Israel Must Be Able To Defend Itself

The President Does Not Have Power Under The Constitution To Unilaterally Authorize A Military Attack In A Situation That Does Not Involve Stopping An Actual Or Imminent Threat To The Nation. As Commander In Chief, The President Does Have A Duty To Protect And Defend The United States. In Instances Of Self-defense, The President Would Be Within His Constitutional Authority To Act Before Advising Congress Or Seeking Its Consent.

Politics Has Never Been For The Thin-skinned Or The Faint-of-heart, And If You Enter The Arena, You Should Expect To Get Roughed Up.

I Might Have Arguments With The Size Of Reagan's Military Buildup, But Given The Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan, Staying Ahead Of The Soviets Militarily Seemed A Sensible Thing To Do. Pride In Our Country, Respect For Our Armed Services, A Healthy Appreciation For The Dangers Beyond Our Borders, An Insistence That There Was No Easy Equivalence Between East And West--in All This I Had No Quarrel With Reagan. And When The Berlin Wall Came Tumbling Down, I Had To Give The Old Man His Due, Even If I Never Gave Him My Vote.

This Country Of Ours Has More Wealth Than Any Nation, But That's Not What Makes Us Rich. We Have The Most Powerful Military On Earth, But That's Not What Makes Us Strong. Our Universities And Our Culture Are The Envy Of The World, But That's Not What Keeps The World Coming To Our Shores. Instead, It Is That American Spirit - That American Promise - That Pushes Us Forward Even When The Path Is Uncertain; That Binds Us Together In Spite Of Our Differences; That Makes Us Fix Our Eye Not On What Is Seen, But What Is Unseen, That Better Place Around The Bend.

Sometimes I Wonder How Much Of These Debates Have To Do With The Desire, The Legitimate Desire, For That History To Be Recognized. Because There Is A Psychic Power To The Recognition That Is Not Satisfied With A Universal Program, It's Not Satisfied By The Affordable Care Act, Or An Expansion Of Pell Grants, Or An Expansion Of The Earned-income Tax Credit.