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2009-01-19 Now that change has come to America in the earthly form of Barack Obama, it is time he deliver the change promised during his miracle campaign – the campaign that convinced the masses he could walk on water, heal the world and provide a chicken in every pot. But for his first couple of miracles, why don't we lower the bar. That way he can leave the big ones for the next election cycle.
How about a couple of items Bush either would not or could not do?
Closing Gitmo
I have always been in favor of Gitmo. It made complete sense to me in that we were able to keep very dangerous terrorists in a foreign land where their ability to hurt and kill is zero. However Obama promised, as one of his first acts as the change president, he would close Gitmo in hopes the world would love him and America as a result.
So I say close it, and close it now. But what shall we do with the prisoners?
Transfer them to the Maricopa County Jail in Phoenix, Ariz., where they will meet one of my heroes, Sheriff Joe Arpaio: the toughest sheriff in America. He's a sheriff who believes jail should be a miserable experience and, as such, one bad guys won't wish to repeat.
The detainees, who have become the darlings of liberal America, will no longer get lemon chicken with rice pilaf for dinner. It will be replaced with green bologna sandwiches. On the rare occasion they do get a hot meal, it will contain "mystery meat" of the sheriff's choosing.
The "misunderstood" terrorists will turn in their politically correct, jihad approved garb for pink underwear and black and white stripes. Any peep of discord will be met with a deafening silence from Sheriff Joe. He could care less if his prisoners are happy with the couture.
Joe will provide them a tent in the middle of the hot desert from which they will be dispatched daily into the Arizona sun for work detail. I suspect Joe will reinstate chain gangs for these type of prisoners. It will look like a scene out of "Cool Hand Luke." I doubt they will find time to pray five times a day, and I can assure you the sheriff will not be providing Islamic-approved prayer mats.
Within a few days the detainees will be begging for Obama to reopen Gitmo and send them back. They will demand their ACLU attorneys file suit. But if those ACLU attorneys try to intimidate Sheriff Joe, he will tell them to fly a kite ... or something like that. Obama might cave, but Sheriff Joe will not. He runs a jail, not a fraternity.
I am all for Obama closing what has been a country club for these lowlife terrorists. They have been treated better than most hotel guests and afforded more rights than Rod Blagojevich or Scooter Libby. These detainees should be made miserable, not comfortable. If they had been caught by other countries in their homelands they would have been executed. So close it Obama, and let these terrorists get a taste of American prisons. I'm sure they will love it.
Pardon Agents Ramos and Compean
Act two for Obama should be releasing the two border patrol agents who sit rotting in jail for doing their jobs. Since an intransigent President Bush would not pardon them, Obama doing so would show America that true public servants count in his world.
Think of the good will to be gained by such an act. I would even go one step further and suggest Obama promote both agents to positions of the highest authority within the Border Patrol. Reinstate both men with full back pay and benefits. This would send a clear signal to the drug runners, coyotes and illegal aliens that our president is serious about our borders – a component of national security frighteningly absent during the Bush years.
I can hear Americans coast to coast cheering for our new president, and with two simple changes he can honor his promise of change to America – change we can see and believe in. It would be solid change that doesn't look like a continuation of Bush or Clinton policies.
Or he can abandon the theme of change now that he has won and continue to fill his cabinet with old Clinton cronies and feed the rumors that he is not the president but a puppet for the Clintons – just as critics claimed Cheney was the real power in the White House.
I am convinced Obama is more surprised than you and I that he won the presidency. He apparently is rather unequipped to handle this job and therefore is using the Clintons' people to run the country. Does anyone think for one minute loyalties forged during eight years with the Clintons will not present a problem for Obama? Do you think Hillary will let her peeps sell out?
I want our new president to succeed. I truly do. But for that to happen, he has to think outside the box and get away from business as usual in Washington. What better way for that to happen than to make some serious decisions in the first few weeks of his presidency to show that he is in charge, not his lawyer friends in the ACLU. He could show us he is a president who will make the unpopular decisions regardless of who they upset as long as they are good for America.
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