I was reading a book recently in which
an American woman was having dinner in Rome with an Italian friend. At
another table a group of American tourists were being quite boisterous.
The friend asks, “why are you Americans always so loud”? She answered,
“because we don’t listen, that’s why we have George Bush”.
As it finally winds it way to a close,
our epic presidential election seems to be devolving into more shouting than
listening.
The hypocrisy of the Republicans is
incredible. They are implementing the old strategy of painting the
Democratic candidate as an elitist and out of touch with the average
person. As hard as it is to believe, they are actually saying that the
black man who grew up in a poor, single parent family on food stamps is the elitist
and the man who is so wealthy that he does not even know how many homes he owns
is the real champion of the common man. McCain’s handlers correctly saw
that Obama’s message for change was getting good traction with the electorate
and so they simply co-opted the slogan and now McCain is running as the
candidate for change. They are even going so far as now portraying McCain
as the real opponent of the entrenched Washington Republicans. In the
campaign ads it would appear that the long-time Washington insider and
life-long republican, McCain is actually the reformer, not Obama. The
Palin appointment appears to be part of this latter strategy.
Their audacity leaves you
breathless. I am remained of the classic definition of chutzpah. “A
person who murders his parents and they appeals to the court for leniency
because he is an orphan.”
My friend Dennis VanDyke, who I
described in previous rants, has sent me a couple of pieces, attached,
extolling the virtues of Sara Palin. As most of you know I spent a number
of years in Alaska and my fondness and affection for Alaska and Alaskans is
nearly boundless. In my experience many Alaskans demonstrate the
admirable traits of independence, self-reliance and a willingness to take
action when required. From what I know about Palin I expect she has all
these qualities and more. I have seen a video of her firing a machine gun
so I know that she is better with automatic weapons than I. I did not see
her on the tape of the West Virginia gun outing that I sent you earlier but she
might have been there and I just have missed seeing her.
The Palin move appears to have been
inspired. It certainly seems to have changed the game in the
election. Her candidacy even got a comment from my friend Sam
Sanderson. I have know Sam for 40 years and he is one of those people who
you would say always has his feet firmly planted on the ground. He does
not often rise to the bait but once he has formed an opinion they are generally
spot-on. He often criticizes me as having my mind not only in the clouds
but significantly higher than that. In fact he criticizes me generally,
but I still have great respect for his views. Sam also holds those views
tenaciously. He is the one who led me to conclude that the Norwegians
were the ones who originally gave lessons to the Dutch on how to be
stubborn. Sam was commenting on how an editorial by a Canadian journalist
characterizing Palin as having a “white trash … porn actress look” was out of
line. Palin is definitely making news.
I expect Sara is a fine person but the
problem is that she is not the candidate for President. As Paris Hilton
pointed out in her commercial for President, the old, wrinkly white haired dude
is.
This is actually pretty good and
someone put some real effort into it. It is worth a view.
So everyone is basically running on the
same platform and everyone is basically a good person. (Or is it,
everyone are basically good people?) So what’s the problem?
For me, it is something my friend Donn
Wonnell said at our last dinner. He said, “Cynicism is not a basis for
leadership”. The Republicans are basically against everything that is
wrong but I am having a hard time finding what they are actually for. And
to lead I think you have to be for something not simply against everything.
Obama is for a lot. He even is
attempting to make this election about issues and not just personalities.
I saw him on television last night saying that he believes that the American
people can unify around solving the tough issues we face, that the country can
in fact accept sacrifices and hard work to accomplish lofty goals.
Historically the Republicans have taken
the position that everything would be just fine if the government would just
stay out of people’s hair. That less taxes and less regulation will take
care of the economy and the free market will take care of everything
else. I think current event have made this manifestly untrue. But
to accept the alternative you have to believe that government can be effective
and that great things can be accomplished when we act collectively in our own
best interests.
The last time this happened in this
country was in the 1930’s when Franklin Roosevelt led the country trough the
depression and along the way established most of the social programs we now
take for granted. But to do that took a powerful orator and charismatic
leader to unify the country in solving first the economic challenges and then
the demands of WWII. Could he have done it without the war? I don’t
know but he certainly was able to capture the imagination and the hopes of the
vast majority of Americans.
Can Obama be that charismatic orator
for today? I just do not know. There is a deep-seated distrust of
government in the American psyche that the Republicans effectively tap
into. Benjamin Franklin once said, “no man’s life nor property is safe
when the legislature is in session”. Can we come together as a society to
collectively reach goals that transcend our baser interests or have 70 years of
splintering ourselves into ever more divided special interest groups made that
impossible?
I guess the cynic would say no and the
idealist would say yes. I am saying yes.
I just hope that a majority of
Americans can see that whatever the truth of the matter is that we need to
try. Obama has said that this is a “watershed election”. I think he
is right and that if he is not successful, we are doomed to an ever deepening
of the chasms that divide us and the likelihood of our coming together as a
society be further diminished.
------------ Forwarded Message:
--------------
From: Susan Buckley-Holland <sbuckleyholland@bellsouth.net>
To: Smith Peggy Jean <psmith36@bellsouth.net>
Subject: Fwd: Yes
sir, that's my baby!
Date: Sat, 13 Sep 2008 12:34:09 +0000
This is too good to not pass
on. cb
Yes sir, that's my baby!
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