-
The Seventeen Year Itch
May 15, 2013 | 6 comments
-
Questions
May 1, 2013 | 50 comments
-
Stifling Our Children
April 15, 2013 | 39 comments
-
Thoughts on Gay Marriage
March 27, 2013 | 96 comments
-
Baseball Saints and Sinners
March 13, 2013 | 13 comments
The Nation's Pulse
Ten Years in the Life of a Nation
We’ve come full circle — if not worse.
It seems like only yesterday that old Ross Perot was waving bye-bye and making a beeline into his private bunker to avoid the certain doom that surely awaited us all at the dawning of the third millennium. Turn back the clock ten or so years and try to remember one day passing without the dreaded specter of “Y2K” rearing its ugly head.
Yes, many Americans were frightened by the awful predictions of Armageddon put forth daily by a media that was sure the world would end the minute Bill Clinton was out of office. Maybe that’s why they fought so hard to keep him in it. Make no mistake about it, an already biased media truly found its voice as a mouth organ for the Democratic Party in the waning days of the 20th century.
Yet now that we’ve finally come to the end of this rough and rambunctious run, questions abound. After eight long years under George W. Bush, what can we now look forward to? More specifically, now that a Democrat is back in the Oval Office, will the world once again become a safe and sane place? If the ‘Aughts were the Bush decade, will the next be that of the Big O? Sometimes in order to face the future, it’s useful to look back.
The year 2000 closed with two events that were to impact the ensuing decade; the unavenged al-Qaeda attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s ending of the presidential election fiasco with its constitutionally correct ruling in the case of Bush v. Gore. Although these were seemingly unrelated, they would continue to influence world history; the former, which further emboldened an already fanatical and growing enemy, and the latter, which set the face of liberals hard against cooperation with President Bush in the defeat of radical Islamism.
And so the decade with no name was underway, not with a whimper but with the bang felt around the world on September 11, 2001. As everyone remembers, after the initial shock and revulsion came a period of national unity unseen in this country since the days of World War II. But, as everyone also remembers, this era of good feeling was extremely and unfortunately short-lived.
If on September 12, anyone told you that, rather than joining Bush wholeheartedly in combating our savage enemy, many Democrats would instead focus their efforts on the treatment of POWs, you’d have called him insane. But the hatred of George W. Bush only exacerbated the inborn liberal desire for “peace” at any price, in a way that could have been disastrous for our nation, had it been led by a man of lesser resolve.
Yet, despite the rancor that cascaded down on him for most of his two terms, after 9/11 not one single life on American soil was lost to Islamic terrorism under his watch. But our nation grew tired of a war in which the enemy is content to sit and wait — sometimes for centuries — and elected a man who was to bring hope and change, not only to our country but somehow to the entire world.
And now we are suffering the ironic trick of history repeating itself; we have come full circle from the onset of the 21st century, where we once again have a Commander-in-Chief who treats acts of war as criminal offenses, despite having witnessed the consequences of such conduct. A man who, like Bill Clinton, directly benefited from the bold actions of his predecessor when it came to confronting evil head on, while failing to learn from those hard-won lessons.
And, once again, the media shows its incredible bias by not excoriating a president who called the events on Flight 253 the work of an “isolated extremist,” despite all the evidence to the contrary. The same media who emitted interminable howls of indignation when George W. Bush told FEMA chief Michael Brown that he did “a heck of a job” in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but virtually yawns when our Homeland Security chief proclaimed that “the system worked” after the Christmas Day bomb plot.
And so the new decade begins much like the last one: with the death of a dozen or so American servicemen — this time on our own soil — in the war between Islamic fundamentalism and Western civilization; a war that our current president doesn’t seem to have the stomach even to acknowledge, much less fight. Welcome to 2010.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (49) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Lisa Fabrizio
More Articles From The Nation's Pulse
http://spectator.org/archives/2009/12/31/ten-years-in-the-life-of-a-nat
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
ADVERTISEMENT
Ret. Marine| 12.31.09 @ 7:25AM
I want to thank all those who served out Nation, the Gold Star members for their contribution to this Nations traditions, values and honor, our LEO's, our dedicated security personnel, our patriots who continue in their own way to resolve the differences between the lessor of the evils we face today, despite the rhetoric and lies coming from this current crop of self-proclaimed Mao mumblers and statists proclaiming success in their time.
It is a wonder that we have made it through this past decade without more loses of our citizens and our natural God given rights.
Good riddence to this past year. We have learned and lost too much to count but we made it and many will be better off for the decissions made during this period.
Especially grateful for the opportunity to write and haggle over issues importent to us all. The first amendment provides us this forum and we must resolve to never let this natural right to disagree, or agree be taken away.
Thank you AmSpec for your execellent writers and the issues your staff have brought forward to us all for discussion and debate. Through thick and thin we have made it once again through a decade of importance for all. Hopefully many will grapple with the lessons and make hay out of them for the better of our Nation and our individual progress in this life. May God continue with his blessings upon this Christian Nation.
Alan Brooks| 12.31.09 @ 7:45PM
Please, no more George Bushes, or Caroline Kennedys for that matter.
If you want a dynasty, let it be a Coolidge-type dynasty.
Alan Brooks| 12.31.09 @ 7:46PM
...look, you dont like Obama?
Then put up or shut up.
Osamas Pajamas| 1.2.10 @ 7:00PM
So if a Bush came along with "better ideas than Gee Dubya had" you would reject him because of his bloodline? Isn't that racism of a sort ---- given that we elect these clowns rather than receive them in royal dynastic fashion?
NoJarHead| 12.31.09 @ 8:05AM
Ms.Fabrizio apparently did not read Mr.Hannaford's essay about the Zero Decade. If I read this one correctly,the young lady alludes to the beginning of the twenty-first century as being 2001 and that is correct. Crunch the numbers,you can do this simple calculation in your head,and we are still one year short of a decade. Half the pulp I read about events from the past nine years is written by authors who count zero as one.
Osamas Pajamas| 1.2.10 @ 7:01PM
Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
Ken (Old Texican)| 12.31.09 @ 10:49AM
NOJarHead,
Oh thank you so much for that digression. You are so so clever.
Retired Marine,
I second your comment in it's entirety. Well rounded off.
Mizz Fabrizio,
Thank you for that article.
In light of the raving lunatic that Al Gore has proven to be over the last nine years.....every single time I hear a negative remark about George W. Bush.....I shudder to think...what if?
Our Lord truly has mercy. He allowed us one more chance, and my question today is...have we blown it?
Honestly, imagine just what kind of Presidency would Al Gore have given us. I literally get chills thinking about an ABSOLUTE LIAR AND COWARD Mr. Gore has proven to be.
In fact, every time I started to rail at Dubyah on his mistakes...I always found myself shuddering at our alternative in the whitehouse.
Based upon his words prior to the 2000 election, and his words since.....I would be delighted to see an article by you as to the different turns Mr. Gore might have taken in crucial moments.
I am very much afraid we have simply a slicker version of blowhard in the oval office today...heh...or next week anyway. Worse, we have I believe, an avowed communist, (pardon the shorthand), who genuinely wants to "dismantle our country" in Mr Sowell's words.
Finally, with all his mistakes, I thank God every single day for George Dubya... and Dick Cheny as well.
Bill Haase, Jr| 1.2.10 @ 10:30AM
Well said.
Pingback| 12.31.09 @ 3:53PM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Ten Years in the Life of a Nation [s links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
capecodgurl| 12.31.09 @ 4:19PM
On Sept 12, 2001 virtually everyone stood behing George Bush..flags fling on cars, bumpers stickers & pins w/ United We Stand. When we went into Afghanistan to root out Bin Laden we all held our collective resolve..but in 2002 when Bush turned to Iraq..some began to question..some Dems & some GOP..as that war went on with untruths & war profiteering soaring.. yes, support unravelled. When Iraq municipal offices like water & electricity were filled w/patronage ppl who behaved ineptly...when terrorism soared..Bush recd firestorm of criticism.
If you believe Bush kept us safe as a useful benchmark..recognize that from 1993 to 2000 there were no deaths on US soil for Clinton either.
My question is why did Obama not receive the same United We Stand when there was an attack attempt on Christmas Day? Are we no longer capable of standing united in the face of an enemy?
Dai Alanye | 12.31.09 @ 6:15PM
By and large, Americans want presidents who are strong not weak.
When Carter displayed weakness the people abandoned him. When GHW Bush first displayed strength his popularity soared, but when he weakened he was abandoned.
BO has faked a strength he doesn't have, and as the veneer wears thin the people are turning against him. Had he taken a strong and believable stand against terrorism following this late attack his popularity would have risen spectacularly as both independents and conservatives rallied to him. Instead he chose, as usual, a wishy-washy response, depending on mere talk instead of initiating action. He’s now in the process of selecting scapegoats, the action of a weakling.
For the failure of his popularity he has no one to blame but himself, for why should we unite behind someone leading us toward defeat?
Ret. Marine| 1.1.10 @ 6:44AM
How soon we do forget our history, let's see, 6 at the World Trade Center in 93? Ring a bell does it there?
Jim Hlavac | 1.1.10 @ 11:21AM
Obama did not receive the same United We Stand that Bush did because Obama said it was a mere lonely criminal assault -- and not an act of terrorism or war. Few are going to stand up for a president who says that a criminal was just a plain old bad guy, there's lot of those, and there is no patriotism in it -- but if Obama had within an hour or two rushed off the golf course, headed to a military base, and spoke to the nation about the war-time attack on our soil, and announced the vast and overwhelming response, well, then perhaps the difference would be different. This should have been one of the rare times he should address the nation rather than his almost daily bleating about how he's going to transform America into what he wants despite the opposition against him -- and how we should not get all flustered that muslims of every stripe are intent on killing us and we should not get upset about it all.
If he had fired Napolitano moments after she said the system worked -- well, now there's another We All Together moment, but no, heckava' job eh?
Obama yawned, so we yawned right back at him -- and then the rest of us reasonable people called it was it is -- a worldwide war against civilization as we know it by a bunch of wacko muslims who want to push us back into the dark ages of some fabled past and the 12th Imam. How progressive can you get eh? The past as future. And Obama said don't worry -- so we "don't" -- though, of course we do -- but it is hard to get behind a mush-head who says it's all no big deal and goes back to the only links he seems to recognize -- those between the 18 holes in his policies.
victor| 1.7.10 @ 12:03AM
Jim Hlavac:
"Obama did not receive the same United We Stand that Bush did because Obama said it was a mere lonely criminal assault"
You're asking something that the Current Occupant cannot give: Love for this Country and Moral Outrage at those want us DEAD!
GW never once, made me doubt he was an AMERICAN!
This "boy" in grown up clothes, cannot even muster the appearance of being an American president who is outraged at our enemies.
He doesn't feel the same way you and I do, because he simply doesn't believe in America.
Osamas Pajamas| 1.2.10 @ 7:03PM
Because Barak Hushpuppy OhBummer has more in common with the enemy than he does with the American people.
Pingback| 12.31.09 @ 7:23PM
6 Tips for Picking a Real Estate Agent in Huntersville North Carolina | North Carolin links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 1.1.10 @ 5:39AM
The American Spectator : Ten Years in the Life of a Nation American Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 1.1.10 @ 6:48AM
The 2010 Food Crisis Means Financial Armageddon | NO LIES RADIO | Chenango County NY links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 1.1.10 @ 7:25AM
The American Spectator : Ten Years in the Life of a Nation capital university links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Ken (Old Texican)| 1.2.10 @ 9:40AM
Dai,
I appreciate your words, but I have a little different take on ..."what Americans want".
Most Americans want a President to "be on our side"....with strength.
Mistakenly, I believe, the loony left believed Obama was on their side. Nope. The poverts across the country thought Obama was on their side. Nope.
Many of us who have spent a lifetime sweating for our living in honest productive work knew he was not on our side. Yep.
Many more were simply tricked by Obama with the help of the slime-ball corrupt media. Yep.
During this last ten years, we watched Mr. Dubyah and Mr. Cheny spend virtually all of their "political capital" trying to defend us from Islamic aggression. Yep.
Even so, those two fine men almost lost the wars due to the cowardly self-serving Democrats controlling the congress since 2006. Yep
From now on, when flying commercially, I am going to make it a point to begin profiling my fellow passengers, both in the boarding lounge, and then on the plane itself. Given a choice, I always sit in the rear seats of an airliner anyway.
I am going to eyeball every single passenger that walks down the aisle to the bathroom and watch for stress overload. Every one of you can do this as well, and whisper to a flight attendant when you get a tickle. Better safe than sorry sheep. Yep.
You ladies may want to begin carrying hard sided purses with you on a plane. I will certainly be carrying a hard-sided briefcase, always do since 9-11. A good whack in the face...or three... prior to lighting a "fuse" can just ruin a hijacker's day .
We keep writing about personal responsibility and freedom here. Start putting it in action.
Thank you
Osamas Pajamas| 1.2.10 @ 7:06PM
Gee Dubya Booosh was not Winston Churchill ---- but he rallied the American people to such a degree that it annoyed the hell out of the professional Democrats like Barak Hushpuppy OhBummer, Gaseous Al Gore, Nazi Pelosi, and Dingy Harry Reid.
Margie| 1.2.10 @ 7:42PM
You couldn't pay me to board a plane! I'm just one of "those people" as my Russian Mother-in-law proclaimed!
May God protect all you normal types who are much braver than me!
