Soap Box

There are times in the history of a nation when the citizens desperately need a strong leader, an authority figure, a larger than life, take charge kind of a person who can step before the cameras and microphones and assure the nation that he's taking control of the situation, that he's got our back, that when we wake up in the morning our world will not be changed beyond recognition and we can sleep through the night in safety and confidence.

I remember Franklin D. Roosevelt in the days of World War II, his voice deep and steady reassuring America that everything was under control, a father figure who spoke to the nation regularly, never denying that we were in a war for the very life of our country, but that with the help of Almighty God and the valiant efforts of our military America could rest assured than no Swastika or Rising Sun would ever fly above our beloved United States of America.

I remember JFK during the Cuban Missile Crisis letting the nation know that we would, under no circumstances, allow the Soviet Union to house ballistic missiles in Cuba, that we would do whatever it took, up to and including all out war to avert this aggression.

America was behind him, willing to pay whatever price was required of us to maintain the freedom and safety of our nation. Kennedy stuck to his guns, established a navel blockade and let the Soviets know that we were not playing, that we would not tolerate Russian missiles 90 miles off our coast, and he won.

Bill Clinton came forth after the Oklahoma City bombing and promised the country that whoever did this would be caught and would pay to the fullest extent of the law, and as we all know, Timothy McVeigh was caught, tried and executed.

There are many more instances of a president consoling, reassuring and leading America through dark times by the sheer weight of their personality and belief in American exceptionalism and tenacity and making Americans believe in it too.

Men we trusted, men who had kept their word when it came to the serious affairs of this nation.

Barack Obama has continuously lied to America and the world, he has made empty promises and meaningless threats to the point that America, and the world for that matter, no longer trusts anything he says.

He disseminates half-baked information, puts incompetent people in positions of power and rejects the advice of those who disagree with him, and many who have warned him of the dire consequences of his actions, turning out to be right.

Now push has come to shove on some of the most dangerous issues this nation has ever faced and the nation cannot trust the word, or the intentions of our president.

With Obama everything is political, with an eye on the next election and the next poll. In my opinion he is a man drowning is a sea of international chaos and is too proud to admit that he swam out too far and can't swim well enough to get back to safety.

He literally leads from behind, after the fact, never anticipating, never getting out in front of a problem, putting his personal and political life ahead of the welfare of the nation, presenting the image of a president who only takes time to deal with crisis in between his golf games and fundraising junkets.

America is viewed through the eyes of the world as a nation who has lost it's credibility, who's word and commitments no longer mean anything, a nation to be tolerated but not trusted, a cut and run bunch who pull out when the headlines are not favorable and the polls start skewing the wrong way.

This Ebola epidemic in West Africa is not an issue to take under advisement or pass through the bureaucracy or run past the polltakers. The problem is immediate and has the potential to completely overwhelm the health care systems and drug supplies of planet earth.

Everything possible has to be done to contain it and deal with it in Africa. It has already been proven that the disease can come into this country on an airplane and allowing passengers from that part of the world to fly into America is tantamount to inviting disaster.

It's highly possible that the pressure will become so great that even our stubborn, petulant president will be forced to put a ban on the flights, but how much harm will be done in the meantime.

America desperately needs a leader, not a follower, not a procrastinator, not a president distracted by campaigning and leisure time pursuits, somebody who can make decisions and stand by them, somebody who can reassure the nation in times of crisis, somebody who's word we can believe, who can take responsibility for his actions and take criticism without coming off the tracks.

Mr. President you've got two years left, two years that can either do great good or great harm to this nation.

Why don't you put the golf clubs away, leave the fundraising to somebody else, surround yourself with some common sense realists and experienced people who know how the world works, forget the polls and catering to your base and make your last two years the period that America comes out of the tailspin, forget the globalism and do what's right for the country who put you in power.

You have the personality and charisma to be a great president.

Have you got the guts?

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels