Obama Delivers for Veterans

Most Memorial Day messages from presidents
barely break through the barbecue smoke.

President Barack Obama took

a decidedly different tack. He noted
the end of one war, he promised
the end of another war, he sought
healing for a third war.

Obama reminded the families

of fallen American soldiers—he had put
an end to the Iraq war, he had put
a timeline on the Afghanistan war.

Later he spoke to Vietnam War veterans.
“Welcome home. Welcome home. Thank you.”

“After a decade under a dark cloud,
we can see the light of a new day,”
Obama said after laying a wreath of roses
at The Tomb of the Unknowns.

“Let us resolve that when America sends

our sons and daughters into harm’s way,
we always give them a clear mission,
we always give them a sound strategy,
we always give them the equipment
to get the job done.

The Afghanistan war is winding down and will end in 2014.  I trust that President Obama has made a careful study of the facts in making his decision about when to end the war.  It is a difficult call.  Too soon, and we are attacked again; too late, and we are attacked again.

 © 2012 Catherine Giordano