Patterns

Member Group : From the Kitchen Table

 
When trying to determine a person’s value system, you need to look at more than one event.  A person who values punctuality, for example, may be late for something.  But the tardiness will be the rare exception rather than the rule, and there will be a reason it.  It would be unfair to use that rare exception as the rule.
 
But when a behavior is repetitive, it is the most accurate method to define what a person values or disregards.
 
The President of the United States is the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces.  So what he thinks about the value of our men and women in uniform is critical. 
 
When he was sworn into the office, he neither personally attended nor sent a representative to the inaugural ball given in honor of our Congressional Medal of Honor winners.  He was the first President to ignore these American heroes.
 
On June 6 of this year, he chose to attend a California fundraiser for his re-election campaign rather than commemorate the sacrifice of those who stormed the beaches in Normandy on D-Day.  In all the years since the actual event, there have only been three in which the President did not schedule an event to honor those who died on those beaches.  The three years are 2010, 2011 and now 2012.  Mr. Obama was President for all of them.
 
In his budget showdown with Congress, Mr. Obama threatened to hold back the paychecks of our military unless he got what he wanted.  He did not threaten to hold back his own paycheck, or the paychecks of government bureaucrats, or welfare recipients.  Instead, he chose to use the men and women who defend our freedom as bargaining chips in his political battle.
 
His administration has offered a health care plan that will force the military to pay increased premiums for their health insurance.  The increases are not small, the proposal calls for the rates to jump by 345% over five years, meaning a veteran currently paying $460 per year will end up paying $2,048 for the same coverage.  The civilian defense workers, who are unionized, will see no increase in their premium costs.  Only those who have actually stood in harm’s way will be affected.
 
He has chosen to invoke executive privilege rather than release the information that would allow the parents of border agent and former Marine Brian Terry to learn what really happened in the death of their son.  Sadly, Mr. Terry is not the only law enforcement officer killed as a result of the Fast and Furious debacle.  But protecting the well-being of those officers has not been as important to Mr. Obama as protecting the political careers of those in the Department of Justice who have obstructed the investigation.
 
This is what is known as a pattern of behavior.  It is a pattern that demonstrates indifference, bordering on outright contempt, for those who are willing to sacrifice all to protect us. 
It is not only an insult to our military that such an unworthy individual holds the title "Commander-in-Chief" of America’s military, it is dangerous to their very lives. 
 
In most circumstances, we rely on them to protect us.  But right now, they need to know that they can rely on us to protect them by giving them a Commander-in-Chief worthy of the office.