URBANNA — Having our president touring Ireland while the U.S., Taiwanese and Chinese Navy were all in the Formosa Straits seemingly on the brink of war reminded me of an old saw from the history of Rome. Nero, the sanity challenged Roman Emperor, was said to have fiddled while his city and empire was falling to ruin.
Whether Nero was actually fiddling or not is not the point. What the adage means is he was not taking care of business, doing his job, leading his country and defending his empire. He was asleep at the switch.
Our president might have been enjoying his week in Ireland touring castles with his son, Hunter, and others but I worried the entire time. I’m an ex-Navy wife and I couldn’t get the image of a U.S. aircraft carrier with several thousand brave men and women on board in service of defending our nation within easy distance of a Chinese missile that could have knocked the ship right out of the ocean instantaneously killing all of the thousands on board.
And yes, China has such missiles and we literally have no defense against them as they come into their target with such speed they cannot be shot down in time to save its target.
I have a humble question. How in the world could the commander in chief leave the country at such a perilous time to tour castles and reminisce about his Irish ancestors?
This president seems eerily absent from not only reality but from attention to his job. I felt from the start he was not as sharp as I would have wished our president and commander in chief to be, but I had hopes that all would be well. Not anymore. I fear the lack of leadership and strength that America now displays to friends and foes around the world.
Recently I wrote a letter to the editor to the Sentinel exclaiming what a fine leader Lud Kimbrough has been. Kimbrough is the supervisor from the Pinetop District. The letter stated the following traits that he possessed and that I thought had made him such an effective leader.
I wrote, “Lud has the personal traits that are needed in a leader — intelligence along with street sense, a pleasant demeanor, respect for all citizens, honesty, business acumen along with economic sense, a knack for leading people into making good decisions and, the most important trait of all, the ability to bring us all together into one Middlesex family.
While I was writing this letter I began to realize these same qualities are just as important in candidates we nominate and elect as president. Added to this list would be a hard worker, someone who will be on the job around the clock and dedicated to defending this nation and its people before anything else. Sure, everyone needs a break now and then, but if one doesn’t have the energy, determination and ability to be on duty full-time, that person has no business being in the White House.
It’s time voters start to realize we have to do a better job nominating and electing our commander in chief. I’m not just down on Biden. I was not impressed with Donald Trump, nor Barack Obama either. Both men, while they took their job more seriously than the present White House occupant, like the present leader, greatly polarized Americans and this is unforgivable. Americans are one family, if we want our Republic to survive we had better wake up, come together and start voting like we care about survival. Any potential leader that attempts to divide us as “one nation, indivisible,” is not presidential material.
Frankly, my worst nightmare is a repeat of a Trump-Biden election choice in 2024. We need new faces, new personalities, and fresh ideas to turn this nation and its people into one family.
If the people of Middlesex County can elect a person with the qualifications of Lud Kimbrough as supervisor, this nation should be able to get the same quality in the White House.
So don’t talk partisanship to me. Talk about qualifications for leadership, executive experience, economic sense, freedom from what I call “extreme dogma,” “corruption, kindness and respect” for “we the people,” physical energy, and mental acumen along with personality traits that will build us up and not tear us apart.
Yet, voters are easy to manipulate, and politicians use every means possible to excite, anger and invite “hot button issues” voting rather than making careful and rational selections. The use of negative advertising, social media outlets, in order to sling mud, spread dirt and disinformation, lies, and scandals in order to turn out negative voters has become the modus operandi of the day.
Let us hope we can improve our nomination and election of leaders. Before it’s too late.
© 2023
