Tag: American politics

MITT ROMNEY … OR ELSE (Part II)

Nobody likes Mitt Romney.  The progressives don’t like him because he’s too conservative; the conservatives don’t like him because he’s too progressive.  The media doesn’t like him because he’s not Barack Obama.  Personally, I don’t much care for the guy either.  He’s way to “Man from Glad” for my liking.  If I had a dog in this fight it would be Jon Huntsman — if for no other reason than while Romney speaks French, Huntsman speaks Mandarin.  Do the math!  Fortunately, I don’t have to like Mitt Romney, and neither does the American public.  They just have to elect him because, if they don’t, the road to hell is paved and right now America is using up all four lanes trying to get there.

To those of us who don’t live between Maine and Malibu, it looks pretty seriously like America is coming apart at the seams.  This isn’t journalistic hyperbole; it’s real time observation.  The litany of problems is exceeded only by the list of stumble-bum ideas currently on the books to solve them.  You can disagree if you want to, but you’d better check your pulse because you may be in a coma.  I realize that over the last two centuries our neighbour has had its share of little ups and downs.  I also understand that America is still dancing at the coolest party on earth.  They still hold all the records for achievement above and beyond any other place in the world, and accounts of their imminent demise are greatly exaggerated.  However, here in 2012, it looks remarkably like the ground is shifting out from underneath its feet.  Open any media website and you’ll find a whole lot of “Ain’t it awful?” and not very much “Wow! That was close.”  This has got to stop.  If it doesn’t, those grandchildren in Nebraska are going to find out what comes after WTF.

The problem is for the last four years, America has been on vacation.  In 2008, after eight years of George Bush, 9/11, colour-coded Home Security, war, terrorists, economic meltdown, disease, pestilence and floods, they needed some time off.  And they took it.  The timeshare condo guy came wheeling through with his “Hope” and “Change” sales pitch, and they bought in — without ever thinking it through.  Now, like all vacationers, they’re back home with no money, a couple of trillion dollar mortgages and a suitcase full of useless crap that’ll probably end up in the yard sale next summer.  Oh, yeah — and most of them are about to lose their jobs.  They’re pissed.  The last time Americans were this mad was 1776, and that ended up with everybody reaching for their muskets.

This election is not going to be about “Hope” and “Change”; even the most ardent Obama supporter has given that one up.  But it is going to be about change.  Americans are fed up with politicians.  It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Tea Party rally or an Occupy Whatever! campsite, Americans have had it up to their teeth with petty politics.   They are a pragmatic people, and they’re tired of spending the real money they don’t have on political crap they don’t need.  They want something done about it — yesterday.  This is going to result in a seismic shift at the ballot box.  The Populist candidates (Republican or Democrat) are going to win and they’re going to win big.  Congress will be so down home they’ll be installing porch swings and issuing banjos.

This is not necessarily a good thing.  The will of the people is sacrosanct to Americans — even if it means shooting themselves in the foot.  We’ve been witnessing that for the last two years, as a reluctant president skirmishes with a recalcitrant Congress.   It’s only going to get worse after November when a pile of “We the People” politicians start flexing their muscles on what has already become a lame duck president.  As Niall Ferguson said, they’re going to want to start turning back the clock to a time before Franklin and Eleanor were sitting by the fireside, and there won’t be anybody there to stop them.  After all, Obama couldn’t pull off Healthcare properly back when he had Pelosi on his side.  What’s going to happen when he’s counting his friends on one hand?  Government gridlock will look like a reasonable option.

Romney as president solves this.   He’s the centre-right executive that America needs right now.  America doesn’t need any more ideology; the place is oozing with it.  It needs someone pragmatic, someone who can get the government of the people, by the people — and in spite of the people — moving again.  But, most importantly, Romney can beat Obama; Newt, Paul and Perry don’t have a hope.

MITT ROMNEY … OR ELSE! (Part I)

Every four years, whether anybody likes it or not Americans stop whatever they’re doing and turn on each other in a ten-month, bare-knuckle brawl called “Who Wants to be the President.”  It’s sort of an itty bitty Civil War that keeps the most powerful nation on earth from having the real thing.   In the past, nobody outside the fifty states cared very much about it until October, when most of the fighting was over and it was down to the final four.  However, somewhere around the time CBS cancelled The Sonny and Cher Show, the rest of the world started taking an interest in how Americans went about electing their head of state.  In those days, Jimmy Carter was president, and he was such a dolt people all over the world wondered how he’d got there.  This year, 2012, is once again a presidential election year, and as of yesterday, the war’s on.

In general, potential presidential candidates could give drama lessons to Gossip Girl.  They’re always talking about how this particular election is the most important one in history and how the future of our species depends on how the people in Michigan’s fifth congressional district vote.  With a few notable exceptions, like 1860 and 1940, this is crap.  For example, at the time, 1976 was called a pivotal year in American politics.  However, we now know that the difference between “Jimmy” and “Jerry” was minimal.  Usually, somewhere between the election and the inauguration, most presidents get sorted out.  Even though there have been a number of bad ones, none of them has actually ruined the country.  The problem is since every candidate since Washington’s Farewell Address has cried wolf, nobody believes it anymore when the sheep are actually being eaten.

We live in such a time.  If history is any judge (and it will be) 2012 will be a serious date in the continuum of our planet, and the next president is going to have to lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.

To be brutally honest, 2008 was a throwaway election.  America needed a vacation after eight years of George Bush.  On the one hand, you had a young, handsome, intelligent candidate who could talk circles around Daniel Webster and Clarence Darrow combined.  On the other, you had a guy who had actually shot at godless Commies, way back in the Cold War.  Pair the old guy with a Kardashian wannabe, and you had a slamdunk for Prince Charming from Chicago.  With the media leading the voting public in the chorus from “I Need a Hero,” the only bona fides Barack Obama ever had to provide were that he wasn’t George Bush.  Nobody bothered to ask him who he was or what experience he was bringing to the table.  Four years later, America and the world have discovered that on-the-job training doesn’t really work when the job is President of the United States.

Barack Obama is not a bad guy.  He’s not out to ruin the world or the country or even the American middle class.  He just doesn’t know what he’s doing.  He’s demonstrated that beyond redemption right from day one when he had to ask the Secret Service where the bathroom was.  It’s not that he’s stupid; he just doesn’t have any experience.  When he walked into the White House four years ago his resume consisted of Community Organizer (whatever that is) Illinois and U.S. Senator.  That’s it!  And he spent over half his time as a U.S. Senator outside the Senate, campaigning to be President.  That’s like that kid Eddie down at the convenience store (no offence, Eddie) getting promoted to CEO of the 7/11 Corporation.  For the last four years, the country has been without adult supervision — and it shows.  But here’s the kicker: Obama now believes he’s figured it out, and he wants to keep his job.  That’s the problem!  The Democrats can’t dump him now.  If they did, they might just as well hang a vacancy sign on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and get it over with.

And all this brings us back to the first punches thrown yesterday in New Hampshire. (The Iowa Caucus was just a bunch of crybabies saying “Me first!”) As of this moment, it’s the responsibility of the Republican Party to make sure Barack Obama leaves a forwarding address.  Why?  Because this is the most important election since Ronald Reagan put a stop to Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Friday; Why the Republicans have to reclaim the White House.

 

Occupy Wall Street or Whatever!

I’m old enough to remember when Monty Python swept the neighbourhood.  It was too funny!  You just had to talk about it, and it kept getting better and better.  That’s the way I feel about the Occupy Wall Street movement which has rapidly turned into Occupy Whatever!  I simply can’t stop talking about it.  Every time it comes up on the panel, some new absurdity raises its lovely head and I’m caught between laughing my haunch off and saying to anybody who’ll listen. “Did you see that?”

