Taking shots at politicians is somewhat unfair. It’s rather like shooting fish in a barrel, and although I’ve never participated in that, I’ve been deep sea fishing when the darn things seemed to be trying to jump into the boat…sort of takes all the sport out of the whole thing.
Back to the politicians. The Republican primaries have brought a great deal of enjoyment. These men and former woman have fired so much mud at one another that it seems they’re just providing fodder for the Democratic ad team who must be drooling from information overload. Like you, I have not the slightest idea of who will win the Republican nomination…nor do I care. You see, I lived through eight years of George W. Bush. I had just retired a couple of years before he came into office. I watched my retirement income shrink over those eight years of idiocy. I watched two wars begin for no reason whatsoever. I watched terrorists wreak havoc on American soil such as not had been done in more than half a century. I watched as one man, so in love with himself and his position of power, made this nation a laughing stock to the rest of the world. Now that he is gone, I’m watching as his remaining cronies attempt to blame all of his mistakes on the man who had to take over and try to “right the ship” in four short years.
It took eight years for George W. Bush and his cadre of well-to-do-hangers-on to bleed the American teat dry and now they’re blaming the Black kid for their screw-ups? I don’t care who the Republican nominee is because I’m going to give Obama a chance. I have to admit that he has turned the economy around…partly. He has brought health care to all Americans, something that seven Presidents before him were unable to do. Yes, the jobless rate is still poor, but it’s a hell of a lot better than it was in 2009 when he took over. And, despite having a wife who doesn’t have a clue about being or how to act like a First Lady, Obama hasn’t done all that badly.
Have you noticed that the Republican candidates are not saying that their ideas are any better than what the incumbent has? What they constantly repeat is, “We want a candidate who can beat Barack Obama.” I have to ask, “Why?” What has this guy done that is so terrible? Bush threw troops into Iraq and I have never understood that. “We know that Saddam has WMDs.” Oh, really? Well, that’s one turned out to be rather erroneous, wouldn’t you say? And it only cost us approximately 4,500 American dead since President Bush said, “Mission Accomplished.” What “mission” was worth that number of young American men and women? Even after Obama took office, we lost another 300+, but at least the remainder of the troops is now out of there. Yeah, and so what happens less than a week after we leave? The insurgent bombings begin again. If we were wise, we’d pull every American out of the Middle East; advise Pakistan and Afghanistan to break out their old swords and get back into the tribal warfare. It’s what’s going to eventually happen anyway so why shouldn’t we just speed things up a bit?
What I really hat is watching the house of Saud get away with all of their machinations while we coddle them because they have the oil. That sickens me. Saudi Arabia is the training ground for terrorists but we treat them as if they were our best friends. I don’t understand it.
Anyway, back to the politicians. Things started out smoothly enough in Iowa. Herman Cain started to get a bit too big for his britches so they trotted out a few bimbos because his was vulnerable on that front. After all, aren’t all Black men just after white women…nice generality; untrue but a generality that got Herman out of the running. Rick Perry began doing Dan Quayle imitations and that has probably been his downfall. Romney damn near blew it with his $10K wager comment, and Ron Paul is just plain scary. John Huntsman had some reasonably good standing until he took himself out. Now, we’re really left with Newt, Mitt, and Tea Party Patsy, Ron Santorum. If those three aren’t enough to scare you into giving Obama four more years, I don’t know what in the name of God would possibly do it!
Dick Bishop
