Silly Season
It’s been an interesting weekend. Frequent visitors to the site will notice that the JavaJennifer Logo is up and running with a hearty thanks to Lau Lau (not his real name) who has agreed to be my blog administrator, so look for a re-launch of the site in late September. In the meantime, I have a lot on my plate, all of it good, so faithful readers can look forward to more of my funny insights. Ha.
But first, I had my friends, one of whom wants to be called “Boob Salad” over this afternoon for a wayword pool day (it rained). As they both work for the government in different agencies but both in Director roles the conversation turned to politics.
Late summer, early fall is an interesting time for this area; September 30th marks the end of the government fiscal year and while the complexities of Government spending still eludes me, the gist is that if an agency fails to responsibly consume the funding in that year’s budget then they are at risk of losing that funding, plus any incremental funding for the next year. This is, in part, how the DoD ends up with a $400 toilet plunger. A former client of mine aptly refers to this time of year as ‘Silly Season’.
An election year makes it even sillier as the current administration’s political appointee’s start leveraging their next gig, positioning themselves within their own agencies. So Boob Salad and Boston have both a unique perspective and vested interest in the election and eventual outcome.
Like me, they describe themselves as liberals and have first person narratives of the self-serving, power hungry antics of the republicans they work alongside every day. We agreed that the cover of the New Yorker (pictured here) was appalling evidence of racism. All three of us voted, however reluctantly for John Kerry 4 years ago (I would have voted for Paris Hilton at that point) and in a hushed tone we agreed that unless Barak picks a compelling running mate that the three of us are likely to vote for McCain. I’m not sure the media is going to pick up on what I’m calling, “disgruntled democrats”, but the more I talk to my friends about this elections, the more I’m learning that liberal ideology aside our kitchen table issue are leading us however reluctantly to John McCain.
I am disappointed by Obama’s recent travels overseas and think that his inspiring speeches are inappropriate in the context that he’s not the elected President and wasn’t visiting these countries in any capacity apart from that of a candidate for President, vs. an ambassador or more appropriately a Senator.
When I first blogged about this earlier in the month, I collected two views to be well reasoned and well articulated and I’m including them in this blog because I think they illustrate how polarizing the current political landscape in this country is.
First, from Republican Dude: The Worst Thing you could do is support the idea of withdrawing from Iraq in surrender according to some arbitrary timetable drawn up by an inexperienced politician from Chicago with no military background. That’s sheer idiocy. Honor those fallen heroes in Arlington by insisting on victory; don’t demean their sacrifice by retreating in humiliating defeat. Anything else will be regarded by our enemies in Iran and Syria and Al Qaeda as a victory for them over us, a propaganda victory which will have hugely negative repercussions for us for decades, and potentially exponentially worse loss of life.
And from the False Auntie: Barack Obama is best qualified to lead American back to a strong and prosperous middle class and the respect of our allies. Obama had a humble start but has managed to acquire a superior education and has demonstrated the ability to “bring people together.” He passed up a high-paying Wall Street job to help people in poor neighborhoods in Chicago. He has since earned a significant amount from his books. He graduated with honors from Columbia University and went on to graduate summa cum laude from Harvard Law School. He was the first African-American to be elected president of the Harvard Law Review. He taught U.S. constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for 12 years. Like Bill Clinton, he qualifies as smart. Obama’s messages to the American people are insightful, well-reasoned and articulate — something that no reasonable voter would or could say for John McCain. As someone who had two different husbands serve in Vietnam, and also someone who was vehemently opposed to that war, I was delighted when Bill Clinton (from the same era) was elected to office and kept us out of additional “police actions” or whatever the political phrase is today. However, I also looked forward to the day when a veteran of that conflict would take the oath of office as president of the United States. I’ve hoped such a person would be keenly aware of the ignorance, dishonesty, greed and personal insecurities that led to our involvement in that quagmire, and would do everything within his (her?) power to avoid similar missteps. I respect John McCain’s military service and admire some of his political stances over the years. But his statements indicate he is determined to repeat many of the same mistakes in the Middle East today.
