Why I support President Bush's Re-election

I was re-reading some of my recent posts this week and realized something. They're mostly negative. I've allowed the intensity and negativity of the campaign to dominate my writing here. But a funny thing has happened. Since I've already voted, absentee, I've found that I've almost completely tuned out of the election. I'm on an even keel. I'm not even that interested in weighing in on why the other guy is wrong.

So, I decided to pause and post something positive for a change. Let me list why I support the re-election bid of President George W. Bush.

1. I like his character. He's a staightforward man. He's a principaled man. He's a compassionate man. He's a man of faith. Despite all of his critics on that front, that's what I take from what I've read and heard and observed of him. He's a man of solid and unshakeable principles who is not particularly concerned about his legacy or about being liked.

2. I like his cabinet: - despite the overwhelming tide of hatred from the left mischaracterizing them. I think that Bush's cabinet is comprised of solid, experienced, and talented patriots who take the job of serving the President of the United States very seriously. I like them all: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Condi Rice, Colin Powell, etc.

Rumsfeld - who reacted to a military challenge in the aftermath of the worst attack on our nation ever and is getting the job done with spectacular military wins in Afghanistan and Iraq - reshaping our military from cold war obsolesence in the process.

Ashcroft - who undertook the serious business of reshaping the instruments of justice to bring them to bear on the most serious internal threats that we've faced.

It's clear to me that Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Aschroft - to mention only a few- are men of clear and unwavering convictions and that that clarity upsets a lot of people. So be it. I'm with them.

3. I like his policies: He learned the lesson of 9/11 - that we can no longer be safe with a policy of treating terrorism as a law enforcement issue and tracking down the individual terrorists to "bring them to justice", but that it's a war and the main foe is the state sponsor of terrorism that acts as a force multiplier by supplying financing, training bases, etc. He learned this lesson and he will not waver from it even under withering fire from the appeasement crowd in the media.

I like that he applied tax cuts accross the board and did not pander for votes.

Quote from this week on the stump: "The government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers. If you paid taxes, you should get some relief"

Dead on, constitutionally correct.

I like his stand to do what is right, not what is politically popular with the elites and the media of this country. Taking down the Taliban was the right thing to do. Deposing Sadaam was the right thing to do. (And I like that he spent the political capital that came with a 90% approval rating to do the right- but difficult - thing in Iraq.) I like that he stood up to the delusional United Nations and told them that they were on the verge of irrelevancy after 17 failed resolutions in 12 years in Iraq. Bush does what's right, not what's politically correct.

4. I like his leadership style: He's an executive. He sets the course for his team and delegates to them the responsibility to get results. He's not a micro-manager. He's not a legislator. He's an executive. And that is the job description of the President.

5. I like his wife: a very classy First Lady.

6. Finally, I like his optimism: It comes through in all of his speeches. While his opponent drones on with a litany of failures, misjudgements, and "lies" the President remains steadfast in demonstrating leadership through optimism.

While his critics have carped at him relentlessy through this term, he has perservered. At each step, his critics have been wrong. They've said:

- you can't go into Afghanistan and win. Look at what happened to Russia
- Iraq will be a quagmire with tens of thousands of casualties and will take months if not years to win
- you can have democratic elections in Afghanistan

and now, the chorus is - you can't have elections in Iraq. Oh yes we can, if Bush is still President.

I did not vote against someone. I did not vote for the "lesser of two evils". I voted, proudly, for someone who I admire, trust, and respect for President of the United States of America.