To: Friends & Supporters

From: Gary L. Bauer 

Sending Women To War 

The Pentagon made history last week when Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that he was lifting the ban on women serving in frontline, combat positions. The new policy is not going into effect immediately. It will be phased in, and the services will be permitted to request exemptions for specific posts such as elite units like Navy SEALs or Army Rangers. 

Many on the left hailed the decision, saying equality demands equal opportunity for women in the military. President Obama offered his "strong support for this decision," which he described as "another step toward fulfilling our nation's founding ideals of fairness and equality." He went on to say that "every American can be proud that our military will grow even stronger with our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters playing a greater role in protecting this country we love." 

Polling suggests overwhelming public support for the idea. A Gallup poll released Friday found that nearly three-quarters of the public would vote for a law allowing women to serve in combat. But I wonder how many Americans have really given the idea much thought and serious consideration. 

For example, every teenage man must register with the Selective Service within 30 days of his 18th birthday. It is doubtful that a draft is coming. After 9/11 the nation fought wars in Afghanistan and Iraq without a draft. But the law requires that all of our sons register just in case of some catastrophic emergency. The world is a very unpredictable place and becomes more dangerous every day. 

If women will now be in frontline combat, is registering our daughters and granddaughters for the draft next? After all, that would be the "equality" that the feminists say they want. But I doubt if modern feminists and large swaths of the public will be very pleased when their daughters come of age and have to give their contact information to Uncle Sam. 

Bizarro World 

The alternate reality that many liberals live in is a strange place indeed. Over the weekend, the president, who just hailed your daughter's right to engage in combat, said that if he had a son he would be reluctant to let him play football -- because he might get hurt. 

Speaking of the strange world the left occupies… Because he is so concerned about guns getting into the wrong hands, the president spent the past week building pressure to make it as hard as possible for law-abiding citizens to purchase certain firearms. And in the same week, he authorized the transfer of F-16 fighter jets and Abrams tanks to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, who under any measurement should qualify as the wrong people! Obama wants to limit guns to average Americans but give weapons of mass destruction to jihadists! 

Media Bias 

President Barack Obama has given two major interviews in recent days -- one print (The New Republic) and one television (60 Minutes). With all the news of recent days, either interview would have been a terrific opportunity for a journalist to ask the president of the United States serious questions about important issues. 

That did not happen. As it turns out, both interviews were almost entirely devoid of substance. That is a damning indictment of the left-wing bias of Big Media.

Consider the much-hyped Obama/Clinton interview with "60 Minutes," which bills itself as America's leading investigative journalism show. But the hardnosed "60 Minutes" team got all tingly when it came to questioning President Obama and Secretary Clinton.

If you didn't watch it, Yahoo News has a column identifying the "five takeways" from the interview: 

• The 2008 Clinton/Obama feud is over.
• Obama is happy with Clinton's loyal performance.
• Some think Obama is "anointing" Hillary for 2016.
• CBS was happy to be used by the White House to boost its ratings.
• And, lastly, Hillary is feeling better since her fall and concussion.

That sums it up pretty well. Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center blasted CBS reporter Steve Kroft for wasting so much of his precious time on softball questions. "Kroft's questions weren't just softballs," Gainor wrote. "More than half resulted in laughter from Obama or Clinton and sometimes both. A couple were so bad that even Kroft laughed as well." The left is in a happy mood, even though a majority of the country is fearful about the future. 

The New Republic interview wasn't much better. The most pressing issue for the left-wing publication appeared to be Obama's inability to get congressional Republicans to cave in more often. Consider this question: "Are there any forces for reform within the Republican Party, people you've been able to establish some sort of working relationship with?" 

What about the economy? Or Syria? What about Iran's nuclear weapons program or Pastor Saeed Abedini? How about job creation, the deficit, entitlement or tax reform?