THE CURMUDGEON CHRONICLE ©
AN IRREVERENT VIEW
Time Line: May 31, 2010
Date Line: Chicago IL
I never thought I would miss George Bush, but I do.
During the Bush tenure there was always something to ridicule; always an object lesson for us to store in the national conscience. That administration had a unique ability: it could make journalists stop covering a story by giving them another “crisis to our safety” appear.
All gone now: Sarah Palin pales as a substitute. No matter how hard the GOP tries it hasn’t been able to match George’s malapropisms and cowboy blustering. The best they can do is to produce caricatures of Bush and his coterie. The Democrats can’t change coverage emphasis even though the US is supposed to be molded by a left-wing liberal press. That leaves only the incumbent President to look to for humor and despair.
It is difficult to poke fun at the President’s pronunciation; he can say NUCLEAR (never NUCULAR); he is geographically aware and even knows something about history, science, finance, the Constitution, and current affairs. He has not antagonized any of our allies. Indeed, he brought some disaffected allies back into the circle of US –International friendships.
He has not made our relationships in the Mid-East stronger, or brought peace to that area. However, even God can’t do that, (either as Allah, Yahweh, or Christ).
That leaves Presidential efforts to fix things to criticize. The current demand is for him to stop the flow of oil from a BP deep well’s blowout under a mile of ocean. Chris Matthews seems to expect him to strip to his Y-fronts, put on a wet suit, scuba tank, and flippers and swim down to plug the leak. Hmmm.
When we “lost” Dick Cheney, we lost the ability to have a quick fix for the current oil disaster. Dick would have said:
1. What blowout?
2. It is clearly an AL Qaeda action.
3. We have proof that Sadaam has been training tuna in Afghanistan to carry depth charges.
4. If BP continues to give its products to mankind FREE it should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
That is gone too and is replaced by the media’s daily questions about the oil leak. No amount of investigative questioning will put the genie back in the bottle. It should not have escaped in the first place. If BP had done the few things required by law and good business practice our major concern would be whether the Hawks will win the Cup.
This disaster is caused by negligence just like the auto accident that dented your fender last month. The difference is one of degree, not causation. Unlike your fender, (which can be taken off and repaired without affecting the rest of your vehicle), the oceans are interconnected. The planet’s marine fauna and flora may undergo epidemics that could make AIDS contagion look like a mild sniffle.
If you like fish for dinner you’d best order it now and freeze it for the long haul.
Lobster, shrimp, and other ocean delicacies may be scarce, but not because President Obama couldn’t swim down and fix the leak. You won’t be eating them because BP was negligent and too cheap to install a back-up blowout system for the princely sum of $39,000 (including overhead and a factor for the CEO’s merit bonus)
.
Leaving that to one side I look at the first 18 months of this presidency with surprise, admiration, and a measure of disgust.
Admiration for the way the President is steering the US through an economic crisis and lead us to adopt a health care reform package that keeps everyone happy. (Insurance companies have had an increase of 35% in market size; can adjust rates to cover any increased risks; people are covered for catastrophic illness, and costs are contained to a very large degree). Both results were fought tooth, nail, and lied about by the President’s opponents. Not because the legislation was bad, but because they wanted to win an election in 2010.
Surprise at the way the President is trying to keep his campaign agenda to bring health care to the uninsured, correct deficiencies in the banking system, and address the issues of job creation. While the last item is not “properly” a governmental concern in a capitalistic society, the stimulus of government spending is an enormous factor in industry’s ability to employ its citizens. The President is not always doing the popular thing, but in his judgment he is doing the right thing.
Disgust at the way party politics have slowed the needed legislation and the cynical way in which Republican politicians claim credit for better health care, job creation and the saving of US industries like auto-mobile manufacture. (After all it was their Congress that passed those measures, wasn’t it?).
There are things we don’t agree with: Our free trade policy; Treating immigration and illegal entry alike: War in Afghanistan is not productive (the USSR is an object lesson we should not forget); Appointments must be reevaluated constantly and changed when needed (Treasury, Homeland Security and Commerce are examples).
While I miss George Bush, I wouldn’t exchange Obama for him. Not even for $10 Billion in cash and an early draft pick.
Howard Stamer
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