Bush and the damage to America

ON June 27, Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke at the Center for a New American Security.

"We can repair the damage that has been done to our security and our standing over these past six years. We can rebuild our alliances and restore our moral authority, and reestablish our leadership in the world. And by doing so, we can forge a new American security for this new century,"

What in the devil was the woman talking about? The idea that our allies abandoned us is more Clintonian spin.

Let's look at the facts. In the past year, Canada elected a conservative prime minister, who of course is pro-American. Britain replaced the pro-American Tony Blair with the pro-American Gordon Brown. And South Korea, which had an anti-American streak a mile wide in 2002, elected the retired head of Hyundai, Lee Myung-bak, as its president. He's pro-American as well. Mrs. Clinton's ridiculous statement came less than six weeks after France elected as its president Nicolas Sarkozy, who calls himself - unabashedly - L'Americain.
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The reason for Democratic minority votes is Democrats continue to fail the security test. Bush gets it. So do the allies.

True, except for England and Australia, no major ally signed on for Iraq. Instead, they eased the burden in Afghanistan instead. Roughly half the allied troops in Afghanistan are from our NATO allies. NATO was set up to protect Europe. Under George Bush's leadership, it ventured into Asia. The new Australian government just re-upped for another two years, as have the Dutch and the Canadians.
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To be sure, many are the countries that liked the Clinton administration and who now despise the Bush administration. Some of their names are Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba.

Everyone says in public that they don't like having America as the lone superpower and that America should not be the world's cop. But in their hearts, they thank God for America. The world President Bush inherited from Mrs. Clinton's husband was far less secure, as we learned on Sept. 11, 2001. There has been no successful attack on us since. Maybe it is luck. Likely not.

Thanks to a surge that she did not support, Iraq likely will be on its own on Jan. 20, 2009. Overthrowing Saddam Hussein had many benefits. It ended once and for all the threats from Iraq. It convinced Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions in 2003 (although Iran may have resumed). It ended sponsorship of terrorist attacks on Israel. It convinced Libya that maybe now is not a good time to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The world still has its problems. But compared to the mess Bush received from the first President Clinton, things are better. Much better.

http://dailymail.com/Opinion/DonSurber/200801100392