Obama's Enemies List: A Growing List of Obama's Enemies

I like Rick Santorum. My former senator, whom I voted for three times and have written about here and here is conservative, a great family man, smart and passionate about his beliefs. So… I hate to say this, but at the moment: what a disappointment. What in the world is Rick Santorum thinking? Bad enough that Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry briefly put themselves out there to appear as the anti-capitalist candidates. In this corner, the instant reaction to that mercifully short epidemic of conservative Bain bashing was that if that’s where Newt and Perry were headed on such a major conservative principle that Reagan so exemplified — they should withdraw. Gingrich, typically, candidly admitted a mistake and stopped. His Super PAC ads vanished. Perry hung on to the idea, lost the support of a prominent South Carolina backer on the eve of the South Carolina primary, and withdrew. Now, for whatever reason, Rick Santorum is singing the same anti-conservative, anti-Reagan song — just a different verse. This is his strategy to be The Conservative Alternative to moderate Mitt Romney? By joining Romney in rejecting the Reagan space legacy? Just as everybody is reminded both of Ronald Reagan’s 101st birthday and the late January 1986 Challenger tragedy? Oh my. Instead of Bain bashing, Santorum is attacking Gingrich over the ex-Speaker’s vow to return America to space exploration with a vengeance — in the form of a moon colony. An obvious intent to carry forward with the Reagan space legacy made all the more potent by the Obama administration’s deliberate halt to the very idea of a serious 21st century American presence in space. Appallingly, if predictably, Gingrich’s decision to carry forward with Reagan’s vision has already been mocked by the Obama-lite Romney. But Rick Santorum? The would-be “Authentic Conservative”? Bashing Ronald Reagan’s vision? Sadly, yes . Call me gobsmacked, but now running out there on radio airtime is this Santorum-sponsored anti-Reagan space legacy commercial being presented as an attack on Gingrich. Mocks the Santorum commercial as reported in the Hill : “Reckless spending has led to $15 trillion of national debt,” the voice-over in the ad says. “And what does Newt Gingrich suggest? Spending half a trillion dollars on a moon colony.” “Gingrich’s example is fiscal insanity,” the ad continues. The ad goes on to argue that Santorum is the most authentic conservative in the GOP presidential field. Santorum has focused his attacks on Gingrich recently in an effort to win over conservative Republicans who favor the former Speaker. Santorum and Gingrich are fighting to be the conservative alternative to front-runner Mitt Romney. While campaigning in Florida before its primary on Jan. 31, Gingrich proposed putting a base on the moon. His suggestion was widely criticized by his opponents. Doubling down, Santorum wrote an op-ed on the subject, mocking the Reagan beliefs by comparing them to the cartoon character George Jetson. Earlier he’d said : “I promise you: no moon colonies, I promise.” So let me see if I understand this. The week that the nation is be celebrating Ronald Reagan’s 101st birthday — that would be February 6 — Rick Santorum has selected that exact moment to present himself as the anti-Reagan? With the nation still recalling the tragedy that was the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle 26 Januarys ago, Rick Santorum sides with… Barack Obama and Mr. Obama-Lite Mitt Romney? But says he’s the most “authentic conservative”? Well. As the former president might say. If this is what passes for genius in the Santorum campaign to be The Conservative Alternative — wow. And, in the spirit of fairness, since I suggested Gingrich get out of the campaign if he continued his Bain bashing (which he stopped) — the sauce for the Gingrich and Perry geese should be ladled to the Santorum gander. If Rick Santorum is going to try and become The Conservative Alternative at the expense of the Reagan space legacy — he should stop and get out of the campaign right now before he inflicts any more damage to himself and the conservative cause. Is there a Reagan space story here? Of course. One particular morning in January of 1986, a man named Michael Smith got up and went to work. On the bureau dresser, he left a file card with a note to his wife, Jane. And off he went. What did Michael Smith do? He was an astronaut. In fact, he was a crew member of an American space ship. Long before dawn, Michael Smith, along with his fellow crew members, was being suited up. The names of his fellow crew members were, in alphabetical order: Greg Jarvis Christa McAuliffe Ronald McNair Ellison Onizuka Judith Resnik Dick Scobee The name of their space ship — a shuttle captained by Smith’s fellow astronaut Dick Scobee? That’s right: Challenger. In the White House that morning of January 28, it was busy. I was there. That night the President would make the famous ride up to Capitol Hill to deliver the traditional State of the Union Address. Anyone with a job in the various precincts of the president had their individual tasks, and I had mine. And then… and then. President Reagan would write it in his daily diary as follows: A day we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. Started off with a staff meeting & then a session with the Cong. Leadership of both parties. Had a go around with Tip (then-Speaker of the House Thomas P. O’Neill, a Democrat) — think I came out pretty good…….. Then I was getting a briefing for the meeting I was to have with network anchors — an advance on the St. of the Union address scheduled for tonight. In came Poindexter (the national security advisor) & the V.P. with the news the shuttle Challenger had blown up on takeoff. We all headed for a TV & saw the explosion re-played. From then on there was only (one) subject — the death of the 6 crew & 1 passenger — Mrs. McAuliffe, the teacher who had won the right to make the flight. There is no way to describe our shock & horror. We cancelled — I should say postponed the St. of the Union address til next week. Abruptly, everything that was “normal” that day — in the White House and America — stopped in its tracks. The great American adventure that was space exploration was faced with a highly visible, globally televised tragedy. The images of the Challenger soaring into space, then literally exploding in a clear blue sky as the parents of school teacher-civilian astronaut Christa McAuliffe watched from nearby stands in dawning horror, were everywhere. Everywhere. What Americans who were alive that day remember is the President’s speech to the nation that night. But there is another story, much unremembered today and obviously not recalled by Rick Santorum. Three days after the tragedy that was the Challenger explosion there was a memorial service in Houston at the NASA Space Center. The President and Mrs. Reagan departed the White House at 8:45 to board Air Force One and be there with the families. Some 14,000 people were in attendance. All those Americans who worked directly for NASA, along with the families of the seven astronauts who died that terrible day.