Lessons of D-Day
Posted: Friday, June 05, 2009 3:24 PM by Cathy Finkler
Chris Matthews
by Chris Matthews
Tomorrow, on the sixty-fifth anniversary of D-Day, President Obama has a pair of tough acts to follow - his own speech yesterday and one given a quarter century ago.
I remember getting up that morning in 1984 to catch President Reagan at Normandy. It was a real "morning in America" speech. I believe that Reagan's ability to connect with World War II was a reason for his enormous popularity. Here he was on the bluffs of France saying something very good about America: how we liberated Europe
That's the heart of it, the reason Reagan was popular, Roosevelt was popular, Jack Kennedy was popular, and Barack Obama is popular. Don't tear us down. Don't make us feel like victims or the angry guys or the worried guys. Make us feel American!
I think the President's speech yesterday was the reason we Americans elected him. It was grand. It was positive, hopeful. It said to the world: if you're a good guy you've got nothing to fear from us. If you've got national aspirations, if you want to be respected as a people, if you want to treated as an equal people in the world, we're on your side. If you're an aggressor, if you want to hold down another people, if you're driven by a predatory ideology, if you're out to hurt America, look out!
We Americans are like that rattlesnake on our first flag: "Don't tread on us." But what I liked about the President's speech in Cairo was that it showed a complete humility. What he did was rob from the enemy - those who want to destroy us - their main case: the belief that only by extremism can the east reach equality of dignity with the west.
The question now is whether the president we elected and spoke for us so grandly yesterday can carry out the great vision he just gave to the world. If he can, he will be honoring what happened on D-Day sixty-five years ago tomorrow. He will be delivering the world once again from evil.
Watch the complete video below.
