I have been using the time to think about the course that America is taking on this Ship of State Presidential Race. And I have come to the conclusion that it really isn’t going to matter. This thinking could be brought on by current low emotional rating on my bio-rhythm chart, I dunno.
But that is what I have come up with, a fairly apathetic outlook and at the same time, I find myself sort of pragmatic about it all. Which is a nice way of saying “does any of this sh** really matter in the long run?”
At least the conventions are now behind us, and just a short time before all of this is over. Kind of like being snake bit, it is taking a long time to die. Obammer promises change; real change, but I would not get your hopes up for that. They have all promised that at one time or another, and as we know, it seldom materializes. I have had my fair share of totally new beginnings in life, and currently, I don’t really see one for me on the horizon.
McSame is much the same, pandering to the masses, and full of “grandiose expectations.” He is going to get us out of Iraq, he is going to end the conflict here and there, balance this, drill that. Which all sounds fine and dandy, and I suppose looks really good on paper.
Then there is reality.
Historically speaking, most new presidents find out fairly quickly (except for Bush) that there is this thing in this big old world that can stop you cold, dead in the water, and that is reality. 75% of the current budget is fixed and out of control, the new candidate is going to be hard pressed to do anything with the remaining 25%.
There will be few (if any) new agenda’s or social programs.
Quickly the new kid in town finds out that he cannot provide all those things that “he promised” and the honeymoon is now over. It swiftly becomes apparent, his choices are limited. And then there is the nagging question, “Do any of them possess the abilities required to even carry off the job?”
The past eight years we had a guy that didn’t have a clue. This guy wouldn’t recognize change if someone handed him a business card with change emblazoned on it.
When a new president takes office he is going to face a hostile world, a world that is fragmented, mean, and for lack of a better world, scary. He will have to contend with Iraq and Afghanistan, that beautiful mess we are in. We have heard all the eloquent promises of a new foreign policy, but that in reality is going to be limited, and the new guy is going to have to deal with that.
Bush opened up the Federal checkbook again this past week to the tune of $1 billion for aid to Georgia, and we have this $10-$12 Trillion debt to contend with. The slumping economy, the mortgage crisis, seniors who are putting off pressing serious health care issues, so that they can still purchase gasoline, rising food costs,
An old friend of mine used to put it this way,
“The Road To Hell Is Always Paved With Good Intentions.”
It won’t take long after January for the reality of how difficult and perhaps hopeless, this is all going to be to sink in. There is always that moment in time, when it comes at you and hits you like a freight train in the middle of the night. My Dad used to call them rude awakenings. Sort of reminiscent of that scene in “The Candidate” when Robert Redford looks at his campaign adviser after just winning the election and asks,
“What Now?” and the campaign manager says, “I don’t know. I got you elected.”
No matter how much “Straight Talk” you put out, no matter how eloquently you speak to the masses, the plain simple reality is this … It is a big, rather inflexible, complex, difficult world out there … You can make all the “promises you want” but in the end, it isn’t going to make all that much difference.
And they all talk the same garbage; check out this politician in Australia answering one simple question, in his own particular slant, which I believe is called “Double Speak.”
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Parting shot: “A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you find yourself in deep water.”
Related: We Are The Enemy
