On Easter Sunday, the world witnessed a perfect act by snipers in the U.S. Navy. They took out three pirates who had kidnapped and held hostage an innocent man. The pirates had held an AK-47 at his back and threatened to kill him. In three shots, the Navy snipers eliminated that threat and saved Captain Richard Phillips.In this moment, perhaps more than any yet, President Obama showed real presidential courage. He took that chance to save the life of Captain Phillips, by authorizing the use of force by the Navy. These are the decisions that a Commander-in-Chief must make.

Sadly, we also saw this weekend, what can happen when things go wrong. In the French military attempt to free a family of three held by pirates, tragically the father of the family, was killed. His wife and child, with whom he had set sail, headed for a new life and adventure in Africa, were freed.

Clearly, in both situations, the crew and the family - were terrorized by these gun-toting hoodlums. The President acted to save this American hero, and in that moment, we all saw how he acts under pressure. No doubt Captain Phillips and his family are grateful to him and all those in the chain of command, who secured his release.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 11:35 am and is filed under Martha's Memo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.