leader on this, such ignores the fact that as Commander-in-Chief the president is responsible not only for gay servicemembers but all of the military. McCain has been tested in battle and though such isn’t a requirement for high office, it does reveal character and an ability to lead others in a crisis. In these times of great adversity this is precisely what we need in the next President of the United States. For all of John McCain’s faults, and Lord knows there are enough, I have no doubts whatsoever that he is ready to take command of the military on Day One and has the experience necessary for the security of our country. I cannot say the same for Obama. To be perfectly honest, when I think of Obama as Commander-in-Chief I cringe and am reminded of that infamous photo of Michael Dukakis riding in a tank: small, inadequate to the challenge and very out-of-place. It is not enough to favor repealing DADT to win my vote, the candidate who is best able to command straight and gay servicemembers deserves it. That candidate is simply not Obama. I have faint hope that McCain can be persuaded by Congress to repeal DADT, which perhaps he may do, and I will continue to push for this to be done. Yet regardless of how much it pains me to put this aside, I will not break faith with those in the institution I grew up admiring, I once served in and those in uniform I came to love and respect just for advancement on a gay rights issue that is near and dear to my heart.

— John (Average Gay Joe)

Comments

  2. I’ve been trying to figure out which entities Barack was thinking about when he said we had 57 states. In his own head I’m sure he’s thinking….
    1. DC
    2. Puerto Rico
    3. Guam
    But which other places did he have in mind? Seriously.
    I remember a few years ago Rachel Welch was being interviewed and she said “across the 51 states”, the interviewer tried to help her and mentioned there were 50 states and she began to argue “you know, from Maine to Pennsylvania, Chicago to California.” I’m just wondering how the next President of the United States, in his own head, gets to 57?

  5. Well..you should provide a warning before watching the video….kleenex required…that brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat. Thank you for sharing the video with us.

    As to DADT, the current Democratic Congress could have passed a repeal of DADT and did not. Indeed, let’s go back to President Clinton in 1993 and the Democratic controlled Congress that passed and he signed into law DADT.

    I am tired of Democrats using as bait DADT and DOMA..two laws that Bill Clinton gave us and then tried to claim he did the most positive things for our community….he gave us two things that have been past reprehensible in the violation of our civil rights. Ever since, too many in our community have been like lambs to slaughter as the Democrats use them as clubs to get us in line and tell us to shut up and sit down in the back of the bus and not this year…….as they take our votes and campaign contributions…

    however, I digress….as to DADT….it will crumble….and I am guessing that McCain as we will need a stronger military in the future will “observe it in the breach” by ignoring it since we need a stronger rebuilt military and readiness..we are in a decades long fight and add Russia and a strong militaristic China to the list of hostile countries we will have to be vigilant against…..we will need a Nixon and Reagan like foreign policy in being beacons of freedom but vigilant throughout the world.

    I think Average Gay Joe said it best……NOBama is like Dukakis in the tank..clueless and the moron (I love Rudy’s line but it scares me that Obama doesn’t get it ) when
    he said well we will let the Security Council deal with Russia’s invasion of Georgia..the dumb ass didn’t even get that Russia is on the Security Council and will just veto UN action (not that UN action is worth a warm bucket of spit..but even scarier is that Nobama thinks it is)

    we are in for hell and a truly unsafe world (more so then what we have) and Nobama is so not ready for prime time…I pray every day that Americans see this and send him packing back to Illinois…..the White House is not a training ground for someone that still needs training wheels in knowing how to be a Commander in Chief and run our country, the world and the economy etc..

  6. there are these possessions and obama has the ability to think into the future when they become states…Puerto Rico
    U.S. Virgin Islands
    American Samoa
    Guam
    Northern Mariana Islands
    Minor Outlying Islands (Wake Island and Johnston Island)

    And one US-administered region, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba…. STATEHOOD NOW FOR GUANTANAMO BAY!!! could be 62 if we divide them right.

