Many Republicans up for reelection are keeping their distance from his policies on the Iraq war. Pakistan has granted safe haven to Osama bin Laden. Even a well-publicized movie at the Toronto Film Festival is about his imagined assassination. These are tough days for our 43rd president.

Yet, today, on this fifth anniversary of 9/11, President Bush deserves our praise for the actions he’s taken that have kept our country and its citizens safe. Those steps, which include the The Patriot Act, NSA spying, the institution of the first-ever Department of Homeland Security, and the innovative terror alert system, have worked beyond anyone’s expectations when, post 9/11, everyone thought of another terrorist attack in terms of “when” – not “if”.

Thank you, Mr. President.

And, as if keeping 300 million Americans safe from unimaginable acts of terror wasn’t difficult enough, this has been accomplished despite The New York Times’ exposure of our military and intelligence secrets for all – including our enemies – to see. It’s been accomplished even as Democrats have vigorously opposed – for political purposes -- common sense tools to help thwart terror attacks, like the program that allows us to intercept our enemies phone conversations. But, Mr. Bush doesn’t play politics with our lives – he protects them.

Thank you, Mr. President.

In this new kind of asymmetrical war we’re in, victories aren’t always obvious. But, five years without another 9/11-style attack – one that all Americans believed would surely come – is certainly a marker for success. Imagine the criticism of the president if a single attack had succeeded! To Democrats who today argue that we are “less safe” than we were after 9/11, I say, there’s no number lower than zero.

No one knows what the coming days and months will bring. Iran, is feverishly working to create nuclear weapons. British Muslims, thwarted in their plot to blow up America-bound airplanes in mid-air, are certain to try again. Kim Jong-Il tests his nuclear missiles, which threaten our west coast. No one can guarantee the safety of so many people, especially in the open society in which we live. But, with President Bush’s impressive track record these past five years vis-à-vis our security, we, at the very least know, that our president is completely focused on our safety. For this he deserves our gratitude.

Seth I own all of your books and your cd.I appreciate your artistry, but your tired "Evil Liberal" rants are at best insipid.Let's go to the scoreboard..650 thousand people have been killed in Iraq..for what?Everyday we create new terrorists.Bush is a war criminal..plain and simple.Oh by the way...in your next missive...extoll the virtues of the Bush Administration regarding the environment.

"Thank You, Mr. President"

Yes, thank you Mr. President. When we elect people who think that government can't do much good, it seems sort of silly to me that we should expect them to do much good when they govern.

The moonbat ideology that you espouse is not sustainable and it was bound to fail sooner or later but you are insuring that it fail sooner, rather than later.

Godspeed to you.

Seth:

Discovered you when a great friend--and like you, someone who went through great personal angst leaving the Democrat party--passed along your "Why I left the Left" column.

It took great personal courage to 1) write, and 2) post with the Huffies.

Someone I admire greatly put our political differences thus: "Conservatives think Liberals are wrong; Liberals think Conservatives are evil."

By the same token, the Left has no problem dismissing any and all positions from the Right based on evidence, in favor of their own positions born of emotion.

Thank you. And as Governor Arnold would say, "Ahl be bahk..."

** Presidents don't get to do "do overs" ** http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJxXJdrnCQM

That's our President in an interview with George Blitzer.

To the president's credit, he takes pains to make sure that we don't make "this" (The "War on Terror") into a war against Islam because he knows we'll lose if we do that.

Though by conflating 9/11 with Iraq this administration has brought us as about as close to mounting a Crusade against Allah as we could come without first calling on the Pope for a blessing.

Iran can face "isolation" or "sanctions" acording to the president.

What a tough guy.

How about we go over there and sit down with them Iranian leaders face to face and stare them in the eye and tell them that if they use a nuclear weapon or pass it along to someone else who does, they will die even it means we have to nuke them.

And let's make the case that instead of investing in technology that they can only use once before we kill them,

they should in invest in a fast food franchise that makes better french fries than McDonalds so they can keep a better eye on all the young Iranian boys and girls who hang out at McDonalds to spend some quality time together.

