Rees Lloyd: A Tale of Two Americas on Washington's Birthday in the Age of Obama

by REES LLOYD

As many Americans pause on this Washington's Birthday Holiday (renamed "President's Day" by Act of Congress which should be reversed) to remember and reflect on what America was and represented at home and abroad in the Age of President and Commander-in-Chief George Washington, soldier and self-declared patriot, it is well to reflect on what America has become and represents at home and abroad in the Age of President and Commander-in-Chief Barack Hussein Obama, non-soldier and self-declared "progressive."

That it is a tale of two very different Americas on Washington's Birthday 2011 in the age of Obama, as to American values, the kind of nation America now is, and what America now represents at home and abroad, is reflected in two publications on Washington's Birthday Holiday: One from the New York Post headlined "Hero's unwelcome," pertaining to acts at Columbia University, President Obama's alma mater; and the other from WorldNetDaily.com, headlined: "Heroes: Stop Destroying Our Military," pertaining to the American military, Gen. George Washington's alma mater.

The New York Post reports in "Hero's Unwelcome," by Annie Karni:

"Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

'Racist!' some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.

"It doesn't matter how you feel about the war. It doesn't matter how you feel about fighting," said Maschek. "There are bad men out there plotting to kill you."

Several students laughed and jeered the Idaho native, a 10th Mountain Division infantryman who spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington recovering from grievous wounds.

Maschek, who is studying economics, miraculously survived the insurgent attack in Kirkuk. In the hail of gunfire, he broke both legs and suffered wounds to his abdomen, arm and chest. He enrolled last August at the Ivy League school, where an increasingly ugly battle is unfolding over the 42-year military ban there. ...."

The NY Post story notes that students and faculty at Columbia -- which, apparently, has not had federal funding and research grants cut off, as should be done --had voted down reinstatement of ROTC in 2005 citing as reason the "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" policy originated by liberal President William Clinton, himself a draft dodger in Vietnam. Now that DA/DT has been repealed by the lame duck session of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama 111th Congress, the new reason advanced for banning ROTC is based on support for "transgenders." To read the NY Post's entire story -- and see a photo of Sgt. Maschek in his wheel chair -- please go to this link:

In stark contrast to the America represented by the students and faculty at Columbia who never served, as reported by the NY Post, is the joint statement published by WorldNetDaily.com, of two of America's greatest living military heroes, Admiral Jeremiah A. Denton (USN, ret.), seven-years, seven-months a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady (USA, ret), Medal of Honor recipient in Vietnam. Adm. Denton and Gen. Brady, two of the most decorated heroes in American history, urge Americans to take a stand calling for the 112th Congress to reinstate the "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" policy hastily repealed in the post-election "lame duck" Pelosi-Reid-Obama 111th Congress. Based on their experience in the military in wartime, they regard the transformation of the military as a threat to the nation. See their joint statement on WorldNetDaily.com at: Heroes to Congress: Stop destroying military

These two heroes, Adm. Denton and Gen. Brady, following in the footsteps of General Washington, devoted their entire careers in military service to the nation, service which was greatly honored in the Age of General Washington, and service today which is smugly and self-righteously reviled by "progressive" elitists in the Age of Obama, who, like Obama, never deigned to serve.

On this George Washington's Birthday Holiday 2011, it is for every American to make a choice as to whether he or she stands for the America of strong military defense, limited government, personal liberty, and economic freedom created by the Founding Fathers in the Age of Washington, and exemplified by the lives of service patriotism of Admiral Denton and Gen, Brady; or the transformed America in the Age of Obama exemplified by the lives of non-service and "progressivism" of students and faculty of Columbia University, and other elitists.

(Rees Lloyd is a longtime civil rights attorney and veterans activist.)