First of all, let me get serious and clarify.  I’m not opposed to people exercising their democratic right to assemble and protest.  Knock yourself out!  Also, I do believe there is an unholy bond between large corporations and government that needs to be broken.  Okay!  I just think there’s a lot of jawboning going on when the same amount of energy could be put to good use.  If it’s any consolation, when the Tea Party starts yipping I feel the same way – more about that later.  The problem is, to skewer Marshall McLuhan, the movement has become the message.   It seems the physical act of standing, sitting or lying around in a park is of paramount importance here.  The commitment to change is limited to physically being there.  It’s like finding a charity or social cause on Facebook and tapping the “like” icon: it’s a nice gesture, but it doesn’t do any good.  In fact, every inane remark or other bit of nonsense, no matter how small, that comes out of the Occupy movement has the cumulative effect of downgrading what’s really important.  The genuine need for change and all the hard work that that entails has been hijacked by a dog and pony show that closely resembles America’s Got Whiners and it’s playing on Comedy Central.

For example, recently, conservative YouTubers (and quite a few others) were rolling on the floor laughing at a viral video from Occupy Atlanta.  You can see it here.  It’s long and full of boring, but if you check it out for just the first minute you can get the idea.  It shows just how directionless and ineffectual the Occupy Whatever! movement really is.

Spoiler Alert!

Notice the repeat bleating.  Didn’t any of these people read Animal Farm in high school?  Plus the incredulous look on Congressman Lewis’ face is priceless.  I’m not going to put thoughts in the guy’s head, but I don’t think he can believe what he’s seeing.  If you’re tough enough to hang in there to the end the best part is the guy with the microphone showing his commitment to nobody’s democracy but his own and shouting down the opposition.  I am certain that this is not representative of the entire movement.  However, if stuff like this is being passed off as a serious attempt to change society, all I can do is shake my head – words fail me.  And, the scary part is this is the public face of the movement, I’m not creative enough to imagine what goes on when the Smart phones are shut off.

In the same vein, here are some recent quotes:

“As long as these big corporations have a good crony capitalist in the White House, they can rely on DC to bail them out until the whole system goes bankrupt, which, I am afraid, is not very far off.”

“At this point, I don’t see any difference between George Bush and Obama.  The middle class is a lot worse that when Obama was elected.”

“I have children and grandchildren, and I don’t want them to grow up in this world.  I want the world to change.  It can be done.”

“I’m just saying this feels an awful lot like the 60s or 70s when I was a kid.  I mean, you have the same feeling out here that government and nation have parted paths, and the people will bring the government back to the nation.”

“We got sold out!  Banks got bailed out!”

“You leave your country and you expect things to be better in America, a step or two up from what you left back home.  And then there’s this rude awakening: America is just not what it used to be.”

“Republicans, Democrats and independents are stepping up and demanding we put our fiscal house in order.  I think the overriding message after years of borrowing, spending and bailouts is enough is enough.”

Time for a shock: these come from a BBC quiz, and they’re salted with quotes from the Tea Party.  But could you tell the difference?  It’s difficult if you’re not careful, because they sound so similar in tone.  Yet, I doubt very much if Tea Partiers would be welcomed with open arms by the folks who say they represent the 99%.  In fact, I think they`d be met with scorn.  By the way, you can take the quiz here, if you like.

It’s not one philosophy or one action or one quote that has turned the Occupy Whatever! movement into a joke for me.  It’s the incredible waste of organizational skills, time, money and energy.  The people who are part of the Occupy Wall Street movement have shown they can get things done.  They`ve shown remarkable organizational skills and a strong commitment to effect change.  If they were to turn that energy into just one bank boycott or one corporate embargo, the real effects would be monumental.  Unfortunately, I don`t think they realize that democratic change is a long and arduous process; it`s not a montage from an action movie.  It takes long hours and hard work, and while I recognize the need for speed to find a way out of this mess, I’m convinced it doesn’t involve sitting around some park all day.  However, I`ll take what I`m given and enjoy the grins — while I got èm.