Thank you for responding to my earlier comment. I do have a response to your response. It has become a tiresome exercise trying to talk (reason) with the Right that uses nothing but trite slogans and tries to pass it off as well reasoned foreign policy.
I honestly think the inane ramblings of the Bush Lovers are nothing but a defense mechanism. It has become painfully obvious that this WH junta is not going to take responsibilty for anything. And neither are their sheep. the constant finger pointing and "its clintons fault" are grade school tactics.
As far as "were fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here" translates to "were going to tear up someone elses backyard." this strategy is both insane and immoral.
The posts of yours that I have read sound just like a gentleman I spoke to right before the fall of the Taliban. He said we should "just bomb someone already." Any student of international relations would tell you that is just not good foreign policy. And it is obvious that the corpofascists in Washington aren't interested in that. I am just dumbfounded why some otherwise talented, intelligent people buy that nonsense.
As far as your saying that the Left wants the US to fail in Iraq, let me tell you again that there is now, nor ever has been anything t o "win" in Iraq. Democracy, well maybe in 50 years, maybe after WWIII.
As far as thanking Bush, I wish someone would give me a well reasoned argument as to why.
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my comments. Although I disagree entirely with that you have written before, I just wish more people took time away from their American Idol and Lindsay Lohan fixes to do what you do here.

Seth, what, may I ask, has Iraq got to do with a wider "war on terror?" YOu say that Democrats coalesce around "bush sucks." Well, guess what, you seem to rally around "bush rules."

I have read you on HuffPo and for the life of me I don't know why you are a contributor. Except maybe someone is trying to humiliate you.

There hasn't been another attack by al quaeda since 9-11-01. That has been 5 years. After the first WTC bombing in 1993 there wasn't another stateside attack until 2001. Thats 8 years. Where is the credit for Clinton? I guess that doesn't fit well into your right-wing nonsense.

And what do you and I "win" in Iraq? How do you measure "winning?" Do we want the rest of the world to "be like us?" And how does this fit into a wider "war on terror?" Iraq is a strategic disaster. My contention is that the entire Bush administration has been a disaster in all aspects. Especially in the "war on terror" that they mention when the time is right.

I am positive that in 5 years you will look back at your Bush worshiping with shame.

todd randall

After 9/11, heads of state in that region who have made war with chem weapons couldn't stay. Moreover, there was overwhelming evidence that he had wmd --clinton thought it, gore thought it, the UN thought it, the mossad, french and british intel thought it. Saddam was sending $25,000 to every Palestinian family who sent their teenage children to blow up innocent Israelis. He had gassed his own people. Al Zarqawi had been in Iraq in 1999 -- someone as prominent as him doesn;t get into Iraq without Saddam's approval.

Finally, we needed to see the long view: we had to give a brutalized people, the iraqi's, an alternative to "bin Ladenism". And we have. And tens of millions of Iraqis have been brave enough to VOTE 3 times, for candidates , a constitution and a government. And the Left talks of "human rights"? George W. Bush has given them human rights. Or would you like Saddam back in power? The Left does. Now, isn't that silly? More democracy in the middle east will make for LESS WAR. It will take time. Democracies take time. But, the Left has very little vision or patience.

I don't think he rules. I think he's done an incredibly great job in the most difficult of circumstances -- after the true buffoonery of the Clinton administration, where it was clearly, always, 'all about Bill' --not about the country -- Bush has restored maturity to the White House. How can you argue with extremely low unemployment under Bush, high stock market, great housing market (cooled now, but still strong), and 0 attacks on this country? And what has the Left offered the country? A counterproposal to terror? No. Only 'cut and run. A counterproposal to Social Security reform proposed by the president? No. Only an 'obstruct and defeat' strategy. The Left, because it believes in nothing, proposes nothing except bumper sticker slogans like "war is not the answer." Tell that to Osama!

This comment doesn't surprise me. The Left, in a Jim Jones-like manner, is taught to think all the same. So, it's no surprise that for "the life of you" you can't understand that there's another opinion outside of the insulated Left's. Well, there is and HuffPo, if they didn't have it, would be one gigantic bitchfest.

What about the embassy bombings and the bombing of The Cole? You know what Clinton's reaction to it was? One cruise missile into a pharmaceutical plant in the Sudan. You talk about weak! Bush took the fight to the enemy. We are fighting in Iraq NOT in the streets of New York and you should be thankful for that successful strategy. we've decimated Al Qaeda, While the Taliban is trying for a resurgence in democratic Afghanistan, it won't happen. Clinton damaged this country --Bush is fixng it. It's always better when adults are in the White House.

When the Iraqi government is more stable. When the Iraqi army can defend the government. Don't forget, post world war II, the US was in in germany and japan for 7 years. We've been in Iraq for just 3 years! Democracy takes time and that region needs us to combat their dictatorial leaders.

Oh, you mean FREE and in charge of our own lives? Then, the answer is YES --what a gift to give tens of millions of people: Freedom, which our forefathers said was God given. Amen!
I'm proud, as an American to be able to gift Freedom to those in Iraq and Afghanistan. I think of those children who have a chnce to grow up in freedom.

If you have freedom, you're less likely to want to be a jihadist.

Who said --the leftist media? Keep repeating it and of course, it must be true. Democracy is difficult. It will take time as the president has told us. I believe that the Left is rooting for Iraq to fail, because what they want is Bush to look bad. And that is pitiful.

Of course you are. You pray to HuffPo, you deride me...no surprise that you think "Bush sucks." Let me tell you something: Bush will go down as one of the 6 or 7 greatest president in our history, similiar to harry truman. he's done the heavy lifting, while being vilified by many in our own country and the world. Bush, like Truman, doesn't care about "polls" just about 'what's right!"

I don't think so. Thanks for taking the time to write.

kevin,

Thanks for your note. You pigeon hole me a little too much. The Beatles message of Love is very important, but it must be seen through the lens of the 60s era when Lennon thought that "Love is all you need." Try telling that to the leader of Iran who is trying to build nukes and happens to think (and say over and over) that Israel should be "wiped off the face of the map." Try telling that to the islamofascists that murdered 3000 of our people on 9/11. It's just not realistic to think the Beatles message is all-encompassing. It's not. Instead of burying my head in the sand -- which is a trait of the Left -- I choose to enjoy the Beatles, as immensely as I did as a kid -- but I take their fantastic, if not a little naive, message with a grain of salt. "Love", by itself, does not help rid the world of killers. unfortunately, what we also "need" are bigger guns than our stated enemies have. That is just a fact. Dropping flowers on Nazi germany wouldn't have defeated them --dropping bombs on them did. I'm sure you'll agree that the world is a better place because of our actions against Hitler. If we didn't help defeat him, next year we would be celebrating the 75th year of the beginning of the thousand year Third Reich.

I also reject your demonization of moi with facile characterizations of what being a republican is -- the standard, greedy and uncaring. First, I'm not even a Republican. I'm a Democrat, sickened by a party who only coaleces behind "Bush sucks." That's not good enough.

You can make beautiful music AND be realistic about the world at the same time.

Again, thanks for your note and your compliments about my music.
Peace,
Seth

Seth,

I love your music but come on, enough with the right wing bullshit. You sing all this stuff about about how "it's still love...", then support this simpleton, butcher who's responsible for the deaths of 40,000 + innocent Iraqi civilians. If Bush had done his job and caught Bin Laden, when we had the chance, he never could have could have fear mongered us into Iraq. That's exactly the reason Bush let Bin Laden go. His capture would have satisfied Americans bloodlust for revenge and the Iraqi invasion would have become a no sale. If John Lennon were here he'd kick your ass!

The character trait that most people who identify themselves as Republicans seem to share is an underlying short-sighted, selfishness. They don't care about the envivoment, except to exploit it. They don't care about global warming but rather choose to wish it away. They don't care about the suffering of animals, unlike our mutual hero George Harrison ("eating cows with such persistence doesn't offer much resistence to this cockamamie buisness.") Show some true compassion.

So, really, stop worrying about being rich and famous and stick to your watering can. And keep writing great songs, but back them up with integrity.

Kevin

Nothing important - just wanted to tell you that I read your HuffPost (Thank you Mr Pres) , and attempted to agree with you and give you an attaboy - but for some reason, the Huffpost rejected non-abusive posts.

I tried twice - so here it is:

attaboy!

Just wanted to say thank you Mr. Seth for your article "Thank you Mr. President". He's a good man.

Read your JWR article where I also opine, then found your website and read your "Why I left the left" article.

I sent it to several liberals out there, including some of my children.

BTW., I never understood why all my friends, and I mean all, were Libs. I never believed the lib BS, and that's from Kennedy/Johnson til' today.

Congrats for having the widom to change and the balls to publicize it.

If you're ever in St. Louis let me know. I have season tickets to the new Busch stadium and would be honored to have you and yours as my guest.

Dave & Joni Weinbaum

Hi Seth,
I found your website after reading your column on Jewish World Review. Like you, I am a supporter of President Bush, a diehard baseball fan and a musician. I am the cantor at a Reform temple in Hollywood, FL. If you are ever in south Florida, it would be my privilege to meet you....you are a fascinating guy.
I admire how you have the guts and the wisdom to go against the far-left ideology of the entertainment industry.
Thanks so much,
Manny Silver