The Romneys ~ The Barbie And Ken Of Politics

I think back to the campaign and how perfectly pressed Mitt was be it the creases in his jeans or his white tie and tails.  Ann, too, always perfectly wardrobed right down to her equestrian garb.  Barbi and Ken.  The great hope of the Republican party.

Where have they been?  I am aware of a couple of perfunctory interviews after the loss, but since then not so much.  Until yesterday.  I saw an add for Ann's new cook book.  Cook book. How absolutely Americana.  How Barbie and Ken.

Then this morning I saw the first comments I've seen in ages from Mitt. In his usually nuanced manner he declared the Republican strategy for eliminating Obamacare would not be effective.  No argument there but where were the suggestions from the former candidate that might suggest we were wrong in not electing him?

He credited Joe Manchin's idea of delaying the implementation for a year. It has some merit but Obama has already nixed the very thought of it.  Or, Mitt went on, work hard to get Republicans elected to the House and Senate so they could do it in the traditional way.

He has been missing in action.  There is nothing traditional in the way the government is doing business, if they even are, these days.  Nor do I expect to see it return to traditional practices any time soon.  It's rough and tumble and the most clever win.  It has become a reality show airing in real time showing how our elected officials work and play. I'd rather it be a non-reality show but it's not.  I'd rather the squeaky wheels that gain the most attention were getting it for substance rather than drama but what we see is the new reality.  Watch it and weep.

Voters didn't think Mitt related to the world they live in during the campaign. I'm not sure that's true but visuals being everything these days, he was far too comfortable in that white tie and tails. Too Ken.

Ann too was too Barbie.  All those wonderful outfits, homes, cars and locations all paid for by dreamers.  In Barbies world it was parents making their little girls happy.  In our world it was a reflection of a world most will never know. A world they both understood and one most of us don't. Knowing that aspiring to it was unlikely to become reality we denigrated it and turned to one who drops his "g's" thereby relating to us.  Comfort zone.  Vote for him.

I don't know what Ken did for a living in the world of toy perfection.  I do know what Mitt did and I know that in his own plastic way he'd have been better than the illusion of leadership we have today.  

A Man Of God Says It All

With the entire administration, including the President, having reduced themselves to little more than infantile, name calling hellions leave it to a man of God, the Senate Chaplin, to state it correctly.  "Lord, deliver us from governing by crisis."

This is one time you really want to understand church and state is different from God and state.  Being a mostly Christian nation we invoke that notion in nearly everything, thus Barry Black is the Senate Chaplin who spoke volumes in his opening prayer this morning. He brought the point of the current exercise in bad behavior home, focusing on how Congress is supposed to function rather than how they are by using drama and sound bite governance rather than 'judicious compromise'.

Chaplin Berry's offering:

Keep us from shackling ourselves with the chains of dysfunction. Use our senators today to serve your purposes for this generation, making them ever mindful of their accountability to you. Lord, deliver us from governing by crisis, empowering us to be responsible stewards of your bounty. Using judicious compromise for the mutual progress of all. Provide this land we love with your gracious protection and may we never cease to be grateful for the numberless blessings we receive each day from your hands. We pray, in your merciful name, Amen."

Where he goes astray is asking the Senate to be responsible stewards of God's bounty without including we the people.  After all the Senate as well as the House are beholden to us for all that they have.  I'm sure the good Chaplin would be happy to remind them that what the Lord giveth He can taketh away.

They'd be wise to remember that we the people can do the same.

Banned Books Week

Parents challenging schools and books for required reading is nothing new.  It happens here quite a bit and sometimes the parental opinion is based on an online review, not the actual reading of a book.  Rather like when my generation would turn in a book report based on a Classic Comic rather than the actual book.

Never, however, did I expect to see a week designated as Banned Books Week.  But yes.  There is one and it's an annual event sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association and the PEN Center, among other similar associations.  It is designed to draw attention to banned books.  It is marketing the written word in a most unconventional manner.

If it gets people to buy books and read them I guess it isn't all bad.  It seems a shame there is a need for it but then it's a shame some feel a need to ban a book in the first place.

Over the years some of the great classics have fallen prey to zealous critics.  Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn often make the lists.  Little Red Riding Hood because  she was carrying wine as one of the refreshments in her picnic basket.

The Diary of A Young Girl  by Anne Frank because it is a real 'downer'. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz because it described witches, at least some of them, as good. From Grimm's Fairy Tales the story of Snow White because she almost gets killed by a corset and Cinderella because her step sisters cut off parts of their own feet.  Grimm indeed.

For the older set there's The Grapes of Wrath because some thought fictional residents of a real county weren't flattering. Gone With The Wind for Scarlett's immoral behavior and Fahrenheit 451 for the use of an expletive considered blasphemous.

My what starched and proper lives those who would ban books must live.  Without a touch of reality. And they wish to impose it on others not quite so saintly.

