God Bless America

A week ago, we had a crappy economy, a President who looked like a one-termer, and what appeared to be a waning influence in the world. Then President Barak Obama sent in SEAL Team Six and blasted Osama bin Laden off the face of the earth.

It was a pretty ridiculous week, all in all.  Donald Trump was getting an enormous amount of press by questioning the President's birth certificate.  People were actually listening to his accusations, so much so that the President released the birth certificate that everyone had been waiting for since before he got elected.  He even made light of it at the White House Correspondant's Dinner.  The man held the entire room in his hands and looked like he didn't have a care in the world, when, in fact, he was planning to send in an elite counter terrorism unit to exact revenge on the man who killed thousands of Americans on September 11, 2001.

There were a thousand things that could have gone wrong with this mission.  The helicopters could have malfunctioned, bin Laden could have had intel that the SEAL's were coming, the Pakistani's could have fired on the helicopters.  But things didn't go wrong, and the SEAL's got their man.  President Obama got his man.  Coming from me, a diehard non-Democrat, praise for our President might sound odd.  And to be honest, I never in a thousand years thought President Obama had the nerve to do what he did, but I'm glad I was wrong. 

This was a serious mission with serious consequences undertaken by serious people, President Obama being Serious Person Number One.  He had to make the decision to send in the SEAL's.  He had to send in a group of men who could be wounded, captured, or worse, killed and their bodies dragged through the streets.  We've seen it before, live on CNN. 

We live in serious times.  Thank God for our President, the men and women of the Armed Forces who are brave enough to stand in front of not A bullet, but a hailstorm of bullets in lands far, far away, so that we can be safe.  Thank them by flying your American flag proudly, not just on the Fourth of July, but EVERY DAY.  Thank them by shaking their hands when you see them.  Thank them by making them feel welcome in our city.  To paraphrase Will Smith, they be places that we need not be and they see things that we need not see - they deserve our respect and our admiration.

And just because this clip makes me cry everytime I see it, enjoy Kate Smith singing God Bless America from the 1943 movie 'This Is The Army'.  See if you can keep from crying with American Pride as she hits the last high note. 

Thank you Navy SEAL Team Six, thank you President Barak Obama, thank you ALL the men and women of our Armed Forces for allowing us to live safely in the Land Of The Free, The Home Of The Brave.