May 18, 1908 American businessman Ion Perdicaris (later found to have traded his American passport for a Greek one) was kidnapped by Mulai Ahmed er Raisuli in Morocco. President Teddy Roosevelt sends American warships and Marine companies towards Morocco with an assignment: Perdicaris Alive or Raisuli Dead. See this link for more details (Wikipedia entry is consistent with Edmund's Theodore Rex). In his time, Roosevelt was loved for this muscular act of gunboat diplomacy.Roughly analogous, today Capt. Richard Phillips sits hostage aboard the Maersk Alabama. Would President Obama issue such a naked threat and then back it up? Would the HopeyChangeys appreciate public bravado? Democrats love Teddy Roosevelt (trust-busting, national parks), but do they know, care, he was a racist imperialist?
