President Obama needs more like General Buford

President Obama is angry that our intelligence agencies instead of sharing and analyzing the intelligence about Christmas underwear bomber Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab seemed to have barely done the minimum required.

General Buford  (Matthew Brady/Library of Congress/Public Domain)

In 1863 Union cavalry General Buford had intelligence gathering responsibilities to find the Confederate army that had invaded the North. He found them outside of Gettysburg.

At that point, General Buford could have done the minimum required by simply reporting to his superior the Confederate's location then withdrawing.

As a professional who took his responsibilities seriously, he quickly analyzed what he just learned. He recognized that the terrain around Gettysburg may be the best place to repel the invasion. He included that in his report and added that he was digging in to hold that ground.

For several hours on the first day of the battle, General Buford and his cavalry delayed the advance of the Confederates until enough of the Union army arrived to secure most of the positions he identified.

President Obama is asking the intelligence community to drop their "what is the least I can do and still keep my job" attitude and start acting more like professionals in the tradition of General Buford.

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General Buford died five months after the Battle of Gettysburg from an illness probably caused by contaminated water, a common cause of sickness and death among Civil War soldiers.

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General Buford's Gettysburg story is dramatized in Michael Shaara's novel, The Killer Angels and General Buford is portrayed by Sam Elliott in Gettysburg, the movie based on the novel.

What happens when Texans forget history?

Speaking to anti-tax tea bag protesters, Republican Governor Rick Perry quoted Texas founder and hero Sam Houston.

"In the words of Sam Houston, Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression," Perry said. "We will not stand for our pockets to be picked."

Thousands rally against overtaxation in local tea party  The Daily Skiff, Texas Christian University

Perry also alluded to secession perhaps in the belief that somehow Texas reserved the right to secede.

Perry's quoting Houston is especially ironic. After winning independence from Mexico, Sam Houston accomplished his next goal, admission to the union in 1845. After winning election to governor in 1859, he was removed in 1861 because he opposed secession and Texas joining the Confederacy.

Texas does not have any additional right to secede than any other state. Snopes reviewed the historical literature and found absolutely no basis for this along with the other myth that Texas can split into five states. The American Civil War decisively settled the question that once a state joins the union, they are in forever.