My Pledges and Promises to the President

Now that President Obama is sworn in, how should conservatives act? I have posted about this previously. I obviously think that we need to be adult about it. By the same token, we should not roll over and die.

Someone named Andy Levy, who I admit I never heard of before, set forth a list of "Don'ts" for conservatives in the Age of Obama that should be required reading for all on the right.

And after looking at the celebrity pledge*, I decide I too would make a list of pledges to President Obama.

• I pledge I will be adult and principled. If you propose something I can agree with, I will support it. If you propose something I disagree with, I will oppose it but based on principles, not narrow partisanship.
  
  
• I pledge that I will ignore every silly conspiracy theory regarding you (including but not limited to, theories that you were born in Kenya, that Malcom X was your father (yes, someone is actually claiming that), that you are a secret Muslim, and any other crazy theory that ends up in my e-mail in box).
  
  
• I pledge that I will not engage in "assassination porn."
  
  
• When you prepare to send troops in harm's way,** I pledge I will look at the evidence with dispassion.
  
  
• If Congress approves sending troops into harms way based on "conventional wisdom", even if I opposed it, I pledge I will not accuse you of lying.
  
  
• If you send troops into harms way, even if I opposed it, I pledge I will support victory. I know that the quickest way to get the troops home is through winning. I also believe that once American arms have been engaged, places where we were successful*** are generally better off than places where we were not.****
  
  
• On the off chance that you and I ever meet, I pledge that I will be respectful, even though I may ask you a question that you find "hard." Please note that I am not being disrespectful, I just have a question.
  

In short, I promise not to act for the next 4-8 years like those on the unhinged left acted for the past 8. I also promise to chasten those on the right who act unhinged.

I also promise not to be your servant. You are mine. I promise not to make you forget that.

I also promise to pray for you.


* Some friends and my wife objected to my description of the video as creepy. If you watch it without feeling the same way, no matter your politics, you have a stronger stomach than I do.

** And you will. The last president not to send troops into harm's way was, I believe, Herbert Hoover, but even he inherited a few occupations.

*** For example, Western Europe, the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Grenada, Panama, the Balkans.

**** For example, Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon.