President Barack Obama's Inauguration, the Continued Islamic Jihad, and the Ever-Present Vigil

With his inauguration today, Barack Obama assumes the full responsibility and the weight of the ever-present vigil:

It is reasonable to ask in all of this transfer of power dynamic if we will actually see any change in US foreign policy. I can't help but recall President Bush's comment that, while the nation got on with its own affairs and priorities after 9/11, he never did. His fate would be the politically costly and legacy threatening responsibility of ever present vigil, the sheep dog that was never quiet or satisfied in spite of what we thought we knew.

President Obama inherits a legacy that is truly staggering in its call on his abilities: will he keep our country safe from attack in his term? Clearly, his predecessor, Mr. Bush, made choices to ensure the safety of our country, choices that have brought opprobrium and ridicule from his detractors. But nonetheless, we have remained safe from attack since that day.

David Horowitz, writing from a different perspective about the fact that there are at least a few things for conservatives to celebrate about the inauguration of Barack Obama, adds:

Consider: When President Obama commits this nation to war against the Islamic terrorists, as he already has in Afghanistan, he will take millions of previously alienated and disaffected Americans with him, and they will support our troops in a way that most of his party has refused to support them until now.

While I don't think that everyone on the left will support any military action that Barack Obama may take, I too believe that liberals will have to take national security more seriously now that their knee-jerk opposition to everything George Bush ever did as commander in chief will no longer pass for a credible position on foreign policy. 

My friends on the left are not only praying for peace upon the inauguration of Barack Obama, as we all do, but some of them actually seem to believe that the Era of Peace is now here.  They have forgotten the lessons of history, or never learned them.  They think that it is simply a matter of switching presidents to usher in peace, as if the aggression started in America only to be exported abroad.

Oh, my friends, you will see too soon that the war of Islamic terror is not a war of our choosing nor of America's creation.  It is being waged without American participation or consent all around the world, day in and day out, week in and week out, with hundreds of dead bodies at the hands of terrorists almost every week. 

Electing Barack Obama to the presidency will not slow down the Islamic jihad in the slightest.  Two Democratic Party presidents have already shown us that, remember?  Under Democrat President Jimmy Carter (yes, he who was later given the Nobel Peace Prize) the Islamic jihad took off in this modern era, with the Islamic takeover of Iran (resulting in an export of jihad worldwide that continues to this day) as well as the taking of 52 American hostages who were held for 444 days until Republican Ronald Reagan was inaugurated, when they were immediately released. 

Under Democrat Bill Clinton -- whose mind was far, far away from the Islamic jihad -- we had the first terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center, terror attacks on embassies, and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, to name a few, along with the beginning of preparations for the September 11th attack.  Clinton finally roused himself enough to fire a few "Monica missiles" to distract from his legal woes, but it was far too little and far too late.

Ignoring the Islamic jihad does nothing to stop it.  Inaction and distraction do not bring about peace in any way.  In fact, allowing enemies of everything that America stands for to continue laying their plans and making their preparations in "peace" (i.e., without interruption) only ensures that the attacks will continue and escalate.

It is not an easy job that Obama has sought and now assumes.  For America's sake, I hope that with the help of America's military commanders, intelligence services, and men and women in uniform, Obama keeps the ever-present vigil well.  So many innocent lives depend on it.

Comments

[Gary G. Swenchonis]

Obamas election will not bring Peace, nor slow down the war. Just the opposite. The radical islamic terrorists will only take the opportunity to grow stronger as Obama preaches peace, and or ignores them. Thats what happened under Clinton. An instant replay. I just hope that it does not take anothe 9// slap to wake Americans back up.

[coffee]

i don't doubt that Obama will be a vast improvement for the U.S. and the rest of the world