Kudos To Cruz 

Yesterday afternoon Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) took to the Senate floor vowing to "speak in opposition to Obamacare … until I am no longer able to stand." Still able to stand, his time ran out at noon today. Cruz waged the fourth-longest filibuster in Senate history, calling attention to the failures of Obamacare for more than 21 hours.

I applaud Senator Cruz and those who stood with him in this fight. As Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) said this morning, "I don't see the down side to spending the time educating the American people about how dangerous this is." I agree completely. The headlines continue to be filled with bad news for the American people about Obamacare. For example: 
 

• USA Today recently reported on an Obamacare "glitch" that punishes families and will likely cause hundreds of thousands of children to lose the health insurance they currently have. 
   
• The "Affordable Care Act" is not so affordable for many Americans. Fox News reports that one Kentucky family recently learned that their health insurance premiums will "almost triple in 2014 -- from $333 a month to $965." The letter from their insurance company announcing the dramatic increase bluntly stated: "Increases aren't based on your individual claims or changes in health status. … Many other factors go in to your premium including: ACA compliance…" In other words, Obamacare is raising their costs.
   
• It's not just Kentucky. One report found costs in neighboring Tennessee increasing 97% for single women and 190% for single men. 
   
• Even the New York Times now admits that Obamacare will limit patient choices. 
   
• Investor's Business Daily reports that more than 300 employers, including private businesses and public institutions, have cut workers' hours and/or eliminated jobs entirely in response to Obamacare's mandates.

Obamacare has been one broken promise after another. It is not affordable, either for individuals or the country. It is hurting the economy. It is causing some Americans to lose their current health insurance and even their jobs. 

Of course the liberal media have mocked Senator Cruz for waging this fight. The media mocked Ronald Reagan too. But the American people listened to Reagan and I hope millions of Americans were listening to Senator Cruz, intrigued by his willingness to fight the good fight. 

Desperate Obama Dissed Again By Iranians 

In the days leading up to yesterday's U.N. General Assembly meeting, liberals were wondering whether Barack Obama and Iran's new president, Hassan Rouhani, would meet face-to-face and perhaps even shake hands. After all, Obama has repeatedly reached out to the Iranians in private letters to the ayatollah and in public statements to the Iranian people. He even exchanged letters with Iran's Holocaust-denying Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And true to form, Obama sent a letter to Rouhani too. 

Obama is certainly eager to court the Iranians. He seems convinced that he can reason with the mullahs, and that they, like so many liberals, will be enraptured by his words and will swoon before his charming smile. 

After five years of trying, what does Obama have to show for it all? Nothing, other than the fact that Iran is five years closer to an "Islamic bomb." 

So what happened yesterday? Did Obama's latest letter to Iran's new "moderate" leader do the trick? Nope. The much-hyped handshake never happened. Believe it or not, administration officials reached out yet again and asked the Iranians for an "encounter" during yesterday's U.N. events -- and Rouhani turned Obama down. 

Obama is looking desperate, and he's making America look weak. 

Following Churchill's Footsteps 

As you know, I am in London this week. Carol and I are meeting with top British officials, including Michael Gove, Britain's Secretary of Education. Today we followed in the footsteps of Winston Churchill, tracing the life of one of our heroes. 

We visited the War Room, where Churchill directed Britain's war efforts during the darkest hours of the Nazi Blitz. Churchill and his aides were fully prepared to die in that room, fighting to the last man. There is a case in the room stocked with guns for use in the event the Nazis invaded London. 

We also visited Chartwell House, where Churchill lived (when he was not prime minister) from 1924 until his death in 1965. This great home is where Churchill wrote many of his books and hosted many dinners with key leaders in the 1930s, plotting strategies to confront the growing isolationism in Britain and growing threat of Hitler's Germany. 

Today we are facing a crisis of confidence similar to that which gripped Great Britain in the 1930s. Then as now, feckless leaders refuse to recognize growing dangers. Their desire to seek "peace in our time" blinds them to the naked ambitions of our enemies. They would risk our security for mere scraps of paper. 

These are difficult and challenging times, my friends. But as I have been encouraged by walking in the footsteps of such a giant of history, let me encourage you with his words as I promise to continue fighting the good fight: