That’s right folks, I want Hillary in the Oval Office. I want a change from the norm and nonsense we’ve been putting up with since the ’70′s. Every 4 years we hold an election and every 4 years we get either the same schmo or a different schmo in the center seat and by the second year you’re hearing a rehash of the same old complaints. We elect ‘em and then we whine about ‘em. It doesn’t even matter anymore what party they belong to. New guy, same guy…doesn’t matter.
So I want a change of pace and that means I’m going for Ms. Clinton. I want to see her giving the "State of the Union" address. I want the term "Madam President" to be spoken through clenched teeth by those cigar smoking, back stabbing, raising their own salaries, legalized crooks that just happen to be the members of Congress that we all know and love. Can you imagine those twerps in dark suits standing there saying "Yes, Ma’am, No Ma’am, Right away Ma’am"? Does my heart good just to think about it.
I want to see Hillary finally turn the "Good ‘ol Boys" club on it’s ear when they try to manipulate "Her Presidential Self" with their patronizing smiles and condescending ways by quietly and professionally tearing up one side of them and down the other or perhaps just smiling at them while they try to schmooze and intimidate her and then later, when the time is right, nailing them to the wall much like any good woman would do to an offending male.
I want to see her in the Middle East having meetings with red faced Muslim leaders who have more respect for goats than they do for women.
And what are the tabloids and newspapers going to do once they have a woman in the White House? Sure, they can complain about all sorts of policies, decisions and other such stuff like they have for any other administration but they’ll have to find a whole new slant for White House hanky-panky won’t they? Wouldn’t dare get into any sexual aspects of a woman President would they? I mean, that would constitute an act of sexual discrimination now wouldn’t it? They might not actually have anything to report at all and even if they did what could they possibly report?
"Senator so-and-so has butt patted by the President, stammers during speech"?
"Congressman feels degraded by butt patting President"?
Oh, don’t I just wish. Besides, she’d have the majority of the women in the US of A and even a lot of the men standing up and yelling "Yeah! Make ‘em squirm, Hillary!" or something to that effect. It would give the term, "Ladies Night" a whole new meaning.
And as far as the usual policies and results thereof are concerned, she’d have to go a long way to screw up any worse than any other of our past Presidents have. Unless of course she decided to put her foot down and turn the entire Middle East into a glass parking lot and I think that we’ll leave that thought right where it is for now. It’s much too tempting.
And she’s a mother and a good one at that. A bit more attention paid to health care and quality education under her administration perhaps? A little more serious effort put towards middle income folks and their families ie; the "Blue Collar" workers who make up the vast majority of the working population of America? Well…one could always hope.
There’s so much more…
So there it is and I might take ridicule for it but this "All American Boy" wants to see our next President blonde and female. I want to see the looks on faces when she first addresses Congress so I hope they get a lot of close ups. I might even have an excuse to finally hook up to cable again after being without it for nearly 15 years just to watch her do her stuff.
I can’t wait.
Yep, I’m with you Kirk. Good post and thanks for being brave enough to let people know where you stand.
Hi Janet,
No problem telling folks where I stand. It was just a matter of feeling well enough to write up something that made sense.
Let’s hope other’s are just as willing. It’s way past time for a change. Even if she turns out no better than the rest at least it’s going to shake things up in good shape.
I think Hillary is a “good ole boy”, electing her just means more years of George Bush. I definitely agree it’s time for a change, but Hillary is not it in my opinion. I’d vote for Obama long before I’d vote for her.
If you really want to shake things up then consider the Libertarian Ron Paul, not that I’d vote for him either. I have NO idea who I will vote for but it won’t be Hillary.
Now are we still friends?
Hi Elaine,
Let me think about it (2 nano seconds goes by)…Okay…we’re still friends. Of course we’re still friends silly one, do you think I’d lose a fine friend like yourself because of a ridiculous thing like politics?
