Day: July 3, 2009

The sudden resignation of Sarah Palin from the Governorship of Alaska brings back bad memories of the disaster of her Vice Presidential candidacy last year, after being selected by Senator John McCain.

It also reminds one of other Vice Presidential choices in the past forty years that were regrettable, with two of them unfortunately fulfilling the role of Vice President in a worrisome way due to the victory of their Presidential running mates.  I am referring to Spiro Agnew, elected with Richard Nixon in 1968, and Dan Quayle, elected with George HW Bush in 1988.

Both were disastrous as Vice President, and in both cases, we could have ended up with them in the White House.  If Spiro Agnew had not been uncovered with his taking of cash bribes in the Vice Presidential office, as he had done earlier in the Maryland Governor’s office and the Baltimore County Executive’s office, he would have succeeded Nixon when the President resigned to avoid impeachment in the Watergate scandal.  Agnew had already divided America by attacking liberals and the news media and labeling anti Vietnam war demonstrators as traitors.

If George HW Bush had died in office from atrial fibrillation or from his vomiting on the Japanese Prime Minister  (which at the time caused a lot of laughter and jokes LOL 🙂 ),  we would have been faced with a new President who was most famous as Vice President for saying such things as that he wished the Middle East was as quiet and uneventful as the Midwest,  and that he wished he had studied Latin so that he would understand Latin America better, on a tour of the area.  He also could not spell the word "potato"  before a student group, and generally made a fool of himself, to such an extent that when Bush was ill, it was said that there was a "political earthquake",   as it was portrayed in a news magazine!

We cannot afford to have the kind of irresponsible behavior displayed in the past by Richard Nixon, George HW Bush,  and John McCain.  Presidential nominees of both parties MUST be convinced that their running mates must be picked not only on narrow political considerations, but also on the basis of qualifications to replace a President who might leave office prematurely.  In the dangerous world we live in,  we cannot afford to make a mistake in the number two position.  We need more in the vein of Hubert Humphrey, Henry Cabot Lodge,  Edmund Muskie, Sargent Shriver,  Nelson Rockefeller,  Walter Mondale, Bob Dole,  George HW Bush,  Lloyd Bentsen,  Al Gore, Jack Kemp,  Joe Lieberman, John Edwards,  Joe Biden, and yes, even Dick Cheney (who despite the controversies over his Vice Presidency, came to office qualified to be President).

There has to be a better vetting process to avoid the kind of scary circumstances that we had to deal  with in 1968, 1988, and 2008.

When one thinks about what Sarah Palin has just done, decided to quit public office, but with the likelihood that she will seek the Presidency in 2012, it gets one to thinking about what seems to be the growing strategy in running for President: Be out of office so you have complete freedom to seek the office without the burden of having to please constituents.

Since World War II,  three Presidents ran for the office while not in public service at the time:  Richard Nixon,  Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. 

If one looks at the likely Republican field,  and add Senator John Thune of South Dakota to the list that was given earlier today in another entry, one can see that the majority of possible candidates are not or will not be in elective office when they run for the Presidency.  This includes Mike Huckabee,  Newt Gingrich,  Jeb Bush,  Tom Ridge, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and Sarah Palin.   Those who will likely be  in office are Bobby Jindal,  Haley Barbour,  Rick Perry,  Charlie Crist, and John Thune.  This is subject to change, of course, such as Perry losing his party’s nomination to Kay Bailey Hutchison in Texas,  or Haley Barbour or Bobby Jindal choosing not to run for reelection in Louisiana or Mississippi,  or Charlie Crist losing his run for a Senate seat in Florida.

In any case,  the seeking of the Presidency is such an all consuming passion,  that being out of public office seems to be a smart, shrewd move by those who wish to pursue the office!

Sarah Palin has just shocked the country with her public statement at her home in Wasilla, Alaska, that she is not going to run for reelection, but is also RESIGNING her position in the next few weeks, and handing over the power of the Governorship to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell.

She said in her statement that she wanted to contribute to America from outside government, whatever that means.  She also compared herself to a point guard involved in a "full press" in a basketball game, who is diverted by opponents,  whatever that means, which is likely anger at being criticized and analyzed by the news media about her performance as Governor and Vice Presidential candidate, as well as her family issues.  She also said that it was due to LINCOLN’S Secretary of State William Seward that Alaska came to be acquired by the US from Russia, forgetting or not knowing that while Seward was certainly involved, it was under ANDREW JOHNSON, not Lincoln, that the Czar Alexander II of Russia offered to sell Alaska to the United States.  So Sarah needs to be updated on the details of American history, which she clearly lacks knowledge of, but is that surprising?  🙂

Sarah Palin is breaking her bond when she was elected Governor two and a half years ago, which was to finish out her term unless nature or tragedy intervened.  She is also claiming that she has saved money for the state by rejecting a pay increase, although it was well publicized that she charged the state for travel when much of the time she was home in Wasilla doing state business. 

So this woman who came out of oblivion last August 29 is leaving government after a controversial ten months of what she calls  "the politics of personal destruction".   Sounds to me as if she is very bitter and resentful, and in many ways, sounds like Richard Nixon when he lost the Governorship in California in 1962 and told reporters: "You won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore, because gentleman, this is my last press conference!"   Of course, it was NOT his last press conference as he pursued the Presidency, and unfortunately won it, with a bitterness and desire for vendetta that he well hid, but made this country the victim of on the way to his resignation.

If one wants to believe that Sarah Palin is really leaving government for good, we can only hope so, but I think it is an illusion.  Sarah Palin will, very obviously, be a candidate for national office in 2012, although I cannot imagine her going the distance.  We can hope that this country is not crazy enough to pick her from among the multitude of Republican candidates, just about ALL who are better qualified and safer to elect than the mayor of a small Alaskan town  (Wasilla) of about 7,000 people,  to a two and a half year term as governor of the second smallest populated state, with the last year being dominated by her campaign for Vice President and its aftermath.

America deserves better than Sarah Palin, and I cannot imagine the GOP pitting her against Barack Obama in 2012, although I suppose most Democrats would "pray"  for such an election contest!

It has been revealed that the Republican "Revolution"  of 1994 has gone against so called "Christian Morality", much of it within years after the takeover of the Congress by the GOP.

At least a dozen members of the "Revolution" class became involved in sex scandals,which led to divorces in some cases within just two years!

This is out of a total of 71 freshmen elected in 1994, or about one out of every six–this from a party which preached "morality" and "family values" and instead set a hypocritical standard of behavior that has obviously not stopped with the recent involvement in sex scandals of John Ensign and Mark Sanford.

This can best be portrayed as the arrogance of power, and the belief that you can preach one thing while practicing another.  What a disgrace and an embarrassment!

Recent events have made running for and winning the Governorship of any state far less glamorous and far less career advancing.

When one looks at the lower public opinion ratings of many governors in the midst of the Great Recession we have been in for more than a year,  one can see how being a legislator–a US Senator or Representative–is far more appealing.

Being a legislator means less responsibility and blame when situations beyond one’s control go sour.  Would anyone now want to be NY Governor David Paterson, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm,  New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine,  Florida Governor Charlie Crist and other governors of other states?   Why is it that Charlie Crist and now Sarah Palin have chosen not to run for reelection?  Part of it is their desire to run for President, but also the misery in states large and small dealing with the Great Recession. 

Of course, there will always be those who wish to run for and, in many states, remain Governor of their states–such examples as Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom in California,  Deval Patrick in Massachusetts, Andrew Cuomo and Rudy Guiliani in New York,  Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas,–but the position looks far less alluring and attractive now than it has in many years, literally decades!

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has just announced she will not run for reelection in 2010, and that is big news!

It would have been difficult to win reelection for Palin, with all of the controversies swirling around her.  Also,  being Governor would have tied her down to events in her home state, which an ambitious person would find stifling.

It is obvious that Sarah Palin is planning to run for President in 2012, and it cannot be done when one has to travel from Alaska to the lower 48 during the primary and caucus series of elections.

So we will be burdened with Sarah Palin, who thinks she is qualified to lead this nation, a view which only a hardline group of evangelicals hold, as a Presidential candidate in 2012.  It will certainly be interesting and fascinating political theatre, but I hope she realizes that she really needs to update her knowledge of the world around her if she does not want to look foolish and ridiculous in competition with the likes of Mitt Romney,  Tim Pawlenty, Charlie Crist,  Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee  (all likely potential candidates),  and also the possibility of  Bobby Jindal,  Newt Gingrich,  Rick Perry  (despite their self destructive performances lately),  and additionally others such as Jeb Bush and Tom Ridge.

In any case, the GOP race for President may already, unofficially, have begun!

When one reflects on the disaster that the Republican Party has been through in the first half of 2009,  one has to say that former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts looks better and better!

With the self destruction of so many GOP potential Presidential candidates–including Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Newt Gingrich, John Ensign, Mark Sanford, and Rick Perry–Mitt Romney looks more legitimate and serious.  With his business experience, his family’s auto industry background,  his enactment of a state health care plan in Massachusetts,  his outstanding speaking ability,  his photogenic good looks, and his being a Republican NOT from the South or Appalachia (the basic image of the Republican party after the election of 2008),  Romney must be seen as the front runner for 2012 at this point.

On the other hand, the fact that Romney is a Mormon and is not therefore acceptable to the evangelical Christian wing of the GOP,  and the charges that his record in Massachusetts shows him to be a phony conservative,  can be seen as his major negatives.

But at this point,  if I was to put betting money down,  and I am NOT doing that LOL :),  I would say Mitt Romney is the man to beat!

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has surprised even hardline conservatives in the recent Supreme Court term by demonstrating that he has moved to the right of his ideological twin,  Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.

On the decision upholding the Voting Rights Act, Thomas was the only one who wanted to overturn the law.  Now he is also the only one who felt that it was appropriate for a middle school to strip search a female student searching for drugs, specifically ibuprofen!

Thomas reasoned that a public school had the right to promote order, safety and discipline without any recourse to the Constitution for students.  This is astounding, and makes one glad he is not a principal of a school. 

Imagine–Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, John Roberts, and Anthony Kennedy all joined the liberals on the Court—John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, and David Souter–in affirming that there are limits on what schools can do in the name of order, safety and discipline!  Clarence Thomas isolated himself, unaffected by the views of the eight others on the Court, and it makes one wonder how does this man tick?   What is the true story about this man and his psychology–a man who has said he wants to stay on the Court for 43 years, until he is 86, in order to confound the "damned liberals"!  But now he is defying those who agree with him over the years on most issues,  but have demonstrated some room for growth!  What a sad story for America!

What a sad, pitiful man Clarence Thomas is becoming, and reams will be written in history about this man and his narrowminded view of the Constitution and of life in general!

Barack Obama has just been added to the Hall of Presidents attraction at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, just as the Fourth of July holiday comes upon us.

It is said that the likeness of Obama is the best ever produced at Disney World, including his voice, speech cadence, wardrobe, hair, facial expressions and mannerisms. 

An already popular attraction at Disney World for the past forty years, it is certain that the new and improved Hall of Presidents will bring even larger crowds over this holiday and in the future.

It makes it more likely that the author will find time to revisit Disney World and the Hall of Presidents, which he last visited in 2002.  🙂

News has just come that the Russian government under Dmitry Medvedev, (but still under the influence of Vladamir Putin),  has agreed to allow the US to ship military supplies over its air space to Afghanistan, where NATO forces are engaged in the war against the Taliban.

This news is startling, to imagine a Russian government trusting the United States government enough to allow this, and overcomes the traditional image of the Russians as suspicious, paranoid, defensive, distrusting and belligerent toward dealings with the US and other Western countries.

It is a tremendous change from the mistrust and antagonism often evident during the Bush Administration, and it is testimony to how Barack Obama has been transforming America’s image in world affairs.  I suppose that the right wing talk show hosts and many Republicans will be critical and second guessing this development, because they still wish to promote the old Cold War mentality, but it seems likely now that American relations with the Russians will  be on a steady course toward improvement.

Let’s applaud the President for this accomplishment, which is certainly, at least on paper, a great achievement, and hope for its continued success!