Other Columns by Doug Patton
Doug Patton Bio

Printer-Friendly Version

Dear Mr. President:
By Doug Patton
October 4, 2004

You talk a lot about defending America. You believe, correctly, that this is your primary job as president. In many ways, you are the only one who can defend the nation from the terrorist menace that stalks us.

Yet, there is a more immediate menace stalking America, and unless you take immediate action to protect us from it, its tentacles will soon wrap themselves around our nation and strangle what is left of our Constitutional Republic. You, sir, are all that stands in its way.

That menace is John Forbes Kerry, who will be President-elect of the United States in a month unless you start giving the American people more than you gave in that first presidential debate.

Not since your father told the world he would rather be somewhere else by looking at his watch in a 1992 debate with Bill Clinton and Ross Perot has a presidential candidate turned in such a lackluster debate performance. It was the visual and verbal equivalent of Al Gore's sighs four years ago. With all due respect, Mr. President, it was, quite simply, inexcusable. You let down millions of supporters. You let down your hard-core volunteers sacrificing their time and resources in all those battleground states. But worst of all, you made us all more vulnerable to the horrors of a John Kerry presidency.

Let me state for the record that I believe you won the debate on substance. However, in politics, perception is reality, and in terms of style, it was Kerry's debate all the way. He was smooth, articulate and prepared. You acted petulant and perturbed, as though the barbs thrown at you were accusations you had never heard before. Kerry hammered you on the war in Iraq. You responded with frowns, repeating the same tired phrases over and over. Such pained body language, combined with such poor delivery, would destroy the greatest message ever written about the greatest strategy ever devised.

I don't know whether Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, et al, told you not to risk offending women voters by attacking Kerry head-on, or whether being redundant was somehow just your way of "staying on message." What I do know is that in your one crucial debate on foreign affairs, you never once mentioned your opponent's 20-year Senate record of appeasement and capitulation to the enemies of America. When you, the President of the United States, had the chance to deliver a political knockout blow to the candidacy of the most dangerous man ever to seek the presidency in modern times, you chose instead to let him off the hook.

Mr. President, I am an avid supporter of your reelection. I don't agree with all of your policies. You are too lax on border security and illegal immigration. You spend far too much of my hard-earned money on federal programs with no Constitutional mandate. You support the wrong candidates at the wrong time in the wrong place just because they are incumbents who call themselves Republicans (Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania springs to mind). But you are clearly the better choice in this election, from your desire to rein in federal judges who run roughshod over the Constitution, to your clear and unwavering desire to hunt down terrorists wherever you may find them.

We, the people, deserve better than what you gave us in that first debate. We, the people, have entrusted you with the most important seat of power in the world at a crucial moment in history. We, the people, are counting on you as our last line of defense against those who would seek to destroy our way of life.

Mr. President, I beseech you, defend us from our enemies, starting with John Kerry.

-----------

Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speechwriter, policy advisor and communications director for federal, state and local candidates, elected officials and public policy organizations. His weekly columns are published in newspapers across the country and on selected Internet websites. Readers can e-mail him at dpatton@neonramp.com.

--------------------

Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.