Actually, I wrote most of the post just for the fun of it but the truth is, I’d love to see a woman President even if it is Hillary. So what if she’s a “good ‘ol boy”? Then it will be just more of the same in female guise. Either way she’s sure to throw some ‘ol boys into some fits and that’s something I’d like to see.
And the Presidential hopefuls vying for the upcoming nominations is just more of the same old, same old. Just like it always has been for the last 3 decades, yes? (Glad you made it back safe and sound).
I am elated at the idea of a woman in office, but I may have to agree with Elaine. We need a progressive woman, not just any woman. Someone who will not conduct a war or ruin the environment or do any of the nasty things we are accustomed to our elected officials doing. I would be thrilled if Hillary turned out to be the one, but her record is a mixed bag.
Hi Rhea,
Very true and I do agree with you but to be truthful about it, I’m not impressed with any of them. To me it’s just more of the same old “you know what”. So if I have to pick one out of all of them, I’ll go for a woman President just for the sake of shaking things up.
It appeals to my sense of humor among other things.
I cannot believe that Barack Obama would make the statement ‘small towns in PA are turning to guns and religion to act out their frustrations because they are bitter’. He evidently does not watch the news too much or else he just ignores the truth. He doesn’t know a thing about small towns. Every day on the news you see a bunch of people fighting with guns, drive by shootings, burning churches, gangs fighting in the streets and etc. They are not from small towns. They are from big towns like CHICAGO!!! I’m from a small PA town. My husband and his family from generations back are all avid hunters. They all own guns. They all go to church. They own guns to hunt with not to act out their so-called frustrations as Obama put it. They also go to church to worship God, not to act out their frustrations as Obama put it. I wonder why Obama goes to church? Maybe to listen to his preacher act out his frustrations about the American people by saying God Damn America! And no one can tell me that Obama never heard a sermon like that before!!! That’s his church, that’s his preacher. Almost everyone I know in this small PA town own a gun and also attends church. It’s the American way. It’s been that way since America was founded. America was founded on God..Guts..and Guns!!! Also, I’m an American and I believe every American has the right to Stand Up And Be Counted!!!! Why vote if your vote is just going to be ignored?? Isn’t that what Obama wants? What’s he afraid of?? Hillary on the other hand understands small town people. She knows why people go to church, the same reason she goes to church….to worship God. Hillary has been fighting for the American people a long long time. She respects the ‘Right to Bear Arms’. She understands the economic situation and she’ll do her best to make an improvement. She sympathizes with the mother who lost her only son to this war that should have ended long ago. She understands the father who cannot get the proper medical treatment for his terminally ill child because he cannot affort the same insurance that our paid officials have. She understands the family who had all of their belongings put out on the street because of a forclosure on their house. Hillary understands all of these things and she’ll do her best to correct them. It won’t happen overnight if she becomes President but it won’t happen at all if she doesn’t.
I’m an American, living overseas, and while my life is here now, I’m still very much an American, who not only sent in an absentee ballot for the primaries, but I also intend to vote in the general election. I’ve been listening to Larry King today… talking heads discussing Clinton-Obama. I cannot believe how much is being made of his saying that people are “bitter” about their economic situation… Duh? To me that’s a pretty accurate descriptive word. I’m thinking, grow up people, (ie: Hillary & co.). America is in deep s***, and you’re like kids fighting and bickering in a schoolyard. Bitter? You betcha! My pension, (after teaching for 30 years in the very poorly funded and equally poorly run New York City school system), barely covers my health insurance now, because I lose more than a third of it, due to the “weak” dollar, (and who put us there???). On the other hand, if I were in the American health system, I’d very likely be dead by now. Bitter? From the perspective over here, I hear that at best, my country is a laughing stock, and at worst, an invader, an environment wrecker… and at this point, that’s not just the opinion about the government, but also about the people who elected Bush twice, and now have what would be a comedy show if it weren’t so serious and important, as they watch the political slug-fest. I’ve got to say though, Obama has really tried to stay above a lot of the rhetoric. With his intelligence and effort to be honest, rather than hunting for the right, politically correct euphemism, do you think he’s got a chance? …and if he does, is some idiot with a gun, who doesn’t like his color or his middle name…??? (…and no, I’m not crazy… I think about what happened to JFK, or his brother Bobby, or hey, even Lincoln!)
