Saturday, October 17, 2009

President Who?

Sometimes I look back at the also rans in the Presidential sweepstakes and wonder how they would have done. Especially when the winner disappoints.

Usually I exhale a sigh of relief for many times the loser also fails on many levels. This time around look at Chris Dodd and John Edwards as examples. What if one of them had won! My thinking on John McCain at this point is that he'd probably not be trying to do as much as Obama is. That probably would have been a plus.

When Senator John Kerry ran against Bush it was one of those, "Is this the best we can do? " moments. I chuckled when I read a preview for CNN's State of the Union due to air tomorrow. Kerry chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but still seems to be in Commander-in-chief mode.

It is his contention that it would be "irresponsible" to send additional troops to Afghanistan at this time reasoning it would be misguided to have a troop buildup to achieve a mission of "good governance" since the election fraud has yet to be sorted out.

The last I heard the mission has yet to be decided causing the requested troops to be put on hold. The last I heard both are decisions the President is to make. You know, the guy holing up with his national security gurus trying to figure it out? His name is Obama - the last I heard.

The one saving grace is winter is nearly upon Afghanistan. The war will slow on both sides because of the weather. Even the expected presidential runoff may have to wait until spring since many of the villages will be isolated throughout the winter months.

Ah, politics. The President has time to agonize a while longer, Kerry has time to posture a while longer and our troops will have a while to try to remember what it's like to celebrate the holidays at home with family. Even Karzai will have a while to figure out how to rig the election one more time.

One wonders what spring will bring. It's the season of runoffs. From the winter snows. Will we run off the bad guys? Will we be run off? Will Karzai or Abdullah Abdullah win the runoff? Will Senators continue to run off at the mouth? Will the whole story be run off the front pages? If that happens, it will be time for all of us to run off!

5 comments:

grammyof13 said...

All right girl, you said it again. Well said too, may I add.

Sansego said...

All the people I've heard express disappointment in Obama makes me wonder if maybe their expectations were a bit too high. It reminds me of all the people who complained about the "Star Wars" prequels. I'm a big "Star Wars" fan, but I'm one of the few of my generation who loved the prequels as much as the original trilogy. Its because I went in with no expectations.

Obama has only been president for nine months. That's a pregnancy. When I remember the previous two presidents, I also remember people expressing disappointment in Clinton and Bush. The only difference is that Bush's presidency was saved by 9/11. It allowed people to rally behind him and stop the criticisms and scrutiny.

Clinton didn't really find his stride until late 1994 and 1995. By his second term, 1997 was a pretty good year...then the Monica scandal hit in 1998. Despite that, he had a pretty good last two years in office.

Give Obama some time. He did inherit one of the worse group of options any president has inherited since FDR. He's not the messiah or the second coming of the messiah. I'm willing to give Obama a couple years to find his stride. Fixing an economy and a war is not as easy as breaking it. That's always the case. People should remember that when they vote for president each time.

Mari Meehan said...

Ease up Sansego. This is a post about Kerry and the possible consequences of his comments. You've made your position aout Obama known several times over as I have made mine. I will continue to do so when I believe he has mislead us or is taking us down the wrong path or appears to be in over his head. You don't have to agree but expect to see it here. After all, it is my blog and as such reflects my thoughts.

Sansego said...

I am aware of that, but I wrote what I did because of what I see is the unfairness of holding Obama to a higher standard than Bush or Clinton. People seemed to think we elected a messiah.

As for Kerry, I am so glad that he did not win in 2004 (though I did vote for him). Hopefully, he will fill Edward Kennedy's shoes for the rest of his career in the Senate. If he's remembered for anything, it'll probably be for his insistence that state Senator Obama be given a prime speaking slot at the 2004 Convention.

Anonymous said...

Il semble que vous soyez un expert dans ce domaine, vos remarques sont tres interessantes, merci.

- Daniel