You wouldn’t know it from the press coverage, but today is the 68th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Following that attack, Americans came together and defeated the totalitarian evils threatening our nation. Decades later, our sons and daughters are once again defending our freedom in far-flung corners of the globe against another totalitarian threat – the evil of Islamofascism.

We didn’t win World War II with half-measures, politically correct tactics or discussions about deadlines for withdrawal. Victory was our only goal. And we had pre-conditions for talks with our enemies – their unconditional surrender. If Obama wants to model his presidency after FDR, he should start by overcoming his unease with the concept of victory.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday that Republican senators are prepared to filibuster the government-run public option and that on this vote there is no compromise.

You may recall that Olympia Snowe voted for the Baucus bill in committee in order to “keep the discussion going.” Yesterday, in a shot across the bow of Snowe and other “moderates,” McConnell said, “I think it’s appropriate to make the point at the outset that a vote … on the motion to proceed to this bill [to end the filibuster of the public option] will be treated as a vote on the merits of the bill.” Let me explain why.

This bill can’t be stopped by just Republicans. They have only 40 votes in the Senate – that is not enough to sustain a filibuster. Socialized medicine will pass or fail depending on what a handful of “moderate” Democrats do. If they vote with Harry Reid to let the bill come to the Senate floor, it will pass — period. The senators who most likely will control the fate of ObamaCare are:

• Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) — (501) 375-2993
• Mark Pryor (D-AR) — (501) 324-6336
• Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — (860) 549-8463
• Evan Bayh (D-IN) — (317) 554-0750
• Mary Landrieu (D-LA) — (225) 389-0395
• Max Baucus (D-MT) — (406) 657-6790
• Jon Tester (D-MT) — (406) 449-5401
• Kent Conrad (D-ND) — (701) 258-4648
• Byron Dorgan (D-ND) — (701) 250-4618
• Ben Nelson (D-NE) — (402) 441-4600
• Tim Johnson (D-SD) — (605) 332-8896
• Jim Webb (D-VA) — (804) 771-2221
• Mark Warner (D-VA) — (804) 739-0247

If you live in any of these states, be certain to call your senators and share your thoughts with them.

Who would have thought that the candidate who promised to transcend partisanship, who promised to unite the nation under the banner of “hope and change” and who rode into Washington with a herd of new donkeys would bear such a striking resemblance to Richard Nixon?

In recent weeks, the White House has decided to fire back against its critics and opponents. To a degree, that’s normal and expected. Politics is a contact sport, after all. But this White House and its allies – with some personnel taking inspiration from communist dictators – have gone way beyond what is normal or expected.

Calling critics “un-American,” threatening businesses with regulatory retribution and punitive taxation, literally locking committee doors and locking out the press is way beyond normal. It is, as House Republican Leader John Boehner said, “flat-out despicable.”  I’m pleased to report that in the past few days, there have been some positive developments.

Earlier this week, Tennessee’s soft-spoken senator, Lamar Alexander, went to the Senate floor and blasted the White House for compiling, as Nixon did, an “enemies list.”

This week, the White House made “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg available to the Washington press pool for interviews regarding his plan for salary caps at bailed out banks and companies. But Fox News was locked out. The other network news chiefs were stunned. To their credit, they told the White House to let Fox in or none of them would show up. The White House backed down.

Politico reports today: “A White House effort to undermine conservative critics is generating backlash on Capitol Hill – and not just from Republicans.” Many moderate Democrats are increasingly concerned about the White House’s heavy-handed attacks on the Chamber of Commerce.

Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are essential to the survival of liberty. If every media outlet spouts the same “party line,” how is that any different than what the Soviets did with Pravda? But that seems to be exactly what this White House wants – to control the media as White House Communications Director Anita Dunn said.

We’re getting dangerously close to going down the slippery-slope toward a state-run media, the subject of my weekly Human Eventscolumn, which you can read here.

Slowly Finding His Voice

As you know, we and other conservatives have been urging President Obama to speak up in support of the Iranian people who are daring to oppose the brutal Islamofascist regime that runs their country. Slowly the president is finding his voice, but it’s been a very frustrating exercise — like trying to get a two year-old to eat his vegetables. Meanwhile heads were getting cracked, dissidents were being jailed and innocent bystanders were being shot. Here is an excerpt of the president’s comments today at the White House:

“The United States and the international community have been appalled and outraged by the threats, the beatings and imprisonments of the last few days. I strongly condemn these unjust actions… I’ve made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not interfering with Iran’s affairs. …some in the Iranian government, in particular, are … accusing the United States and others in the West of instigating protests over the elections. These accusations are patently false. They’re an obvious attempt to distract people from what is truly taking place within Iran’s borders. …

“In 2009, no iron fist is strong enough to shut off the world from bearing witness to peaceful protests of justice. …Above all, we’ve seen courageous women stand up to the brutality and threats, and we’ve experienced the searing image of a woman bleeding to death on the streets. While this loss is raw and extraordinarily painful, we also know this: those who stand up for justice are always on the right side of history.”

Much better, Mr. President. Almost Reaganesque.

I was particularly surprised to see the president so forcefully shoot down the accusations of the Iranian regime that we were interfering and instigating the protests. After all, that had been the major excuse that he and so many in the media were offering for his silence – that any critical statements or messages of support would be seized upon by the regime as proof of our “meddling.” It was absurd to begin with (as Brit Hume notes), but the mullahs made the charge anyway. It seems Mr. Obama is no longer worried about “alienating the ayatollah.” Now that he has spoken up and removed his own fig leaf, maybe we can begin to have a real debate about a serious policy toward Iran. (More on that in the next item.)

Many dissidents assumed “Mr. Hope and Change” would be one of their strongest allies. Instead, politicians from the European Union took the lead. When France is a more aggressive advocate for freedom than the United States, the world should be worried. Let’s hope that the president’s statement is not too little, too late. Having received little in the way of encouragement from Washington, while the tyrants in Tehran terrorized their own citizens for days, the protests appear to be waning. I pray that this historic opportunity to break the back of the “axis of evil” and transform a state sponsor of terrorism is not yet lost.

Mohammed to Obama: “We need your help”

This morning I received an email from our friends at National Review that contained an excerpt from a CNN interview with one of the thousands of demonstrators in Tehran. This demonstrator, Mohammed, gives his opinion on what he thinks the United States and the rest of the world should do regarding Iran. Consider this exchange and how it contrasts with President Obama’s desire for dialogue and diplomacy based on “mutual respect”:

MOHAMMED: “Americans, European Union, international community, this government is definitely not elected by the majority of Iranians. So it’s illegal. Do not recognize it. Stop trading with them. Impose much more sanctions against them. My message, to the international community, especially I’m addressing President Obama directly — how can a government that doesn’t recognize its people’s rights and represses them brutally and mercilessly have nuclear activities? This government is a huge threat to global peace. Will a wise man give a sharp dagger to an insane person? We need your help international community. Don’t leave us alone.”

Mohammed gets it. Why is it so hard for our “experts” at the State Department and the White House? Diplomacy and appeasement do not dissuade dictators. President Obama is an impressive orator, but no one — not even Barack Hussein Obama — is going to talk a Holocaust-denying madman out of his desire to “wipe Israel off the map.” Words will not stop his work to destroy the “Great Satan,” which is how the Islamic radicals in Iran refer to the United States. The West must confront the reality that Mohammed is warning against. We need a serious plan of action, not just words. And here too Mohammed has a suggestion:

REPORTER: “Mohammed, what do you think the international community should do besides sanctions?”

MOHAMMED: “This regime is really dependent on importing gasoline. More than 85% of Iran’s gasoline is imported from foreign countries. I think the international communities must sanction exporting gasoline to Iran and that might shut down the government.”
The president should also rescind his invitation for Iranian diplomats to attend July 4th parties at U.S. embassies around the world. Obama dodged a question today about his “hot dog diplomacy” when asked by Fox News reporter Major Garrett if the Iranian government representatives were still welcome. And President Obama should immediately restore the funding that he cut for pro-democracy efforts in Iran.

- Excerpt from Gary Bauer’s Daily Report (6-23-09)
Sign up for his End of Day Report here.

Despite Obama’s silence, the House passed a bi-partisan resolution today supporting the Iranian dissidents who share our values. My good friend Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) introduced the following legislation on the House floor:

“Expressing support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law, and for other purposes. Resolved, That the House of Representatives-

(1) expresses its support for all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties, and rule of law;
(2) condemns the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the Government of Iran and pro-government militias, as well as the ongoing government suppression of independent electronic communication through interference with the Internet and cell phones; and
(3) affirms the university of individual rights and the importance of democratic and fair elections.”

The resolution passed by an overwhelming margin of 405-to-1. Who was the single representative who voted against the resolution? Nancy Pelosi? Barney Frank? No, it was none other than Republican isolationist Ron Paul of Texas. At least one of our branches of government has offered its support for the courageous Iranian citizens risking their lives in the name of freedom and democracy.

- Excerpt from Gary Bauer’s Daily Report
Sign up for his End of Day Report here.

The yearning for freedom continues in Iran, but Barack Hussein Obama remains sphinx-like in his response. He says he is “troubled” by the events the whole world is watching, but he assures everyone he remains committed to “engaging” Ahmadinejad. How about engaging the forces of democracy, Mr. President? How about one sentence from the “Leader of the Free World” urging the Iranian dictatorship to stop shooting, clubbing and arresting dissenters who simply want basic human rights. Unfortunately for those Iranians being shot, clubbed and jailed, Mr. Obama thinks that taking a stand for freedom would be “meddling.”

Has the president noticed that the demonstrators carry signs written in English? Does he realize the significance of Iranians chanting “Death to the Dictator” in our language not Farsi? They are trying to get your attention, Mr. President. They thought “hope and change” included them too. You may feel the constant need to apologize for America, Mr. President, but oppressed people of color around the world still see the country that embarrasses you as their “last best hope.”

The president has a lot on his plate, so I don’t want to be unfair. It takes a lot of hours to bankrupt a nation while running several major industries and getting ready to direct health care and control our climate. He needs to drop something from the “to do” list. Here’s my suggestion: You could stop bashing democracies like Israel, which is on our side, and instead bash tyrants that hate America.

- Excerpt from Gary Bauer’s Daily Report
Sign up for his End of Day Report here.

There is a large photo on the front page of [the] Washington Post [published June 15th] of an Iranian dissenter on the ground covering his head while government thugs beat him with their clubs. For years, analysts have told us that there are millions of Iranians like this man who want freedom and better relations with the United States. This weekend we saw evidence they exist as hundreds of thousands demonstrated in Tehran and other major cities against the Ahmadinejad regime, chanting “death to the dictator.” Any chance for good relations between Iran and the U.S. and between Iran and Israel depends on the people who are being oppressed in Iran right now eventually regaining power in their own country. But at this critical moment for liberty, Obama, Biden and Clinton are shamefully AWOL.

The explanation for their silence is simple – and disgusting. The Obama Administration has spent the last 5 months reaching out to Ahmadinejad. The president publicly stated that he is not interested in regime change in Tehran and promised a policy toward Iran based on “mutual respect.” The thirst for freedom in Iran is a complication for an administration that has already committed itself to appeasing the tyrants in the current Iranian regime. As a result the United States’ moral authority has been absent during the Iranian election and the protests that have followed. Surely even this administration will eventually become embarrassed as they fail to find any words to defend the only people in Iran with whom we may have “shared values.” At a bare minimum we should immediately increase radio and satellite broadcasts into Iran and use whatever internet tools we have to reach its people.

- Excerpt from Gary Bauer’s Daily Report
Sign up for his End of Day Report here.

PS: I’ve posted this quickly to get it out in the open. I’d be ever so grateful if you would help me add the appropriate source links to the article, if you know of any, by including them in the comments. Thanks!