"Barack Obama is no John Wayne"

GUEST OPINION by Don Bendell



WHERE IS JOHN WAYNE’S AMERICA?



I grew up in Ohio watching and idolizing John Wayne and all the cowboy hero figures and dreamed of becoming an American cowboy. When I became an adult and a Green Beret serving in the Vietnam War, who was the one man who consistently and staunchly went against the grain and stood up for all my fellow vets and me in those days? Oddly enough, it was my old hero John Wayne who played a Green Beret in the movie of the same name. Have we actually progressed since those thrilling days of yesteryear, or have we regressed? We had enemies since 9-11 refer to our President as a “cowboy” or as “John Wayne,” and they said it as a putdown. Then many liberal politicians and left-leaning media mimicked our enemies and tried to chastise him the same way. I moved to Colorado years ago to realize my childhood dream, and I am very proud to be a real American cowboy with a real horse. I too have had people try to put me down by saying I am a “John Wayne-type,” because they were angered by my straight-talking editorials or speeches in the past. They actually felt that they were criticizing me, but I cannot tell you how complimented I felt by such a comparison.

For years, I have listened to liberals and many news media call George W. Bush a liar, a scoundrel, and many other vile names stating that he out and out lied about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Now, however, it has been not claimed or alleged, but very clearly proven and documented that over one million two-hundred thousand pounds of concentrated uranium called Yellowcake, and numerous devices to produce hundreds of nuclear bombs have just been discovered at Saddam Hussein’s Tuwaitha nuclear complex only 12 miles south of Baghdad. These have recently been safely removed from Iraq and shipped to Canada for storage. This is not a hoped for conservative victory, or surmised claim by a right wing weblog, but a major news story by the Associated Press, who picked it up from a foreign newspaper who broke the story, not the ever-vigilant see-themselves-as-Woodward-and-Bernstein American press corps. Why have you not heard about it as the lead story on any of the major news networks? Why have you not read about it on the front page of every paper in our nation? Also, why have we not heard any of the vociferous congressional leaders or liberal broadcasters publicly apologize to the President of the United States who they so loudly slandered the past five years with the entire world listening, especially our enemies while we are at war? Where is John Kerry now, John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barack Obama, and all the other slanderers? Where are the apologies from the Hollywood elite who seem to feel they have all the answers for our nation, especially when they are plugging their latest movie releases or books?

George W. Bush has certainly had his warts, such as previously having bad-taste in selecting a Secretary of Defense. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not originally prosecuted properly, but General Petraeus, like John Wayne, brought in the Cavalry and started “the Surge.” Now, Iraq has done a complete turnaround and the war will be ended within one year. Not only is it winding down now significantly, the London Times this week declared the War in Iraq to essentially be over. Finally, doing it right, we have now started a do-over in Afghanistan, which will work this time. Have the liberals who wanted to cut and run apologized? No, they ignore the good news and still claim the sky is falling. I am sorry folks; I don’t care what pollsters that libs are listening to, all citizens, especially warriors hate war and are tired of this one, but most Americans want us to win the war, not surrender. If you are a liberal who has only protested this war or maybe the Vietnam War, there is a big difference between you and me, a major difference. Like John Wayne’s characters I was willing to risk my life for what I believed in, but you instead only risked a pair of flex cuffs or a water cannon for what you believed in. That was like me getting into the ring with Mike Tyson and you getting into a pillow fight with Elton John.

You liberals were all quick to pounce on the President, but why have you not been quick to apologize since he was proven to be correct? I will tell you why. John Wayne and men and women of his stripe are dead and gone, and our congressional leaders have generally morphed into a marble-floored building full of pencil-necked, panty-waist wimps. Political cowards who look to the flag pole first to see which way the wind is blowing before making a stand on anything. Their charismatic leader is a political chameleon, Barack Obama, who changes positions to match the voting trend environment faster than Britney Spears changes personalities.

George W. Bush has done a number of things wrong but at least he was a leader with some gumption, courage, and tenacity to stay the course. He stuck to his guns and now he has been proven right, and the critics are either too busy choking on the crow they had to eat or are simply moral cowards in regards to correcting or retracting their horrendous accusations about the resounding success of The Surge, and now about the discovery of Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq, which President Bush tried to warn us about in his 2003 State of the Union address.

John McCain is running for President and yes, he has his faults, too. But he is not a carbon copy of GWB that Obama apologists would have you believe, and which insults the intelligence of thinking voters. However, one of the things that McCain does have in common with George W. Bush is that they each have a little bit of John Wayne in them. Some have branded McCain as a “maverick.” That is exactly what we need now in our President more than ever. And no, Barack Obama is not another John F. Kennedy who created the Green Berets. John F. Kennedy was a great speaker, and like John McCain, was a war hero. Barack Obama is simply a great speaker, but the only courageous thing he has bragged about was repeatedly risking prison breaking the law by snorting cocaine and as he said it, “smoking reefer with his buddies.”

John Wayne said, “A man ought to do what he thinks is right.”

George W. Bush did just that, and he has been proven to be right. Senator McCain, to the frustration of both democrats and republicans at times, has shown that he has been willing to stand his ground on principle and not spin around in the political breezes that blow in every direction. Now more than ever, our nation needs political leaders like this man who have a little bit of “The Duke” in them. If not, there are gangs of outlaws just waiting in the shadows of the gulches and canyons of freedom who are watching for any sign of weakness so they can bushwhack us.

Most modern day political leaders and many self-described journalists need to rent some John Wayne movies and learn a lesson or two about standing their ground and not waving the white flag of cowardice. And they need to learn to become men or women of strong enough character to now apologize.

Don Bendell, 61, is an author of 26 books including a number of military thrillers with over 1,500,000 copies in print worldwide and is a popular editorialist who has appeared on FOX NEWS LIVE, many national radio shows, and his editorials have been published all over the world. A 1995 inductee into the International Karate Hall of Fame, he and his wife also own karate schools in southern Colorado. A 60% disabled vet, Don served as an officer in 4 Special Forces Groups, including a 1968-1969 tour on an A-team in Vietnam as well as in the Top Secret Phoenix Program and has offspring serving in Special Forces now. He lives in Florence, Colorado. Write him at don@donbendell.com .