Credit where credit is due....

All right. So it has been over 2 months since I left a post on my blog. I thought it was time to give some credit where it is due.

Most of you know that I am a pretty conservative Republican, with my views being heavily influenced by my deep religious beliefs and some personal Libertarian view points. I think it would be reasonable to say that a person with strong Mormon beliefs who votes Republican and has some Libertarian leanings is not very likely to give good marks to President Obama. But I feel that in order to be honest, I need to say that in at least one area I am very pleased with some recent actions of the President.

As you all know, recently the ship Maersk Alabama was assaulted by pirates in the Indian Ocean. The under-armed crew fought back and disabled the functionality of the ship before surrendering to the pirates. The captain of the ship, Richard Phillips, offered to go with the pirates to their ship to free his crew. The pirates took the captain as hostage and went to their ship, freeing the Captain's crew to receive the aid they needed.

The pirates made a dash for land but were intercepted before they were able to reach land by US Navy Ships. As negotiations for the safe release of Captain Phillips continued on, President "Obama said yes to a Pentagon request for standing authority to use appropriate force to save the life of the captain". (source). (Of course, nobody outside the appropriate people knew this authority had been given at the time).

As negotiations faltered, the local military authority felt that the captain's life was in jeopardy and approved 3 simultaneous shots which killed 3 of the 4 pirates. (I believe the 3 killed pirates were pointing their weapons at the captain, and the 4th was on the phone doing the negotiations).

Bravo the the bravery of the ship's captain who willingly made himself a hostage, and put himself in harms way, to provide for the safety of others.

Bravo for the skill of the Navy Seals who complied with their orders and were thus able to help return an American home safely. I believe some news reports said the the seas were choppy and getting worse, but the marksmen did their job flawlessly.

Bravo for the guts of the local military authority who made the call to rescue the captain.

And a GIANT BRAVO for President Obama and his willingness to give standing authority to the military to save the life of the captain.

I do not believe in President Obama's economic policies. I do not believe that President Obama has the experience necessary to lead this country to safety in these trying times (either economically or against the terrorist threat we have been under for the last decade). But today I have much more confidence in a President who was willing to give his military commanders standing authority in a grave situation to save the life the that ship's captain. The potential "political" fallout would have been very severe for President Obama if the rescue had failed and the captain had lost his life. But, in my opinion the President evaluated the situation at hand and made the correct call, the "right" call, the "just" call. This gives me more hope for the future.

Don't expect me to agree with everything President Obama proposes. Do expect me to give him credit as he makes the tough decisions in a way that I can support.

Dave