Ethereal High Performance

Presidential Politics is such high theater. Long on fluttering speeches and short on solid statements.

As you know I voted for Fred from my kitchen over three weeks ago. He dropped out after I voted. That could be seen as a wasted vote; I disagree. I still feel very happy that I went with the guy because I think he ran the best campaign.

As a logical person I have never understood this business of garnering name recognition and developing an on-stage personality for the sole purpose of getting votes. It is completely stupid to decide to vote on the basis of vapid oratory and shiny commercials. It is a huge money waster (we can always find dough for this stuff but can't repair the infrastructure or fund enough cops). Not only that, but it can be dangerous. The founders, who never cease to amaze with their far-sightedness, must have understood this would be an even greater risk in the presidential races than most others and hence derived the electoral college at the antidote. I think Fred agreed with me on this and simply saw 10 minute coffee klatches and half hour rallies as an endurance race for the windy and, therefore, a waste of time. He would make a perfect VP, though.

Here are my recent observations:

Barak-- charismatic, eloquent, beautiful-- gives us nothing if not a humongous hope for change, and we swoon at the very elocution. He makes you feel like he knows you think he is your best friend. He speaks of unity. But if you look at his record he is much farther from the middle in his direction than W was in his. Barak takes Hillary to task on every compromise she has ever struck. An inherently inconsistent stand, but he does it so well we don’t even notice. He is like the pickpocket who smiles and gives you a hug you while his hand is on your wallet.

Hillary: she is hearing voices. This might be worrisome enough but now she is professing to speak in these various voices. In most circles this makes you certifiable. She admits she is suffering from multiple personality syndrome in attempting to speak for us all. That does not make any sense at all. If you listen to the words instead of checking for wrinkles and tears, you may be shocked to realize that she resembles someone very near a nervous breakdown. And the numbers game that we call the primaries is giving her more opportunities to apply those voices to interpret the facts as she runs neck and neck with the adorable change agent.

McCain: Once a hero, always a hero. Now, he is playing the Mom card and is committed to dragging the 96 years old tomorrow woman around with him from here on out. This makes him look young in comparison and gives us the sense that he has tremendous longevity potential. He considers all of us his friend and I really think he means it. While he has not shown much of his temper lately, the tales of it are legendary and quite frankly I don’t find that so troubling. (But then, those of you who know me would understand that. )He seems to be keeping it in check by retelling the joke about the difference between a catfish and a lawyer. I don’t think this is playing well with the ABA and he better watch it because I am getting madder and madder each time I hear it. But as an outlet for his anger, it seems to be working for him.

Huckabee: Huh?

Romney: Perfect in every way and determined to a fault. Too conservative for the moderates and too newly conservative to have any appeal to the far right, he is out there in GQ country without a cocktail, like a catfish out of water. People just don’t trust a person with that much personal discretionary income. (And just think, he would have tithed 10% of it!) He is always smiling and always on his game but there is something about his desperate desire that is unnerving. Some say the Mormon thing is holding him back; I think we just don’t get why he wants it so bad. He just needs to relax.

I find the conservative reaction to the McCain thing the most amusing. Surely they do not think W is a conservative? He grew government more than just about any President on record and ran it in a classically bureaucratic way. How could McCain be any scarier than that? What in the world do they want and how are they going to get it by saying things like I would vote for Hillary over McCain? It just keeps getting more and more illogical on both sides of the "debate."

I heard the TV writer’s strike may be ending soon. They should be back on the air just about the time we run out of entertainment in November. Good timing.