‘Proven lessons of President Reagan’

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12:58 PM Friday, November 13, 2009

What a difference a president makes. The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall was just celebrated in Germany. What an incredible moment in history.

How did this occur? I remember laughing when President (Ronald) Reagan gave the speech saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Lo and behold, the wall came down. Nobody laughed anymore.

Within hours of President Reagan taking the oath of office, the Iranians released the American hostages who had been held hostage for 444 days under President (Jimmy) Carter. Carter always wanted to negotiate with someone to solve problems. Carter always wanted to talk.

The Iranians, on the other hand, were so afraid of Reagan that they sent the hostages home without discussion. Why? Because they knew that Reagan wouldn’t just talk; he would act.

President Reagan met with (Mikhail) Gorbachev in Iceland. Reagan didn’t get what he wanted and walked away. We could have had nuclear disarmament. I remembered the pundits at the time saying that Reagan was bringing us to the brink of World War III. The result? The Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain collapsed. President Reagan didn’t just talk; he acted.

Now we have President (Barack) Obama who, like President Carter, loves to talk. He wants the world to love us. He wants to negotiate. He thinks that, because of his charm, he will get his way. ... His foreign policy record to date? A big fat zero. We’re still involved in two wars. Afghanistan is getting worse. ...

Your supporters keep talking about hope and change we can believe in. Mr. Obama, maybe if you learned some of the proven lessons of President Reagan, (you would learn that) talk alone is not sufficient. You must also be prepared to act. Someday, if you ever learn this lesson, you might be a better president. ...

Hall M. Thompson

Hamilton

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