We Once Had a Real Leader, President Richard M. Nixon

          It’s almost pathetic to hear the President of the United States whining about the coverage he has received from the news media, but that’s just what Mr. Obama has been doing recently, never mind that all the major networks and all but one cable outlet have been in the tank for him from the outset.  Referring to Fox News, the nation’s highest rated cable news channel, he even went so far as to say that it was ‘destructive’ to the United States.

          Imagine what it must have been like not so long ago when there were no cable news outlets and only three major networks, all of which were firmly on the side of the liberal Democrats, just as they are today.  That is the situation that President Richard Nixon found himself in when he assumed the presidency in 1969.  For the six and one half years he was in the White House, the TV news anchors at ABC, CBS and NBC battered him on a nightly basis until the American people, presented with no alternative, eventually began to believe what they said, whether it was true or not.  Night after night Dan Rather and Walter Cronkite at CBS, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and John Chancellor at NBC and Harry Reasoner, Frank Reynolds and Howard K. Smith at ABC railed against President Nixon and everything he stood for, including his efforts to win the Vietnam War.  All the while the Democrat controlled Congress slathered as they awaited their opportunity to move in for the kill after their comrades in the news media had sufficiently worn him down.

         Any rational student of history would conclude that President Nixon did not order the Watergate break in.  Even if, as some historians claim, he withheld information in an effort to save some of his subordinates who apparently did know about it, that’s still a far cry from what Impeached President Clinton did.  Clinton lied under oath, committing perjury, to save himself!  In the end President Nixon did what any good leader would do by taking full responsibility and, though he knew he didn’t deserve what was happening to him, he graciously stepped aside when he could see that staying would not be in the best interests of the country.

          One can only imagine how much different our country and world might be if President Nixon had been able to finish out his second term.  The War in Vietnam was not lost until Congress cut off funding.  The anti-communist forces in Vietnam collapsed just months after the president resigned, unleashing the genocidal killing fields that cost millions their lives.  Let us never forget those who were responsible for the loss of one of America’s greatest presidents.  Fortunately, President Nixon left a rich legacy in his prolific writings after he was president, giving the world a guide for navigating the future.  Now there was a real leader!  Indeed, Mr. Obama should consider himself lucky to have only one news network presenting a ‘fair and balanced’ view.