Hi Marylou, Karen and welcome!
I apologize for the delay in getting your comments posted. I had to travel down to the VA in Boston, MA for a day or so and I just got back late last night. I won’t be able to properly respond to your comments until tomorrow sometime but until then…your opinions are very welcome. The offerings for presidential candidates and the condition of the country is definitely a hot topic.
I normally do not get involved in political discussions but this one I must speak my mind. First of all let me say that I married a hometown PA boy from Pittsburgh back in 1976 when the steel mills were still standing. So I know a little about PA and religion. Lucky for him his parents had the foresight to tell him the only way out of the steel mills was by education and they scrimped and saved to send all 3 boys to private colleges. And by the way they all don’t own guns. I still have family in the eastern and western side of the state and they do not own guns. But this is not about guns. This entire debate about what Barak said is taken so out of context like so much in the political process. It focuses on one sentence omitting the entire conversation. This is totally media driven and powered.
I have to ask Mary Lou, how much do you know about being a black man in the 1950′s? I am a white woman and know nothing. I had a very cushy life living the American Dream being raised in a white community, good schools, beautiful home, good family, good neighborhood, good white Methodist church. What the hell did I know about the black community? Nothing! I was 14 when Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated. The black community was far removed from me. I was never exposed to blacks in my community nor in school. Did Rev.Wright say things that we ‘white Americans’ would find inflammatory? HELL yes…but he is speaking from a black man’s perspective that goes back 4 decades. They didn’t have the same life we “whites” took for granted.
You want to talk religion, let’s talk it then. Starting with Pennsylvania and it’s huge Catholic populace. Devout Catholics that to this day still attend services at their Ethnic Catholic Parish. Did we turn our head at the pedophile scandal that rocked the Catholic Church? I know some Catholics did leave the church, but the majority stayed. The good ole boys network….shuffle one bad parish priest to another before the news gets out. All white, yet somehow we conveniently forget all this when we talk about the black Rev.Wright. How convenient for all the whites condemning him and Barak. Ain’t it nice to be white?
Hillary Clinton had the same background I had, even more so. She knows nothing about being poor, or parents laid off from work like she tries to imply. She was white upper class American who had a good education handed to her. Barak was raised by single Mom on food stamps, who died way before her time due to our failed health care system.
I’m a nurse and have worked in many settings from inner city hospital to the local suburban hospital. Only when you get out of your comfort zone and start working with all types, races, religions of people do you understand where they’re coming from. Then you can begin to understand their anger and frustration at being left behind in our “white” society.
Back to the comment, are Americans bitter? Yes!! those who have lost jobs, those so affected by the ineptness of our government we are bitter! I am living the American nightmare. I have a beautiful home in MI and my husband works 525 miles away in another state. Why? Because the economy and housing market makes it impossible to sell a house. If we weren’t spending 12 billion dollars a month on the Iraq war maybe the Bush administration could have seen this coming or acted sooner. I am bitter about our Government invading Iraq, a war that never should have been started (which Hillary Clinton voted for) and my children and grandchildren will be paying the price long after I am dead. I am bitter because I am a baby boomer and we are facing a huge crises when all of us retire and the health care system can’t accommodate us. I am bitter for so many reasons as are many Americans and taking the comment from Barak and pouncing on it just adds fuel to the fire instead of what is really important. Can we honestly forget the Bill Clinton years when thousands of Americans had to explain “oral sex” to their kids while watching the evening news? The Clinton’s are NO saints.
Bravo, Elaine!!!
