Nation Needs Leader with Consistency and Commitment, Says Col. North
by Chad Groening and Jody Brown
April 14, 2004
(AgapePress) - A high-profile military expert says there is no comparison between President Bush and Senator John Kerry when it comes to leadership during the war on terror.Recently Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry told a group of Democratic donors that President Bush has failed as a leader in the war in Iraq because his policies are too risky for American soldiers and cost taxpayers too much. Writing for The Washington Post, the Massachusetts senator seems to straddle the fence on the war issue, saying he wants to see a stable government build in Iraq, but chiding Bush for not getting the international support Kerry feels is necessary to do that.
But in his speech to the American people on Tuesday night, Bush explained why it is important that the mission in Iraq be continued, regardless of the costs. "Iraq is a part of the war on terror. It is not the war on terror; it is a theater in the war on terror," he said. "And it's essential we win this battle in the war on terror. By winning this battle, it will make other victories more certain in the war against the terrorists."
Retired Marine Lt. Colonel Oliver North says President Bush's policies have been consistent -- while Kerry has flip-flopped.
"Just compare the two, because I think leadership is ultimately the issue that ought to define a presidency," North says. "Is there consistency and a quality of consistency that would say that these two men are both equal? That these two deserve the same kind of recognition? I think you come to the conclusion that one of them does and one of them doesn't."
Jeffrey Goldfarb with the New School for Social Research in New York recently told Fox News that part of the problem Kerry faces is that his position on the war is not easy to explain. Acknowledging that Kerry has some inconsistencies, Goldfarb stated: "He appears to be on both sides of the issue. He recognizes some justification for the war, but is deeply critical of the way the war has been carried out."
That's where North has a problem with John Kerry. The retired Marine says the most important qualities in leadership are consistency and commitment -- qualities he says are not evident with Kerry.
"Those who are committed to an outcome and who persevere over all kinds of adversity in that process are the kinds of leaders that I have always wanted to follow [and] the kind of leader I sought to be," North says. "And the only way you can do that is to demonstrate your consistency in what you stand for.
North, who served as an aide to the National Security Advisor during Ronald Reagan's presidency, says President George W. Bush has more closely demonstrated what he looks for in a leader. "I simply challenge people to compare the consistency of these two men and the commitment that they made to what it is that they do," he says.
Bush Can't 'Out-Pander' the Panderers
According to a recent poll published by The Miami Herald, Hispanic voters don't appear to give priority to the qualities of leadership extolled by Oliver North. An immigration reform activist says implicit in the poll's findings is the appeal of what he calls Democratic "give-away programs."
The national poll of Hispanic voters shows John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president, with 58 percent of that vote, compared to just 33 percent for President Bush. Jim Staudenraus, who is eastern field director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, says the poll proves that the president's "pandering" to Hispanic voters is not working.
"The problem with the president's pandering campaign is you can't out-pander the Democrats, because they invented that word. You can't give away enough and still keep your Republican base," Staudenraus says. "What we're witnessing in the poll is that Hispanics -- because of income, not because of ethnicity -- of course are going to be more receptive to John Kerry's traditional Democrat give-away message."
The immigration reform advocate says as Hispanic incomes rise, Latinos tend to change from Democrats to Republicans. Until then, he says, they remain in the Kerry camp.
"There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the Republicans or the Bushes can do to change that law of political registration," he says. "The more money you make -- unless you're a trial lawyer or a Hollywood movie star -- you're going to go into the Republican camp. If you make minimum wage -- seven, eight, nine dollars an hour -- the Democrats' message is going to sway you [and] the give-away programs are going to appeal to you."
Staudenraus says most Hispanics fall into the lower income bracket. For that reason, he says he is not surprised that most of them do not support a Republican president.
