It used to tick me off when the Muslim detractors in the Middle East, or detractors in Europe and others called our President a cowboy, but the more I think about it, the more glad I am that he is.

When I was a kid, cowboys were my heroes.

Well, I mean the ones in the white hats, not the black hats, who were usually the bad guys.

There was Tex Ritter, Tom Mix, Buck Jones,

Hopalong Cassidy, the Lone Ranger.....

there was Red Ryder, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers...

then later, there was Marshall Matt Dillon, Hoss & Li'l Joe Cartwright,

Paladin, Maverick and others...

Rawhide's Rowdy Yates

What were common attributes of these legendary cowboys?

Here are a few:

• They were never looking for trouble.

• But when trouble came, they faced it with courage.

• They were always on the side of right.

• They defended good people against bad people.

• They had high morals.

• They had good manners.

• They were honest.

• They spoke their minds and they spoke the truth, regardless of what people thought or "political correctness," which no one had ever heard of back then.

• They were a beacon of integrity in the wild, wild West.

• They were respected. When they walked into a saloon (where they usually drank only sarsaparilla), the place became quiet, and the bad guys kept their distance.

• If in a gunfight, they could outdraw anyone.  If in a fist fight, they could beat up anyone.

• They always won.  They always got their man.  In victory, they rode off into the sunset.
  

Those were the days when there was such a thing as right and wrong, something blurred in our modern world, and denied by many.

Now, as an older citizen, I still like cowboys...

They represent something good -- something pure that America has been missing.

Ronald Reagan was a cowboy.

Ronald Reagan was brave, positive, and gave us hope.  He wore a white hat.   To the consternation of his critics, he had the courage to call a spade a spade and call the former Soviet Union what it was -- the evil empire. 

President Bush distinguishes between good and evil.  He calls a spade a spade, and after 9-11 called evil "evil," without mincing any words.  That's what cowboys do, you know.

He also told the French to "put their cards on the table" (old West talk).

In the old West, might did not make right.

Right made might.

Cowboys in white hats were always on the side of right, and that was their might.

I am glad my President is a cowboy.

He got his man!

Cowboys do, you know.

God Bless America!