Officially, today is Memorial Day, but it really is Memorial Day. May 30 was the original day designated to remember and honor the members of our military who lost their lives in the line of duty.
In 1968, Congress designated certain federal holidays to create three-day weekends so Memorial Day now is always the last Monday of May. It's just a coincidence that this year, the last Monday is May 30!
It's a noble thing we do on this day when we salute the more than 1 million dead Americans those sacrifices enable us to be as we are today – free.
Unfortunately, freedom isn't guaranteed, which is why the passage of years has seen this country embroiled in a series of wars. While historians and revisionists continue to debate and argue the facts of each military engagement as to whether or not it was necessary, or whether we did or didn't "win," for the average American, it was something that was done and, like it or not, we have to live with the consequences.
Looking at the political intrigue of wars, it's clear none are as black and white as the typical history book would present them. There were good choices and mistakes, people we trusted and those who betrayed, results anticipated and those not.
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Reviews of history and national security are easy for Monday-morning quarterbacks, but most often the truth is buried deep and usually ignored if it doesn't fit the current political mood.
Barack Obama is the current president, and people either love him or hate him, both for him as a man and for his political policies.
The media and the culture mavens who see support of "the first black president" as a badge of honor, revere those who "love" Obama. For them, Obama can do no wrong – simply because he's "the first black president."
To them, his "blackness" is a free pass. Obama takes advantage of that. He's no fool. It enables him to do what he wants at will, the Constitution and the law be damned.
It also enables the first couple to commit breaches of protocol in their official duties without repercussions. Think of his gaffe, last week, in toasting the queen of England, his return of the Churchill bust to England, his gifts to the prime minister and the queen.
Think of his costly to taxpayer "dates" with his wife, his almost constant travels with every trip a campaign, his repeated apologies, especially to Muslim countries, for anything this country has done.
Those who "hate" Obama feel that way because they believe he's a president who doesn't seem to love this country and who shows no pride in our history, what we've done and will do.
Even his condolences after natural disasters sound robotic. His words are predictable after the floods and the tornadoes. Expected words, yes, but he hasn't said a word about Texans who are enduring fires which have blackened millions of acres destroying agriculture, burned thousands of homes, businesses and uncounted out-buildings and fences, killed thousands of farm animals and left at least two firefighters dead.
Gov. Rick Perry requested a disaster declaration but got no response at all.
Since Texas is a GOP state, it's clear why Obama ignored Perry. But in doing that, he also ignored every Texan, regardless of party.
Then, Houston was ignored as a permanent location for a retired space shuttle. Since Houston has been the heart of the space program, Obama's refusal to honor it is another act of petulant retribution more fitting for an adolescent who didn't get his way rather than the president of the United States.
Some call Obama the "man-child" in the White House. They're right. He's in over his head. He's so unequipped to do the job the presidency demands that the rest of the world laughs at him, and he's an embarrassment for all Americans and certainly, those we honor on Memorial Day.
How ironic that as we prepared for today, Obama pulled the rug of support out from under Israel, our only ally in the Middle East, by demanding Israel go back to 1967 borders, swap land and give up Jerusalem in order to gain "peace" with the Palestinians.
He thought he could get away with it, but he didn't reckon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a real adult, who politely and firmly set him straight. No, Israel will not use the old borders and will not negotiate with terrorists.
Obama seethed and embarrassed the United States, but Netanyahu honored his people and his country.
Those who said "Bibi for president" had a point.
At a time when the Middle East is a simmering cauldron of violence, when threats are flying against Israel, the U.S. and all of the West, the so-called leader of the free world shows himself to be what he is: an empty suit. He's all image – standing for himself and putting the free world in great danger.
He's at his best cheering himself to an adoring crowd – for example, his sudden "Irishness!" And speaking of the Irish O'Bamas – why was it so easy to find his maternal great, great, great, Irish grandfather and yet it's impossible to know definitively where Obama was born?
Somebody – please – hire that genealogist and get him busy.
I must admit, though, I found it fitting that his Irish "hometown" is "Moneygall."
That's Obama: a guy with lots of money and a lot of gall!