Perhaps the most ludicrous of all is the dictionary.  Yep.  Because it has all the words in it including (gasp) sexual definitions! Well, someone had to read it to know that.  My guess is that the 'definition of' is as close to sex as many have ever gotten!  I do wonder, though, how they justified having kids.

The one book I didn't find on the lists is the Bible.  Heck, it has it all of the above under one cover!  I don't imagine the booksellers would be too keen on that if the word gets out.

The Young Turks Vs. The Old Turkeys

Can you Republicans name these men?  They are your leadership in the Senate.  When was the last time you saw any of them making the rounds of the talk shows? Can you even name them?

I'll bet you can identify Rand Paul and Ted Cruz without any problem.  Every once in awhile when I stop ranting long enough to think things through, I realize that the future of the Republican Party is with men like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. I sometimes don't agree with them on their policy ideas nor their approach but at least they are out there forging the way. Often, too, we see them tweaking their thinking as they learn. That's a good thing.  Seeing a better way is positive.

When was the last time you saw the leadership out there forging anything?  Okay, McConnell has a challenge for his seat coming up.  I hope he shows more enthusiasm to his constituents than he does to his TV audiences.  And John Thune, in the upper left corner, is he asleep while the minority leader speaks or is he merely resting his eyes? At one time I thought he might be Presidential material but who is he?

Could any of them filibuster like Rand Paul did?  Do any of them have the passion? I'm not seeing it.

There was a time that the Presidential nominee, win or lose, was considered the head of the party at least for a time.  Mitt Romney has been missing in action almost since the day after the polls closed.

While the House Republicans are divided at least their fighting for what they believe.  You hear them.  You see them.  Jason Chaffetz, Darrell Issa, Trey Gowdy, Kevin McCarthy to name a few.  They have the easier job of it because they hold the majority. The Pauls, Cruz, Mike Lees and Marco Rubios have it tougher fighting the entrenched Democrats.

They're going to make errors in judgement.  Over play their hands.  In the Senate who do they have to guide them?  McCain and Graham, two old war horses who are pretty good at over playing their own hands and they should know better.  The leadership is no where to be seen.

The difference may well be generational, time served or a combination of the two.  I see McCain and Graham as trying desperately to remain relevant.  I see the others with a passion for what they believe their constituents are telling them and a passion to do right for them.

I'm pretty sure I can say the future is in the hands of the young turks.  As for the old turkeys - well  maybe  by Thanksgiving 2014 a lot of those tough old birds will have gobbled their last in elected office.

Ted Cruz, You're Bleeding The Republicans Dry!

Scratch the surface and all politicians are the same.  Take Ted Cruz for example.  He's just like Obama in many ways.  It's his way or the highway and no one will suffer more than the American people and his party.  For what?  His opinion. His opinion that is so superior to all others.

Defund Obamacare or shut down the government.  You know, that's not a fair trade.  Just like so many of Obama's dictates.  But lets look at it.  In truth, not as many are against Obamacare as a whole as Cruz and his ilk would have us believe.  What most object too is that it's being shoved down their throats even though there is much that needs to be reconfigured and the blatant miscalculations that were represented as truths.

Politicians seem predisposed to making a big splash to fix what's wrong rather than taking baby steps.  It is the law of the land.  And yes, Obama has tweaked it under dubious legality.  But why not amend it.  Amend it so there are no carve outs for anyone.  Not the unions, not the largest of corporations and especially not the Congress and their staffs.

Why not amend it so the work week goes back to being 40 hours instead of 30 which is putting so many into financial straits.  Why not amend it to delay the individual mandates along with the corporate ones that Obama has already delayed. You get the idea.

This would make the Republicans look like the paragon of reason, a willingness to compromise and heroes to those who will be most affected.

Why must these politicians tilt at windmills?  Ego.  Ambition.  Both, when misguided lead to oblivion.  Mr. Cruz fancies himself President one day.  He's a rock star in Iowa at the moment.  How many of those Iowa rock stars went on to become President?  Palin?  Bachmann?  Santorum? Caine? Perry? Who?

If he had a Republican Senate behind him and the numbers to over ride a veto I could understand his fervor, but he doesn't.  The Senate will take out the defunding and send the bill back to the House.  Will they put it back in and return it to the Senate in another game of chicken?  Time will tell, but I wish Speaker Boehner would get tough with the Tea Party types who are holding the Republicans, the House and the Country hostage. Deprive them of committee chiarmanships or whatever House discipline measures are available.  Party politics is a team sport and the quarterback calls the plays.  That would be Boehner.  Your not a team player then the prize passes don't come your way.

We all know that if the roles were reversed the Republicans would be screaming bloody murder. This isn't the way government is supposed to work.  In fact it doesn't work this way.

Shutting down the government is Republican suicide.  Those who can't understand this should not be re-elected.  We complain about other countries who have petty dictators as heads of state.  We're not so very different except we have a lot of them.  Each and every member of the governing bodies who refuses to listen and negotiate is just that.  A petty dictator.  That includes the President.

No wonder the rest of the world finds us laughable. We don't even know how to make it work!