George Bush — a president with heart, especially for the American military
There’s been an uptick lately in stories about President Obama’s remote, cold, calculating demeanor. Moreover, his distaste for the military he commands is making itself felt with increasing strength. He is never seen in the company of ordinary military men and women (unless he’s draping the Medal of Honor around someone’s neck); he knows very little about them (“corpse-man” anyone?); he’s hellbent on turning the military into a Progressive social experiment; he’s down a slow-mo surrender in Afghanistan that sees our troops dying their way to defeat; and, even as the world is getting increasingly dangerous, he’s engaged in a military draw-down that will reduce our fighting force to WWI levels.
In other words, never has there been a stronger contrast between our current anti-military Progressive Commander-in-Chief and his immediate predecessor. Whether George W. Bush was a good president or not, he was (and is) a very good man, especially when it came (and comes) to his affection for the American military. With great timing, a friend forwarded me the following email showing George Bush interacting with the troops in a positive, affectionate way that will never make it onto the pages of the New York Times.. (I’d love to offer attribution for this email, but I can’t find any. It shows up on various websites, with the bloggers saying that they too don’t know where it originated.)
1. If a hug is needed, don’t be shy!
No one appreciates a firm handshake more than a soldier.
2. If they prefer not to shake hands,
then a chest bump will do.
Just make sure you do a duck face afterward so they can laugh at you.
3. Admire their medals. They were hard-earned.
4. Always treat their families with great respect.
They have been through more than you could imagine.
5. Laugh with them!
Laughter is a medicine that works 102% of the time.
6. It’s important that you treat a soldier the way you would treat your own family.
7. If you know a soldier, call that soldier on the 4th of July.
It will make his (or her) day!
8. Or you can Skype someone in the service.
9. Each soldier has an amazing story.
10. Listen.
Listening is often the best gift you can give someone.
11. Give our troops a hug!
Soldiers love getting hugged because most of them are big softies deep down.
12. Do a sport with them.
Soldiers love being active.
13. Make sure you are respectful.
14. Serve them a big dinner if you can. Lots of meat.
15. But if you only have a minute, look them square in the eye.
And say, “Thank you.”
We promise you they will appreciate it.
God Bless America !
It’s me, Bookworm again. I thought a few compare and contrasts would be helpful:
To give him credit, having totally blown off the Marine, Obama went back and apologized:
If you do a search such as “Obama visits troops hospital” or “Obama visits soldiers hospital,” you come up with almost nothing. Think about that. It’s great that there are some images but it’s a little bit unsettling that one finds almost nothing from the man who’s been a wartime Commander in Chief for five and a half years.
