Another reason to be PROUD of your country!
By now, most folks have heard about the Great Uniter's wife gaffe:
Speaking in Wisconsin Monday, Michelle Obama caused a stir when she said, “for the first time in my adult lifetime I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.”
And like most of the punditry out there, my thoughts are:
- First time? Really? Harvard education, million dollar income, lots of opportunity, and the pride in your country is tied up SOLELY in the success of your husband? Nice to be supportive, ma'am, but isn't that just a tad myopic and condescending to the rest of us? How about being proud of those, both black and white, who gave their lives and fortunes to allow you to do this?
- That also tended as well to confirm what many conservatives believe: that many Liberals are not all the proud of their country and not all that patriotic (which does require, in no small part, that one be proud of their country. After all, if you have no pride in your country, why would you be patriotic? And no, I'm not going to add in the pic where Barack refused to honor the playing of our national anthem et al).
But if she's looking for a reason, try this by Jim Geraghty - doing what they said could never be done....
Last night, a satellite the size of a school bus, weighing about 5,000 pounds, with about 1,000 pounds of potentially dangerous hydrazine, continued its uncontrolled descent, coming to 130 miles above the earth's surface.
And then the USS Lake Erie fired a single Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) that flew up and hit the moving target, at a combined speed of 22,000 mph. What's left of the satellite has been deemed harmless.
Also, earlier this month, somebody in McLean, Virginia gave the order, somebody in Nevada "pulled the trigger" (pressed the button, most likely) and the number five most wanted al-Qaeda leader at his compound in the far-off corner of Mir Ali, Pakistan, was flame-broiled on the business end of a Hellfire missile fired from a Predator drone. It's an act unimaginable to the military of our fathers, and would seem like magic to the military of our grandfathers.
I don't know about Michelle Obama, but ingenuity and innovation like this give me another one of those moments where I'm proud of my country.
