A PLEA FOR WISDOM AND DECENCY

I have this deeply felt sadness and ache.  I watch the Republican debates and I hear the crowd  cheer about letting people without insurance die.  Last night the crowd booed an openly gay soldier asking a question.  The candidates appear to be lining up for their chance to throw more meat at their hungry wolves.  My fear is that this movie won’t end well.

In my opinion leadership is not just about rallying the troops.  Appropriate leadership also educates.  Appropriate leadership does not sink to the lowest common denominator.  If this were not true then men like Hitler and Mussolini would be celebrated.  They each did a masterful job in getting a lot of people to do their bidding.  It was the direction that they led their followers to that was the determining factor.

It’s easy to understand that in our current political climate the Bachman’s, Santorum’s, Limbaugh’s and the rest of the Mensa corps that are the loudest in the Republican Party will have their moment in the sun.  But where are the voices of rationality and wisdom? Not everyone who has ever been a Republican politician takes their marching orders from the Koch brothers and some unfortunate directive from God.  Why their silence?  They have nothing to lose since they are out of office.

George H. W. Bush stopped our troops from invading Baghdad.  He was able to have the wisdom to not destabilize that  country.  I wonder what would have happened if he had had the strength to openly criticize his son.  Honest differences of opinion is wonderfully healthy for growth and insight.  

Today's news was partially about Obama changing No Child Left Behind.  There is much talk about how the school system is letting our children down.  If the clowns on the stage are in fact the best that America has to offer it won't matter what we do with the school system. 

A Moment of Hope

The past few months have been a rather difficult time for me.  The national political system of America is not just broken it has become the repository of whores that can be easily bought by the highest bidder.  The elation that I felt when Barack Obama was elected has faded into an underlying sense of disappointment and despair.  I never would have dreamed that Obama's eloquence could have been matched by his absence of spine.  In addition the recent events in the stock market added yet another blow to my illusion that one day I might be able to retire and leave my children a modicum of inheritance.

     I live  in the wealthiest Republican district in America.  Marsha Blackburn theoretically represents me in the House of Representatives.  She is the Marsha Blackburn that espouses all the talking points du jour of the Republican Party and never heard George Bush say anything that she didn't love.  I live in an area that upon first meeting me wants to know what church I go to in order to ascertain whether or not I'm decent or worthy of talking to.  I live in an area in which the sign that I had on my lawn supporting Obama during the last election was destroyed 3 times.  I live next to the town that hosted the Tea Party convention.

     So it is within this context that I went to the movies today.  I saw "The Help".  I believe that it is a wonderful experience that should not be missed.  I will not give any details about the movie except to state that it is about Mississippi in the 1960's and what it was like to be a Black maid at that time.  There is a scene in the movie in which one of the maids exacts a small measure of revenge on a woman who was deserving of all that she got.  To my total shock the mostly White audience applauded.  I found myself instantly sobbing.  For a brief moment hope poured through my body.  How glorious that every so often I can still experience the possibility of better.

It Might Have Been Cialis

My guess is that we will never really know if Trump was ever serious about giving up his day job.  But today's news comes two weeks after The Donald got put in his rightful place by our President at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.  Back on 8/31/09 I did a blog post on my regret about President Obama's lack of backbone.  I am begging the chef at the White House to only serve whatever was on the menu on the weekend of 4/30 to 5/2.  I titled my last post "Obama on Viagra".  Well whatever he was taking it obviously lasted the whole weekend.  During that weekend our President took out both The Donald and bin Laden.  The former was a no brainer.  The latter took a lot of guts.

 

During his dinner monolog our President spoke the truth in front of his opposition.  His wit, eloquence, and capacity allowed for a clear knock out.  I wonder what it would take to get that guy to run for president?

Obama on Viagra

If you haven't already seen the video tapes from the 2011 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner last night you have missed some lovely moments. If you are not familiar with the format it is generally a roast of the President and the President typically gives a humorous and self-effacing speech. Last night our president did both but he also showed an ability to fight back. With Donald trump in the audience our president cut him up far better than last year's Thanksgiving turkey. He also took shots at many of his potential opponents in the 2012 election. I cheered and applauded as I watched. While at the same time I prayed that our president has for breakfast everyday whatever he had yesterday.

The master of ceremonies was Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live. During his monolog Seth made one remark that was a perfect bulls-eye. He turned to Obama and said that he knew the one man who could beat him in the next election. That man was Obama, version 2008. I couldn't agree more. I doubt very much that we will hear "Change that we can believe in" during the next election. I doubt that we will hear very much about transparency.

What allowed Barak Obama to win was not so much who he was. Rather it was the amazing confluence of America's being fed up with Bush and the wonderfully inept campaign waged by McCain and his mean spirited, rather ignorant, hockey Mom that was to be one heart beat away from the Presidency. If the status quo continues and the Republican party continues to be controlled by the Conservative Right and the Tea Party wrong then Obama has a pretty good chance of being re-elected. I pray that once this happens he will spend 4 years on whatever form of Viagra he took yesterday so that we might hear truth spoken to evil. The Republican Party is waging a fairly flagrant war on the middle and lower classes in America. The staggering transfer of wealth that has taken place since Reagan does not seem to be enough. If we are not careful our children will soon be serfs.

I want to conclude with a brief note about the Donald. Prior to last night he appeared to be heading for his own Charlie Sheen moment. On Thursday he gave an obscenity laden speech in Las Vegas. On Saturday night he suffered a rather severe narcissistic wound by being repeatedly humiliated in public. If you notice he has been unusually quiet today. I don't believe his silence is coming from a place of repentance. Such a wound typically arouses a great deal of anger. It isn't clear at this time whether that anger will be directed inwardly or outwardly.