Virtually all of our Presidents up to the present have been willing to take unpopular actions that they know will cost them if they believe it is in the best interest of the country: Harry Truman and the firing of Douglas MacArthur; Dwight D Eisenhower and the forced integration as well as the U2 fiasco; JFK and the Bay of Pigs as well as getting involved in Vietnam; LBJ with the expansion of the Vietnam war and the push for Civil Rights; Nixon with the China trip; Gerald Ford and the Nixon pardon; Jimmy Carter and nothing; Reagan and the Air Traffic Controllers as well as the Marine Barracks in Lebanon; George H. W. Bush and the first Gulf War; Bill Clinton with NAFTA and welfare reform; George W. Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and now Obama – it appears we have gone back to the days of Jimmy Carter.

Presidents are there to take the hard decisions and provide leadership. This nation is fortunate that most of our Presidents have done just that.