been the most venerated of human qualities. politicians are always paying tribute to that. this was the most extreme example of that. the most ambitious military assault ever planned in human history. it may not have gone off according to plan. general eisenhower took the biggest gamble in modern military command by agreeing to take that 36-hour window in the terrible weather that was june of 1944 and came here and did those landings from omaha all the way up to sword where we are right now. 60 miles of beach here that spurred the liberation of europe, and that famous okay, let s go, command from general eisenhower and the famous address he gave to the citizens of western europe, the hour is upon us. it was just extraordinary. and the french today have said quite categorically that they
was a huge reaction to that split screen. perhaps, carol, if i might be so bold, part of it is because it s an interesting picture to see on a day like this and a time like this when so clearly these world leaders are at loggerheads. it s also a very, very important moment because what happened here 70 years ago turned the world around, turned around the course of history, made the beginning of the democratize asian and liberation of europe. that is something that has been guarded over the last 70 years. there was the soviet union for so many years. even that for the last 25 years, this continent has been one of freedom and democracy. now that is threatened. obviously not in the scale that we saw back then, but at a very, very important moment. eastern ukraine is posing the biggest challenge to the west, the biggest chill has descended between east and west since the cold war, and that little part
deterrent. russia has been flexing its muscles and doesn t team to be pulling back but in this conversation today this is what the president was trying to do, saying to putin that you have to start respecting poroshenko s promised reforms and give them a chance in re-ukraine and stop supporting armed separatists. and of course, look, when ronald reagan gave a speech in 1984, he was talking about the liberation of europe but only half of it was liberated. there was still half of it behind an iron curtain. today we re at the imagery of seeing putin and obama and tensions between russia and the united states right now where everybody is wondering whether they ll even shake hands, it does kind of ring of cold war bell and talk about the need for the ukraine to be democratic.
beach. they re lying on their backs, toes pointed to the full moon. it s the beginning of the liberation of europe, but it s been a very hard day for everybody. to total casualties on d-day about 12,000, that includes wounded, missing, and about two-thirds of those, a little more that two-thirds are americans. so that s the way the liberation of europe begins in earnest. it s really the rise the lifting of the curtain on the last act of that great drama that we call world war ii. and, chuck, the president of the united states, you know, tried to place this day 70 years ago in context with a very moving speech, i thought. you know, it s hard just li listen to those numbers. more americans basically died on that day than in iraq and afghanistan combined. and that s what s so staggering, just how many forces, how many soldiers, that were being
basketball court trying to win. he s competitive at everything. he s competitive at cards. look, to be president, you have to be pretty competitive. what could be more competitive than running for president? but obama really is a competitor. his own aides talk about it. he just likes to win. so did ike. frankly, i think all the great ones are competitive. the president today has to deal with the threat, of course, of global terrorism. president eisenhower had to deal with the threat of nuclear annihilation as the cold war escalated. how do you measure the ability of a president to keep the country safe? how do you rate president obama and governor romney? how do they appear to measure up? eisenhower, of course, was lucky because he had one world war ii. not literally, but commanded the liberation of europe. so he had a lot of credibility. people trusted him. this is really important because he had to make very difficult decisions alone. ultimately, that s what we care about in a pr