Well, it's been a few days since I last blogged, and I'm quite certain that subconsciously I took the time to be sure that what I felt and wanted to blog about was not just a rant but based on not reaction but a response to what I consider appropriate and acceptable. But, I'll get to that in just a bit.
My heart goes out to the people in the south and southeast portion of my country. It has been, in this area, one natural disaster after another: tornadoes, hurricanes, floods...there are portions of New Orleans, Louisiana, that haven't totally recovered from Katrina and now face the prospect of being flooded from the north...unless thousands of miles of rural farmland and small town are flooded. And, that is the decision that was made to save New Orleans, the capitol city of Baton Rouge, and Ol' Miss, the University of Mississippi. Sincerely, I would not have wanted to be the person making the decision...who gets to stay, who has to pack up and leave behind a lifetime of work, memories and attachments. Who said life was ever fair, no matter how much we wish it to be.
I've been watching the line-ups for the Republican bid for our 2012 election. It's interesting, yet there's still a lot of time to see how things will eventually go down. I was sad to see that Huckabee was not running, but after watching his program over the weekend, I could see that the passion necessary to run for and then run our country was just more than he was willing to give of himself and his life at this time. And, although I've never run for any office, I know what burnout is like...a path that once gone down you never fully recover from and regret the rest of your life.
I am old enough to remember the speeches given by John F Kennedy...they were moving, sincere, and straight to the point. I have listened to many speeches by many presidents,vice-presidents and lawmakers (federal and state), and even I do not remember any who has proven, time and again (to me), that he lacks the simplest of considerations as does the present president of these United States of America. His lack of tact is truly embarrassing at times, and his arrogance while taking victory laps is appalling.
Asking if the GOP wanted a moat built across the nation's southern boarder, and possibly alligators in the moats was dropping to a new low in my own personal respect that I can only describe by repeating what I heard shared about the former Madam Speaker of the House: "The gift that keeps on giving".
In my opinion, taking credit for "making the call" to advance Navy Seals on a Pakistan compound for the purpose of removing the threat of a foreign religious leader is incomprehensible. Anyone can pull a switch to throw light into a darkened room. It's the people who ran the wires from the electric source to the light bulb and secured the connections who deserve the credit, something that became almost an afterthought for this president.
I came this close to respecting him for this decision, until I saw the peacock preening his feathers in the aftermath. I asked myself: "Why now? This switch could probably have been pulled months, maybe even a year or two ago (for all we know, or ever will know), so what is so important about now"? Unless it might have something to do with polls, points and probabilities.
What those probabilities are, I'm not sure of right now. But, I do know that time will tell, and when it does, the the same nay sayers and finger pointers will clash trying outdo the other and either prove the obvious or fight even harder to cover up what could again prove to be very embarrassing for citizen, party or nation.
One thing I have learned in the past four years of my own political awakening: never take anything at face value; always watch the other hand and don't ever, ever take your hand off the shell with the pea; and, don't get too attached to one politician. He or she is just human, and sadly these days that is more an excuse than a reason. JFK had his faults, his personal life was not to be held up to children to be admired. But when he came before the country and spoke to his fellow citizens, we believed him; and, to my knowledge he never publicly embarrassed the citizens of my country as much as I've been embarrassed as an adult in the past two years.
I'm not naive, I'm not necessarily gullible, I would just like to know that the people who represent me and the citizens of my country will try their hardest to do so with an acceptable degree of honor and good ol' simple consideration. I was that 13-year old who stayed glued to the television that life-shattering weekend in November in 1963. That will be the standard by which I will always judge the the personal character of the people who hold public office in my country.
In my lifetime I've come to the conclusion that public personalities who try too hard to wow us with their grandeur are usually are no better than the people they appear before. And, anyone who has to prove their worth by attacking others and confusing the issues are just as insecure and afraid as the most and least among us. So, I ask, why the outrageous facade? Why can't someone just be himself? Oh yes, he just decided not to run for office because his heart wasn't in it because he is a man of soul!
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