When Did America Become The Country Of “Can’t”?

Idaho Conservative Blogger

I remember growing up as a child and teenager oblivious to politics and the workings of our country. I was in awe of our greatness without realizing what it took for us to be so great. I remember feeling like we could do anything. I remember watching Ronald Reagan on television in the State of the Union or other National Addresses and his ability to communicate with the American people in such a comfortable easy to understand way. He felt like a grandfather to me as a kid. I admit I didn’t understand all he was talking about but he made me want to listen to him.


Reagan took on those who opposed him and you knew he was serious and so did his opposition and that scared them. Reagan didn’t take a “No Can Do”, or “Can’t” approach to anything. That is why he was a winner and in turn America was a winner. We knew we could do anything. Like a coach of a sports team he rallied the troops and helped push to the finish line. And Reagan was a winner, He beat incumbent Pat Brown to become Governor of California and incumbent Jimmy Carter to become President.


When Jimmy Carter left office there were hostages in Iran, Inflation was at 12%, Unemployment was at 11%, and there was a Prime interest of 21%. Reagan secured the release of the Hostages and lowered unemployment and interest rates. He led America through Black Monday, 15 million new jobs were created, he rebuilt and built up the military, he had a foreign policy of peace through strength, and he brought down the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall.


Reagan made Americans feel strong and proud and there was nothing we couldn’t do.


President Kennedy also had a “Can do” attitude. He did not accept, “it’s too difficult”, And was not afraid of a challenge even if many felt it unachievable. “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”


Reagan and Kennedy are not the only Presidents with big thoughts and made them happen. We have always done what some felt the impossible because we’re Americans. We think big and do big. Or we used to.


Lately it seems this America I love and am so proud of seems to have changed, the attitude of the President along with its people. President Obama and his administration have become the Administration of blame others, find excuses, deflect responsibility, and tell the American people what we “Can’t” do. What Happened?


It’s a rhetorical question that I will answer. We elected a community organizer from Chicago with no experience in leadership or business. What does he really know about anything? All he really knows how to do well is give a speech via his teleprompter and organize meetings that produce nothing of substance.


All we seem to get from this White House is Can’t.


We can’t speak of Radical Islam.


We can’t secure the American/Mexican Border. Janet Napolitano, “It’s a big border,” she said. “It’s 1,960 miles across that Southwest border. It’s some of the roughest, toughest geographical terrain in the world across that border. And so, the notion that you’re going to seal that border somehow is something that anybody who’s been involved in the actual doing of law enforcement–the front office work or the front line work of the law enforcement–would say, ‘You’re never going to totally seal that border.”


We can’t do anything about Unemployment. Joe Biden, “"there's no possibility to restore 8 million jobs lost in the Great Recession."


We can’t win in Afghanistan with a General (General Stanley McChrystal) who let’s his troops talk poorly of the President to a Rolling Stone Reporter.


We can’t fix the economy, Joe Biden, “"We inherited a godawful mess," he said, adding there was "no way to regenerate $3 trillion that was lost. Not misplaced, lost."We can’t go back to the Moon, we can’t afford to replace the Space shuttles, let’s go to Mars and Asteroids…..Ah that will be too hard, let’s have NASA reach out to Muslims and thank them from their contributions in Math and Science, and let’s work with the Russian Space Program and let them own Space since soon we will have no ability to travel to space.


We can’t plug the damn hole in the Gulf. Obama, “I can’t suck up the oil with a straw.”


I remember reading the story of the little engine that could when I was a kid. Maybe you remember, he was the train engine that was trying to climb the mountain. He needed confidence to make it. He would tell himself, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. If you will just believe it's true then there is nothing you can't do. There's not a mountain that you can't climb, There's not a river you can't make it over, There's no tomorrow that you can't find if you try, I know you're gonna make it Nothing can stop you now!”


Apparently President Obama could get better advice from this children’s book than what he’s getting from his overpaid “Czar’s” Advisers. He could learn from Presidents Reagan and Kennedy. He could learn much from our history.


When I was a kid playing sports I had a coach who said “Remove Can’t from your vocabulary, Losers say Can’t, Winners believe they can and they do.” Can you imagine a coach saying to a team, well guys, there is no way we’re going to win this game so just go out there and do your best? Do you think that team will ever win that game? Not a chance.


We are a great Country. We have done great things, Many have been difficult but we did because we’re American’s. We do because we can, because past Presidents have not accepted “Can’t”. This Administration seems very comfortable with passing blame and it’s “Can’t” attitude. President Obama is very much like that coach who does not believe in his team. I pray the team (America) has more confidence in winning than the coach.


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