For many of us media types, President Obama’s commencement speech at the U.S. Naval Academy on Friday was mainly about two things: values and diversity.
If those media types were more of the liberal persuasion, then certain quotes must have left them swooning. Like this one:
“…(I)n a world when so many forces and voices seek to divide us, it is inspiring that this class came together and succeeded together, from every state and every corner of the world. By building an institution that is more diverse than ever – more women, more Hispanics, more African Americans – the Naval Academy has reaffirmed a fundamental American truth: That out of many, we are one.”
Then there was this one, an indirect but none-too-subtle swipe at former President George W. Bush’s administration:
“Yesterday I visited the National Archives and the hall that holds our Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. I went there because as our nation debates how to deal with the security challenges that we face, we must remember this enduring truth: The values and ideals in those documents are not simply words written into aging parchment, they are the bedrock of our liberty and our security. We uphold our fundamental principles and values not just because we choose to, but because we swear to. Not because they feel good, but because they help keep us safe.
“Because when America strays from our values, it not only undermines the rule of law, it alienates us from our allies, it energizes our adversaries and it endangers our national security and the lives of our troops. So as Americans, we reject the false choice between our security and our ideals. We can and we must and we will protect both.”
Now it occurs to me that there is no specific anti-water boarding clause in the Constitution that pertains to enemy combatants. All the rights in the Constitution pertain to rights of those who are within our borders. And if the president weren’t too busy as a constitutional law professor indoctrinating his students with the radical feminist notion that a right to an abortion is the bulwark of women’s rights, he’d be familiar with the legal notion that our rights as Americans end at the border.
That’s why some people returning to America from abroad have discovered that customs agents who strip searched them looking for drugs without probable cause were perfectly justified. But it wasn’t Obama’s donning his white cowboy hat that struck me most about his speech. It was this quote:
“…(O)ur military remains the most trusted institution in the nation.”
Obama won’t get any argument from me on that point. What he will get is a question, the one the rest of the media should have asked and the one he didn’t touch in his first address as president to one of the nation’s military academies: If the military is indeed our most trusted institution, then why did one Barack Hussein Obama pass on serving in it?
After college Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School. Later, he became a community organizer in Chicago. I have no problem with either of those callings. Thousands have gone to Harvard Law, and tens of thousands to other law schools across the nation. And being a community organizer is a noble calling.
But for those who opt for the career path that leads from Harvard Law to community organizing to state senator to U.S. senator, I expect one thing: Don’t come before me years later running for president, in essence asking to be commander-in-chief of a military force you didn’t think was worthy of your commitment.
Maybe I’m just funny this way, but I would never, under any circumstances, vote for a presidential candidate who had no military experience, either as an officer or an enlisted man or woman. I have a laundry list of reasons why I didn’t vote for Obama; his passing on military service is in the top three.
Obama promised the graduates that he’d only “send them into harm’s way when it is absolutely necessary.” That promise would mean a lot more coming from a president who’d experienced at least some of the rigors of basic training.
Examiner columnist Gregory Kane is an award-winning journalist who lives in Baltimore.