Scott| 1.3.10 @ 2:57AM
"It ain't me - it ain't me I ain't no Senator's Son, it ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no fortunate one" ~ John Fogerty
Obama is life imitating art; He is indeed the Manchurian President. With each passing day we witness Obama and his Democratic enablers seemingly on purpose destroy our American way of life. Obama refuses to produce a legitimate birth certificate, now why would anyone spend millions of dollars in attorney fees to prevent from having to show a certificate of birth? The only logical answer of course is he has something to hide. Yet this same man decrees that Guantanamo detainees be read Miranda rights and tried in the US civilian court system and if found guilty these extremists will be incarcerated at a prison in the State of Illinois. Recently an officer in the United States Army questioned Obama's legal authority as Commander and Chief to order him into Afghanistan, not because the soldier was unwilling to go but wanted proof that Obama was in fact a legal US resident, a requirement necessary to hold the office of United States President, what happens? The soldier’s orders are rescinded. Obama was molded shaped and hand selected by radicals like George Soros, terrorist Bill Ayers, racist Rev. Jeremiah Wright Sr. with the final nod of approval granted by Senator Ted “Chappaquiddick” Kennedy. It really shouldn't surprise anyone that Obama and his accomplices are attempting to create as much havoc and damage as possible before leaving office. Do not allow these people to legislate away our firearms and ammunition as this very well may be our last line of defense. Sad part is our main stream media will make me out to be the extremist. God Bless America and those of us who are still willing to defend her against all enemies foreign and DOMESTIC.
Blackwatch| 1.3.10 @ 7:18PM
Scott,
there are thousands of fellow "extremists" in this country that will exercise our 2nd ammendment rights when they attempt to take them away from us. We can take aim at all those wishing to enslave us and that includes the dinosaur media. Not all the thugs where a powder blue uniform or black leather rain coat and jack boots. Some have "TV" stamped on their helmut and flak jacket.
FTM| 1.3.10 @ 8:31PM
Would anyone care to enter into a speculative discussion on the war in Iraq? From a strategic standpoint. Why would Bush enter on such a course of action when General Powell, a man of inpeccable personal integrity and military experience advised against the course of action?
Anyone?
First let me say that Bush was probably not one of the strongest presidents that we've ever had. However Obama and Carter are rolling around in the mud over which will be the most irrelevant.
From my chair, the war in Iraq was all about capturing and/or killing Saddam Hussain (mission accomplished) and killing as many radical Muslims in as short a time as was humanly possible, again mission accomplished.
Please recall the number of enemy combattants stepped on killed or captured in Iraq from places the likes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The Saudis and Egyptians both wanted these people gone but lacked a legal pretext. Bear in mind that both of these nations have secular governments in much the same fashion as Turkey. During the course of the war in Iraq rabidly militant nut cases from all over the middle east were going to Iraq where they were they congregated, they were identified and they were destroyed. The active combat element of the war in Iraq faded as the number of willing participants decreased to ineffectivity. Iraq is a more peaceful place today, comparatively speaking and so is Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Places like Sudan are more peaceful too but Sudan is a long, long way away from having a secular government.
That's my take anyway. Afganistan as a theater of operations for such an operation as was executed in Iraq wouldn't do because of problems of movement within afganistan. The Afgan people have a hard enough time getting around in Afganistan. The idea is to lure the enemy into a conveniently entered killing ground, please read Sun Tsu.
Another reason to engage in a War in Iraq is also, of course, to have bookended Iran the world's acknowledged leader in state sponsored terrorism. Please recall Iran supplying SFPs (Self Forging Penetrators) to the enemy in Iraq.
Seems to me, once again from my chair the course persued by the Bush administration was totally effective in reducing the number of terrorists available to engage in any action against anybody anywhere. What has the Obama administration accomplished other than to reassure the enemy that this course of action will be reversed as soon as Obama can figure out how to disengage and not look like a complete incompetant in the process.
Last comment, from my chair, seems to me that the liberals in this country in the light of the War on Terror, Climate Change, Health care and other issues and their complete lack of regard for the desires of their respective constituencies have rendered themselves irrelevant for at least a generation. Now, with this advantage in hand watch the conservitives screw their agenda all up just like Gingrich did.
Pingback| 1.5.10 @ 10:14PM
Ed Driscoll » In A Single Decade, America Comes Full Circle links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
sfdgsd| 4.7.10 @ 9:36PM
iTunes Converter is a professional and multifunctional software which can convert iTunes support formats, such as MP3, AIFF, WAV, MPEG-4, AAC, Apple Lossless, etc. to any other format and vice versa.
AVI to MP4 Converter is a professional and multifunctional software which can not only convert AVI to MP4, but also support converting between all other video formats, HD video formats included. In addition, AVI to MP4 Converter also functions as excellent AVI codec, audio converter, audio/picture extractor and video editor.
werwe
xzcv| 5.5.10 @ 3:39AM
Flip Converter is a professional Flip Video Converter to help you convert Flip video, you can use it as Flip HD video converter and Flip MP4 converter. Supporting all Flip camcorder models, it can also function as Flip Ultra converter and Flip Mino converter.
ffggg
Electromechanical meter | 4.20.11 @ 4:32AM
I hope you have a nice day! Very good article, well written and very thought out. I am looking forward to reading more of your posts in the future.