To gain a better understanding of events yesterday, today and likely tomorrow, I recommend reading Stanley Karnow’s Vietnam: A History. Many passages could be directly applied to the policies and actions leading up to our present-day conflicts in the world.
It’s a very old and trite adage that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, but it’s true.
The democrats had two outstanding candidates in Barak and Hillary however in the final tally John McCain and his TBD running mate might still win and as a democrat this saddens and frustrates me. I am sickened by everything that the Bush Administration has stood for over the last 8 years. Karl Rove. Dick Cheney. The Patriot Act. The Department of Homeland Security. Conservative Supreme Court Nominees. Invading Iraq for purposes of vanity looking for WMD’s that never existed instead of going after the hooded terrorists responsible for 9/11. Bush’s lack of intelligence on matters related to the economy (because hey- you may be getting ready to foreclose on your house but the wealthy in this country are doing great) as well as foreign affairs and his inability to surround himself with the talent necessary to guide our country are the unfortunate similarities that between Bush and Obama. THAT is why he won’t get my vote or the vote of my two government friends. Though the three of us concede that a good running mate for Obama can make a difference, it should say something that in a July 15th ABC polls only 26% of poll respondents believe that Obama is knowledgeable on foreign affairs vs. 63% who believe that McCain is more knowledgeable. What makes this especially impactful for me is that Obama (unlike Bush) is a smart guy which makes his inability to articulate knowledge on foreign affairs and public policy is troubling.
I’d love to read more comments on the elections from other parts of the country (special shout out to my readers from Florida, New York, Las Vegas, New Mexico, California, Colorado). Bring it on.
Interesting blog. I could point out that I’ll be holding my nose with one hand while pulling the lever for McCain with the other. If Obama wasn’t so incredibly naive and inexperienced, this would probably be the first election I would have voted Democratic. I think I may have been able to vote for Hillary, but Obama is all hype and no substance. He may be ready to president one day, but he’s not there yet.
I am troubled that liberals are turning to *gasp* McCain. Is it that likely that we, as a nation, could vote someone into office that none of us like? As for Obama: I, personally, would rather have someone naive in office – but I hate his ideological stance (or what is left of it after the flip-flopping)and can’t justify it.
So where does this all leave us?
My theory is if we cannot vote for the candidate, then we should use this as a vote for future political strategy. ie: bank on a one-term presidency for whomever gets voted in which paves the way for the opposing party to grab back the office, momentum, and a likely 8 year lock on the oval office.
We just need to hope the next 4 years are not critical. That’s a big bet.
Well said regarding the 1-term possibility. Makes the running mate scenario even more interesting. Virginia’s Tim Kaine is on Obama’s short list and with strong ties to Kansas, it makes voting for Obama only SLIGHTLY more appealing for me. Neighborcop is reading Ron Paul’s book; I’d love to see him add a comment!
This blog gets more and more interesting by the day, and I can’t help but respond to the comments.
I have to seriously question those who feel John McCain has outstanding “foreign policy credentials.” With all of the gaffes week after week, he clearly has a mastery of world affairs on par with a C student in high school.
For example, he told reporters that Iran must be stopped from training al-Qaida. (Oops, Joe Lieberman had to whisper in his ear the mistake he just made, and McCain quickly apologized.)
At a town hall meeting, he talked about his concern over energy supplies going to “Czechoslovakia.” (Oops, it hasn’t been a country since 1993.) He then made the same reference two days later!
He recently voiced his concern over the “Iraq-Pakistan” border. (Oops, that doesn’t exist.)
While discussing the crisis in Darfur, he asked how the U.S. can bring pressure on Somalia. (Oops, Darfur is a region in Sudan.)
Poor Mr. McCain appears to be painfully misinformed, wouldn’t you agree?
From the sounds of it, McCain has just spent too much time at the George W Bush School of Geography. Let’s hope he doesn’t also attend the George W Bush School of Public Speaking, too.
I think Obama’s visit to Europe and his actions and speeches there were brillant. He should act Presidential, in both manner and speech. He doesn’t pick at McCain, but stays above the fray and talks about the future and his vision. Every speech McCain makes, he always sounds like a whiney old man, picking at Obama. That is not Presidential. So, this registered Republican in the OC is cheering for the Obama. Ole!