This is the story of two very different American presidents and how they each answered their emergency Libyan phone calls.
First, the story of Ronald Reagan. When he got a call about trouble with Libya, it was in August of 1981, and I happened to be having dinner with him and Nancy in Los Angeles.
We had just finished eating and were having coffee when Ed Meese phoned. Meese was my father’s top policy adviser, and there was a serious military crisis brewing in the Mediterranean.
At the time, the United States Navy was conducting war exercises in international waters in the Gulf of Sidra off the Libyan coast.
Since 1973, Moammar Gadhafi had claimed the gulf was part of Libya’s territorial waters and had “drawn a line” in the water that no one could cross.
The United States ignored the claim, which clearly violated international law; and during naval maneuvers in 1973 and again in the fall of 1980, our reconnaissance planes were fired on by Libyan fighter planes.
Jimmy Carter had cancelled American war games in the Gulf of Sidra because he didn’t want to upset Gadhafi. But when my father took office, he ordered them to be resumed.
Ed Meese told my father over the phone that Gadhafi was sending out fighters that were locking onto our planes with their radar. There was worry that one of the Libyan jets would fire on one of our airplanes.
Meese asked my father what we should do if our planes were fired upon.
“Ed, fire back,” he said.
“What if they fire at our planes and run?”
“Chase them,” my father said.
“What happens if they fire on our boys and not only fire and run, they fly back into their own airspace?”
“Ed, if they fire on our boys, you chase them all the way back to their hangars if necessary, but you shoot them down.”
“Fine, Mr. President. Should I call you and wake you if necessary?”
“No,” my father said. “Only call me if our boys are shot down.”
The next morning, we woke up to find two Libyan Su-22 fighter planes destroyed because a missile had been fired at one of our F-14 Tomcats. Meese never called my father to tell him because our boys were not shot down.
When his emergency phone call came in, Ronald Reagan answered it like a commander-in-chief.
When President Obama’s call came in telling him our consulate in Benghazi was under attack by terrorists, he put American lives on hold.
He didn’t send in the Marines or scramble jets. He was too busy trying to be eye-candy on “The View” or making his appointment for his fundraiser in Vegas.
That’s the difference between two presidents — one strong, one weak. One who answered the call, one who did not.
And you can add a third president to this story. As weak as he was, Jimmy Carter at least tried to rescue the hostages in Tehran. Barack Obama did not even try to save our brave men in Benghazi.
I tell that story about how my father dealt with his Libyan crisis to show you the stark difference between him and our sorry excuse for a commander-in-chief who wants four more years in office.
We all understand that next week’s election will come down to “the economy, stupid” for many people. But we should never forget how a president should answer the call when American lives are on the line.
Photo credit: WEBN-TV (Creative Commons)
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Dear Mike, there is no comparison to this sorry excuse for a HUMAN being, and your father, Ronald. None what so ever, for your father was a MAN, and this thing in office now cannot even be considered to be that. He is the sorriest excuse for a male as any who ever lived. He is a coward, a bully and the ENEMY OF THE UNITED STATES, more than he is anything else. He is the Enemy who sits in the public eye, and no one has confronted him, nor called him out on his misdeeds and wrongful doings since he first splashed upon the political scene in, I think, 2007. Not one valid question has ever been asked of this insulting peice of garbage who somehow managed to “win” the election in 2008. Even when a question arises, this liar in office behaves as if he is somehow releived of all responsibility of the office he holds, and of anything else. He is in his own eyes, perfect, and NOT to be questioned as any other human being. He seems to beleive that he is some kind of “god” whom we should all fall down and worship as such. There is no humility in this dishonest, lying, greedy, despicable peice of trash who has infected, and infested our nation with his diseases which are many. Diseases of the mind, as well as everything else. Your father was an honorable man, and an humble man also. He loved our country, and did exactly what a true, American President is to do, Protect and Defend our US Constitution, and the United Staes of America, and the Citizens of America. Your father did the job of President with dignity and honor. This Insulting Mu SLIME now in office has done everything he can to DESTROY AND DEFEAT OUR PEOPLE, AT HOME AND ABROAD! He has done all that he can to bring us to the brink of a disaster that is worse than any natural or man made disaster ever before! And if allowed to finish his “JOB” of DESTROYING US AND OUR NATION, HE WILL MOST CERTIANLY DO EXACTLY THAT, AND WITH PLEASURE, BECAUSE HE HATES US AND OUR AMERICA! Mike, I live in the part of Texas known as Tornado Alley. And no tornado has ever scared me as badly as this EVIL WHO NOW SITS IN OUR WHITE HOUSE WITH THE INTENT OF DOING MORE DAMAGE TO AMERICA THAN ALL THE TORNADOES TO HAVE EVER HIT THIS STATE OR OTHERS ALL COMBINED! I have NEVER been more scared, more truly frightened than I am now for the SURVIVAL of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! I wish, God Almighty, I wish there was another MAN like YOUR FATHER!!!!!!! Romney is as close as it gets, so my vote is for Mitt Romney, and Paul Ryan! I go vote today! God be with you, and all God Fearing Americans as well.
Ron Reagan was real man and a REAL President, Obama is a foreigner and a Muslim…so Obama needs to go!!!