Elaine, you got it right sister! Preach on!
“Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
(John 7:24)
My 2 cents worth…
For someone like myself who served on a special projects submarine during the Cold War, who traveled abroad for nearly 5 years because of this service, who, like many others, gave up their health in order to keep “super powers” from turning this world into a nuclear nightmare…my outlook is a different one to say the least. So this comment is only about the way I look at things and does not reflect on any else’s opinion expressed here.
My father was a Methodist minister (yeah, I’m a preachers kid). He also served in the Pacific Theater during WWII and was the son of a Vermont farmer. He was also a man who considered religion to be the worst thing that mankind could have possibly done to themselves and as far as I’m concerned, he was right. But that’s another topic. He just figured he had killed enough people during the war so, having no money at all, he thought that becoming a minister was a good way to begin helping people instead.
My father was paid significantly below what was considered “poverty wages”. The average white washed Methodist church was hardly what you could call “well off”. This lack of salary was partially made up by the fact that the church (which my father and I did most repairs on) provided a parsonage which was usually a rather small two floor house (which we also did the repairs on ourselves) and paid for the heat and hot water. We moved every 3 years from one district to another so I never developed any sort of attachment to anything that would remotely resemble a “home town” at all.
I learned from day one that all people were the same and things like skin color, religious preference, rich or poor, etc didn’t matter. I learned this by not being taught about it in any way shape or form. It was just our way of life and the fact that my father’s job was serving as a minister had absolutely nothing to do with it. It’s just the way my folks naturally were.
No “home town”, no lifelong friends, coming from a poor family, my health just about ruined from my time in the service…some folks might say that I have reasons to be bitter.
Bull****!
Biggest waste of time that I can think of.
The present condition of this country has a few more causes than just the policies and actions of the past Administrations that served as our federal government over the decades. The entire world, nations and their government’s also had significant effects on our country’s path as well. Moreover, today’s mess had it’s beginnings right after WWII ended and has been passed on, evolved and grown from Administration to another, from Republican domination to Democratic, one President after another (whose power is actually fairly limited) and the hard fact is that the way things are progressing, when Clinton, Obama or McCain take office in January of 2009, they are most likely going to inherit significantly more of a mess than we are currently experiencing today. And it’s not out of the question that the next President might possibly have to take the helm of a complete nightmare. I just hope they damn well know how to navigate rough waters. If this turns out to be the case, we, the people, are not going to have time to be bitter.
So no, I’m not bitter. Despite the fact that at times in the past I’ve felt angered that everything the submariners and certain others went through during the late Cold War years may turn out to have been a complete waste of time, I simply can’t waste my time being bitter. Bitterness leads to anger, hate and eventually violence if remained unchecked. Ask me how I know this.
Laughing stock? Europe in general thought the US of A was a laughing stock thirty years ago…why should that change? The majority of those laughing don’t have a clue of what they’re laughing about. Most of them have never been here and for the ones who have, the majority of them are only basing their opinions on an extremely limited experience. Besides, I’d probably agree with at least half of what their laughing about.
I never did agree to entering into a war with Iraq but I have to admit, we need to have a solid presence in the Middle East and pulling out now would be the worst mistake we could make. The people of Iraq would end up being slaughtered by the strongest factions fighting to gain power. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to see this through to the end because if we don’t, this country will have a whole lot of innocent blood on it’s hands. Laughing stock? How about absolutely despised? Just my experienced opinion here (but it’s still only my opinion).
I’m not worried about who in particular wins the center seat in the oval office, I just hope they can handle themselves in what may turn out to be an unrivaled crisis situation.
Brian,
“Judge not, that ye be not judged.”
Matthew 7:1
I think anyone with an ear for your recent response would come to think you are indeed, a “bit” bitter.
If your experiences dictate otherwise, as you posit, then why the diatribe about other countries?
We the people can only control the destiny of this country. We can make our policies and laws reflective of where we ought to be headed. We can make those decisions within the constraints and freedoms of that constitution.