  7. Looks like the Obama Wright Biden ticket has hit the skids.
    Seems people really do want a less experienced VP over a bald grey haired old white man.
    http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1548
    Read the details of the zogby poll. It is of likely voters. Has a margin of error of only 2%. And has McCain Palin for the first time at 50%. with only 4% undecided. It is boffo news. McCain scores 1% higher when paired with Palin.
    http://www.gallup.com/poll/110050/Gallup-Daily-McCain-Moves-Ahead-48-45.aspx
    The Gallop poll has McCain Palin up by 3%. An 11point swing in 10 days. Gallop is of registered voters which skews more Democrats that don’t actually go vote as opposed to “likely voters”.
    We conservatives need to hope for more greek temples, more euro victory tours, more American flags in dumpsters (saved by Republicans, whew). But the one thing I really don’t hope for is the relentless inspection of Sarahs children. I’m glad there has been a backlash to the Democrats and media’s abusive and sexist attacks.

  8. gene, obama has the ability to think into the future…. Puerto Rico
    U.S. Virgin Islands
    American Samoa
    Guam
    Northern Mariana Islands
    Minor Outlying Islands (Wake Island and Johnston Island)

    And one US-administered region, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba… STATEHOOD FOR GUANTANAMO NOW… if we divide some of the pacific right, there could be 62.

  9. gene, barack has the abilty to think into the future and his vision sometimes get in the way of current reality. nonetheless, there are fifty states and six territories and one administered region. STATEHOOD FOR GUANTANAMO NOW!!!..if we divide the johnston islands correctly we could have 62. kinda like thinking the the mayor of alaska represents more peeps than the mayor of jacksonville.

  10. Thanks for the video Average Gay Joe. That young man said it best didn’t he. As ex Army BHO scares us. McCain said it best, “it is the fighting man and woman who abhore war” they’d rather not fight. But will do whatever to keep their country free. The American sevicepeople freed 45 million Arabs and Muslims. Victory is in sight. BHO would have bugged out long ago. Leaving in his wake, the massacre of hundreds of thousands.
    THIS JUST IN!
    Holy Cow!
    USA Today on Monday will report McCain Palin +10% in likely voters!!
    http://www.gallup.com/poll/110050/Gallup-Daily-McCain-Moves-Ahead-48-45.aspx
    LIkely voters 54%-44%
    The rout is on.
    Plus who will do better on the economy is now within the margin of error.
    MCain Palin wipes out a 20 point deficiet. TWENTY POINTS!
    Lordy Lordy
    The Democrats should now start hailing how productive their Democrat Congress was…..oh wait they have a 9% approval rating….never mind hehe

  16. That poor kid in the video certainly has been brain washed hasn’t he? There was absolutely NO REASON to invade and occupy Iraq. Should we then begin occupying the entire globe and spreading theocra.., oops, democracy?

    True we (bush/cheny/rice, etc) have a created a huge mess and will need to help clean it up but the People of Iraq want us out. Why is that so hard to understand?

    I suggest a visit to this site:
    http://ivaw.org/

    Are you going to call them unpatriotic?

    As for McCain’s time in the service it is his bravery as a POW that we talk about and the RNC certainly got off talking about it, over and over and over it was pretty obvious that this tragic part of McCain’s life has been turned into a political ploy. What we don not talk about is his wrecking FIVE AIRCRAFT and, like g w, he wasn’t such a great soldier but apparently he is not above using his time as a POW all those years ago to gain a few sympathy votes.

  17. Look who is trouble at work:

    MSNBC tried a bold experiment this year by putting two politically incendiary hosts, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, in the anchor chair to lead the cable news channel’s coverage of the election.

    That experiment appears to be over.

    After months of accusations of political bias and simmering animosity between MSNBC and its parent network NBC, the channel decided over the weekend that the NBC News correspondent and MSNBC host David Gregory would anchor news coverage of the coming debates and election night. Mr. Olbermann and Mr. Matthews will remain as analysts during the coverage.

  19. the drive by media failed america in the lead up to and execution of the invasion of iraq. kinda like the condi fu with 9-11. incompetence is incompetence , no matter how you look at it.

  22. Are you going to call them unpatriotic?

    Yup.

    Mainly because they, like Obama, support and endorse organizations and groups that consider our troops to be “uninvited and unwelcome intruders” and call for their public harassment as murderers and baby-killers.

    As the example of Benedict Arnold shows, it’s not the war record itself that does it; it’s what you do with it, and these “veterans” support leftist hate groups that smear our military personnel.

  23. michael come on. It is okay for America to win wars. We do it to free other oppressed people. We fight enemies who usually are threatening their neighbors. Japan, Nazi Germany, the Cold War that imprisoned eastern europe for 40 years. We usually fight these wars costing our country blood and treasure for a greater good. These Arab and Muslim women who were freed from tyranny and untold hell are grateful to us. Arb girls are going to school to get educated. Our service men and women deserve your admiration not your snide comments. Sadaam was violating the terms of the truce after Gulf War 1 where if you remember he invaded Kuwait. His troops were raping and beating Kuwaiti women and girls. Threatening the oil energy lifeline of Europe and America. It was a worthy war and a just victory. There is a free Kuwait and a free Iraq now because of America. As an American you should feel good about that.

  24. #13 liberal gay patriot. Please put those sentiments expressed in #13 in a 2 minute ad maybe the BHO people will run said ad on TV. (please)
    America is waiting for you to call McCain a fake and a guy who wrecked 5 planes, and to tell him to shut up already about his service. That’s a way to win a Presidential election.

  25. oh michael to remind you, this summer more Americans were killed in Chicago than our brave service people were killed in Iraq. What is it you don’t get about Iraq and Democrat run Chicago Illinois. Home to Barack Obama. Supposedly Chicago has been free and is a stable part of the union. I would have more confidence in BHO as President and Commander in Chief if his home town were more stable than Iraq not less.

  26. #14 Vince P Not only is the BHO campaign in trouble but it’s media mouthpiece is all discombobulated.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/business/media/08msnbc.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
    This NYT piece notes Olberman didn’t want to go to the Republican Convention because he feared for his safety. Such a brave fellow huh?
    I did notice Olbermann on NBC football coverage tonight. I guess that’s where he got his start. “Journalist”. Football announcer. Same thing eh.

  27. Thanks for calling this to my attention. It’s something every thinking person should see. You may not agree with it, but I feel rather sorry for you if you don’t.

    Joe,

    I’m straight, but I agree with you about DADT. I also want to say that I respect your ability to keep priorities straight. While we, in the US, certainly have “a way to go” toward full rights for gays, compared to the position of Islamic Fundamentalists, I’m confident we’re much better — not only in where we ARE, but in our willingness to consider how we should change.

    All the Best

  28. An effective video – that kids got more courage in his little finger than I do. I salute him. Given what we’ve invested in Iraq to date (blood and treasure), we’re bound to see it through best we can. But the Iraqi people are not just like us. Our troops are leaving them better off than they were… whether they can maintain that gift remains to be seen.

    The Iraq war should give us pause – we cannot simply “give” freedom to everyone in the world. I’d love to think everyone wants to live free but our idea of freedom and liberty just isn’t the same elsewhere (think about the honor killing of the 9-year old girl reported this weekend… or the girls shot and buried alive the other day). Not all cultures are equal. The atrocities I cited were committed by people acting as individuals, not agents of a tyrant government.

    McCain has seen the horror of war so I don’t think he’s eager to run out and find any new ones. I think he knows that the best way to avoid war is from a position of strength and resolve.

    As far as William Sleaster… McCain should have walked over and slapped the snot out of that disrespectful little bastard. This little sh*t is at that age where he knows everything except what he doesn’t know (on that, he’s clueless).

    It’s one thing to disagree with McCain on issues (that’s a long list for me) but to insult the man is the sign of a liberal prick.

  30. this summer more Americans were killed in Chicago than our brave service people were killed in Iraq.

    Probably fair to say that Baghdad is in better financial shape than Detroit as well.

    Are you going to call them unpatriotic?

    Hell yeah! Throw in Kerry, Murtha and VoteVets.org as well. When they trash America, smear our soldiers and use pitty for their wounds to justify bald-faced lies, I’ll be the first to make that assertion (and I have).

    Comment by Liberal Gay Patriot (Liberals Love America – the REAL America)

    So much so that you have to lie about a POW to prove it? So much so you toss out flags with the trash to make sure you’re not caught dead with one in your possession?

    mccain still wants to win vietnam.

    Well, it would have been nice instead of liberals telling the Vietnamese and the surrounding people to go to hell. Besides, look at John FU Kerry’s 2004 campaign, “invasion” of Boston Harbor and “reporting for doody” and tell me he wouldn’t prefer to be shooting “gooks” in the back again.

  31. Sorry, LGP. No matter how hard you try to redefine patriotism as trashing America, you’re not going to win many friends. You’ll piss more people off. There’s a distinct difference between being a patriot and stabbing your country in the back.

    The sooner you come to grips with that reality, the happier you’ll be in the long run.

  32. Is michael off his meds?

    Obama can see the future and that’s where his 57 states come from?

    Such an imperialist point of view, seeing future states.

    Between Kevin and the pro-public sex vote, and now michael and the mentally ill vote, Obama might just win this yet.

    oh and Liberal pseudo patriot, your arguements for not liberating Iraq have been as debunked as Trig being Bristol’s kid.

  33. RE#23. I speak for me not Obama or anyone else. McCain’s record is McCain’s record. He bragged about being 894 of 899 in his Naval Academy class. Why is it that repubs like to embrace a lack of intelligence? Are they merely playing to their base?

    Also, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) said:

    “I’ve spent a lot of time with John McCain over the years and it’s something he doesn’t bring up in personal conversation. It’s something that you have to pull out of him just because it’s something that he doesn’t talk about.”

    LOL, LOL, LOL

    Right Mark! Unless it is politically advantageous!

    RE#29. Where did I lie? I like our flag, it is a lovely design but at the end of the day it is just a symbol (usually made in China).

  34. In response to the statement that we “leftists” are “outraged by gay conservative support of McCain [and Palin] …” let me just point out that I’m not outraged at all. I’m not even surprised. In every minority, you’ll find a sub-group so filled with self-loathing (cf. internalized homophobia) that they will vote cheerily against their own bodies and souls.

    Outraged? No, not at all. Surprised? Not really.

    Sorry for “gay conservatives” and their sad little lives and lies? You betcha.

  35. way more ready than W ever was, with the ability to contemplate and critically think. mccain still wants to win vietnam.

    Well, I suppose his associations with folks like Ayers gives him some insight into the mind of the enemy, but “community organizing” does not a Commander-in-Chief make.

  37. What we don not talk about is his wrecking FIVE AIRCRAFT and, like g w, he wasn’t such a great soldier

    Giving up on the military votes I see. I won’t even bother responding to this but will say that no matter how you characterize McCain’s service, it is far more than the zero experience Obama has. McCain is ready to be CiC while Obama is not. This is the third election in a row that Dems have put up a lightweight and poser on defense. Are there no more FDRs, Trumans or JFKs in your party? Doesn’t appear to be…

  40. I appreciate everything michael brings to this site. You do not often get to evaluate a eunich’s view of reality. There is no powerlessness like the powerlessness of having an itch you can’t scratch, a thought you can’t articulate or being equipped with a dead drive train. Bless you, michael, you should have been Ho Chi Minh’s court jester.

  42. some of America has been involved in saving the people of Sudan for the past 10-15 years michael. Those pesky Christians again, trying to save thorugh donations, efforts and even going so far as to 8ugh* buy slaves to free them.

    But that’s individuals, not teh Government, and Christians, so I know why you can’t comprehend that.

  43. That poor kid in the video certainly has been brain washed hasn’t he?

    Yeah. He’s obviously a back woods hick too poor to get a limo to the liberal cocktail parties. Either too white or male to get into college or get a decent job so he has to join the miltary. He’s soooo stoopid he got sent to Iraq with all the other terrorists and baby killers. Pitty he wasn’t strung up with those murderous bastards from Haditha, eh?

  44. Sorry for “gay conservatives” and their sad little lives and lies? You betcha.

    Funny you should say this, Bill, because this is similar to what I feel about folks who would put straight and gay servicmembers in danger by electing an inexperienced and incompetent CiC during a time of war, just for personal gain. When you find a candidate who combines a commitment to gay rights with an ability to lead as CiC than we can talk. Until then, I will always put the welfare of my country, family and the military above personal benefit. Perhaps this what you are missing, the ethos of military service: self-sacrifice in service to the country.

  45. gotta love a potential commander in chief who states victory, success, a win in sight, when 2 million iraqis are internally displaced and another 2 externally…. we got water, juice and sewer in limbo six years on. that’s success alright. (georgie doesn’t say win, wonder why??)