Time to Get Mad

Making Sense by Michael Reagan

Why aren’t you mad as hell yet, America?

What will it take?

At home, unemployment is stuck above 8 percent. Twenty-three million are out of work. Millions of others have given up looking for jobs.

One American in six is on food stamps. Small businesses are terrified of Obamacare.

Nate Beeler / Columbus Dispatch (click to view more cartoons by Beeler)

The economy ran out of gas four years ago and the president still thinks the only way to get it going again is to fill up the tank with trillions of dollars of debt and make successful people pay for the tow truck.

Overseas, we have a dead ambassador and three other dead Americans in Libya. Dozens of our embassies are being threatened by mobs.

Iran is building a nuke. Syria is mired in a bloody civil war. Egypt’s new democracy is turning against us. And our Middle East policy — if that’s what it can be called — is based on apologies and weakness.

Meanwhile, what does President “Eye Candy” do this week? He goes before the United Nations and can’t bring himself to even mention the words “Islamic extremists.” He’s still blaming the attack on our Libyan embassy on a stupid film.

As the Middle East burns, Obama says he didn’t have time to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu or other world leaders in New York City. Yet he had plenty of time to do the Letterman show and drop in to see Whoopi and the gals at “The View.”

How much worse does it have to get before a majority of the American people wake up, throw open their windows and scream, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this crap anymore?”

In the movie “Network,” news anchor Howard Beale said people first had to get mad before things would change.

So let’s get mad, America, and change presidents. There are fewer than 1,000 hours between now and the election that can save us from four more years of Obamamisery.

Mitt Romney is the change we need — and the only chance we have. But in their perverse way of thinking, the Obama Gang wants the American people to believe Romney is a bad guy for creating wealth and being a successful businessman.

Americans are supposed to be angry with Romney for paying “only” 14 percent in taxes or reducing his federal tax bite by giving $4 million to charity in 2011.

But there’s no reason for the American people to be mad at Mitt. He’s a good guy, a great American, and he’s eminently qualified to repair the damage Obama has done to the country.

But if Mitt’s going to win, he’s got to have a Ronald Reagan moment.

My father turned his fortunes around in the 1980 New Hampshire primary after the moderator of a scheduled debate in Nashua ordered his microphone to be turned off.

My father’s angry response — “I’m paying for this microphone, Mr. Green” — became a symbolic act that established his image, showed his strong character and led to a landslide win that knocked George H.W. Bush out of the presidential race.

Mitt Romney needs to have his own “Nashua Moment” — and have it soon. A perfect time for it to happen would be next week (Wednesday, Oct. 3) in front of 50 or 60 million people during the first presidential debate.

Mitt needs to show us how angry he is at what Obama has done to America. He needs to show us he’s as “mad as hell” and can’t take it for another four years.

Come on, Mitt — get as mad as the rest of us.

—–

Copyright ©2012 Michael Reagan. Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of “The New Reagan Revolution” (St. Martin’s Press). He is the founder and chairman of The Reagan Group and president of The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. Mike’s column is distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. For info on using columns contact Cari Dawson Bartley at cari@cagle.com or call 800-696-7561.