We can only influence others through diplomacy and our ideas projected via “the media.”
Those laughing stocks have anywhere between 500 -1,300 years more experience in looking at a world stage. Our problem has been one of short-sighted behavior. As the most powerful country after WWII, we made some grevious errors.
We’ve stirred up the quagmire of Iraq long ago – in our dealings in the Middle East, not just Israel, but Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, etc.
They play games like we played games – in the name of Capitalism, for us, religious independence and extremism for them, usually – and the ping pong ball of death, destruction and deceit bounds on.
Saying that I am bitter, doesn’t mean that I am not looking to do better. Think better. Hope better things can come.
But I won’t give passes to the way others’ deceive to get my vote or something less – My obedience.
I respect your service, but I also have my Navy story and my family’s service too. I just think people have to finally be tired and express themselves, bitterly if need be, honestly always.
Hi Jason and welcome!
Okay, you make some excellent points so I’ll take one at a time. Oh, and like I said, my original reply wasn’t meant to reflect on anyone’s views on the matter. Just my 2 cents worth. The situation at hand so complicated and convoluted that you could spend days on just one part of it.
Here we go then…
>>”I think anyone with an ear for your recent response would come to think you are indeed, a “bit” bitter.”
What you probably heard and what I let through was my frustration with my current personal (lack of) health situation. All service related stuff that has finally caught up with me. I’m finding it hard these days to keep it out of my replies. This, of course, has nothing to do with what we’re talking about. Sorry for the confusion.
>>”If your experiences dictate otherwise, as you posit, then why the diatribe about other countries?”
There were times when I actually sat at various tables with a half dozen or more folks from the country I was visiting and agreeing with around half of the complaints/complements they had about the US. Very sharp people I found. When I mentioned that other countries/nations have affected the course of ours over the decades I’m referring to the respective governments, not the general population of said country. A respective government rarely reflects it’s people. Even ours.
>>”We the people can only control the destiny of this country. We can make our policies and laws reflective of where we ought to be headed. We can make those decisions within the constraints and freedoms of that constitution.”
I agree. We, the people, also have the right to toss out our government if it’s not doing the job or acting wrongly (excuse the paraphrasing, I’m sure you know what I referring to) and replace it with another of our choosing–we haven’t. Seems like we, the people, aren’t even good at making a lot of noise these days let alone straightening out our own government. Could we actually accomplish something like this? Sure, but only if we act en masse.
>>”We can only influence others through diplomacy and our ideas projected via “the media.” ”
Diplomacy, yes. Absolutely! If by media you mean the news media, they only put out what pays the bills. If it doesn’t make the ratings it doesn’t get published. That’s where blogging comes in. “Personal media” along with the “professional media” might give you a more realistic picture but only if the people reading such media can consider the content with somewhat of an unbiased viewpoint.
>>”Those laughing stocks have anywhere between 500 -1,300 years more experience in looking at a world stage. Our problem has been one of short-sighted behavior. As the most powerful country after WWII, we made some grievous errors.”
Yup, and they’ve had 500-1300 to steep themselves in deep in traditions and ways of life which we couldn’t even begin to understand. It’s a trade off. Our America is terribly young compared to these “old world” countries. I agree we tend to be shortsighted as you say. Realistically we have no traditions to anchor us, centuries of experience as a country to guide us in future endeavors and perhaps see the consequences thereof. However, like people, it takes the young to forge new paths while the elders give advice and/or ridicule based upon a lifetime of experience. The trick here is to learn from our mistakes. Let’s hope that happens. (yes, I’m avoiding the “grievous errors”. We could talk all day about grievous errors. And some outstanding successes too.)
>>”We’ve stirred up the quagmire of Iraq long ago – in our dealings in the Middle East, not just Israel, but Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Libya, etc.”
Agreed. See above about “grievous errors”. I still believe we have to see Iraq through to the finish as much as I despise the necessity of the thing. I can only state that something like the war in Iraq often times “hides” a much deeper, long term operation where the entire world (or a large portion of it) may hang on a successful outcome. It’s difficult to explain why I say such a thing and it doesn’t provide any answers. Just a gut feeling here. Sorry about that.
>>”They play games like we played games – in the name of Capitalism, for us, religious independence and extremism for them, usually – and the ping pong ball of death, destruction and deceit bounds on.”
You have an excellent way with words, sir. I like it! I’ll also state that our games of capitalism and their games of religious independence and extremism cannot be compared. We’ve been playing our capitalistic games for a couple centuries or so and compared to the Middle East, we’ve killed, maimed and tortured relatively few innocent (the American Indians) and not-so-innocent souls in the process while they have been killing, maiming and torturing each other as daily routine for over 2 millennium. In many ways, for the same reasons handed down from generation to generation. It doesn’t make either of us right but at least we (mostly) stopped doing so.
>>”Saying that I am bitter, doesn’t mean that I am not looking to do better. Think better. Hope better things can come.”
Of course. I never thought otherwise. I was speaking strictly for myself. Being bitter has a habit of blindsiding me, just the way I’m built. It took a lot of hard learning not to let things make me bitter. I probably could have put it better, but I didn’t.
>>”But I won’t give passes to the way others’ deceive to get my vote or something less – My obedience. ”
And aren’t we lucky to live in a country that let’s us do so?
>>”I respect your service, but I also have my Navy story and my family’s service too. I just think people have to finally be tired and express themselves, bitterly if need be, honestly always.”
As I do your’s sir, and your family’s. Seems like we have a lot in common in that aspect.
Bitterness and honesty. Kind of a sour combination that. It seems that the word “tired” often is pronounced “complacency” when referring to the American people which is most likely one of the major reasons we’re in this predicament in the first place. As long as we can pay the bills, put gas in our tanks, food on the table and pretty much do what we wish without any hassle, we, the people, really don’t care all that much what our government is doing at the time. But let things get a bit rough and just listen to us holler. Methinks we, the people, need to start hollering (meaning: paying attention) much earlier in the game don’t you think?
Jason, in the spirit of “we can agree to disagree”, feel free to come back and tell me I’m full of it. I’ll probably agree.
Kirk M.,
I enjoy reading your post, I find them well written and insightful. I also agree than being bitter is a waste of energy. Americans enjoy the highest satndard of living, and often show little thanks for it. Having been bitter in the past I know that all it did was make me miserable. Now I feel gratitude where I used to feel resentment, and nothing on the outside has changed. Politicians still lie, the rich still exploit, and wars are still waged. Nothing will change that, if people want to see change they should look inwards first.
I believe it is a mistake to get too wrapped up in politics, there is too much hidden from the peoples eye to get a realistic comprehension of what is really going on. A lot of what people base their opinions on is speculation or other opinions not facts. All governments lie and decieve their populace. I am not trying to say we should give up participating in our government, but we should watch out how much we let it affect our outlook. Human lives are short and fleeting, and how we live our lives is the important part.
Hello Brian and welcome!
Thank you for compliment, sir. Glad it’s to your liking and I agree with what you say about getting too wrapped up in politics since the general population will only see what I’ve always called the “dog and pony show”. Somewhere underneath all the smoke and special effects (so to speak), there’s a “real government” hard at work making sure that the world stays in one piece. We can hope anyway.
And looking inward (making peace with ourselves as well perhaps?) is the key to looking outward and seeing things for what they are. You hit the nail right on the head alright. When you’re bitter and angry the world turns out in shades of gray at best. You’re one of the rather few individuals who found out that being bitter doesn’t work.
I do think I’ll regulate my future government participation to the local town meetings. You get to speak to “the government” face to face, it’s even better just listening and watching and overall, it’s just a lot more fun.
Interesting to read after the election