Ashamed by winning...

Some people today don't like the fact we keep score in sports. Why can't everyone win?

Some time ago, maybe months ago, I heard a pundit describe what he thought was a true oddity in our current Commander in Chief. "He is ashamed of winning. Not just of winning, but by winning. He thinks the successes we have had in the past have been unfair, possible unearned."

What the what? How an anyone be ashamed of winning? After all, have we not had our share of winning? World War II, the Cold War, the race to space, Gulf War, Iraqi War, and on and on? We spend quite of bit of our national treasure, as well as our precious blood to win these important events. For some reason, our President looks at these victories as embarrassing rather than a source of national pride.

I think the most egregious example of this curious phenomena is the Iraqi War. This was a very difficult war for the United States. Much more difficult that we imagined when we first went in. Many killed, many more wounded - some very seriously. However, we did win that war. With the cost of a tremendous amount of national blood and treasure, we won the war. We liberated a people who had been living under dictators for many years.

Our victory did not last long. Our current President, who eschews any type of conflict (except those directed to Republicans or Conservatives), could not wait to "right this wrong". Anbar Province in Iraq, which we fought so hard for, which cost us so much, is now being controlled by ISIL. Because President Obama almost sprinted to the exit door in Iraq (against his military's advice), we have now lost a war that we had won less than 10 years ago. Disgusting.

How about our "race to space". This country has dazzled and amazed the world with our stellar accomplishments. After the Soviets got a jump on us with Sputnik, we have caught up in spades. Our future, mankind's future, lies in the stars. After showing the world we can not only land on the Moon, have also have developed reusable space craft we have used for a multitude of orbital purposes. The next step is this - we decided to - quit. Yep. We are done. We have become hitch hikers to the Russians and the Chinese for a ride into space. We have turned our space program over to Virgin as well as other private enterprises. We have seen this weekend how does not work very well. NASA may not be perfect, but they are pretty darned good at what they do.

Back to war for a minute. One of the weapons which helped win the Gulf War as well as Iraqi War is the Tomahawk Missile. We have also used it against ISIL. Guess what? We are not going to make them anymore. Why? Is there something better coming down the pipe? Nope. Just not making them anymore. Winning wars will be a whole lot tougher without one of our best "stand off weapons". Go figure.

President Reagan liked to win - and we did win. President Bush liked to win - and we did (albeit harder) win. President Obama does not like to win - and it shows. Remember this in 2016 when we elect our next President. Lets learn our lesson from electing and re-electing this President. "Once burned, twice learned." Okay - maybe we did not learn. Maybe it should be "thrice learned". Let us elect the right person next time.