Day: July 27, 2009

I am a tremendous fan of Vice President Joe Biden, and originally favored him for the Presidency in 2008, although I knew he would not be able to accomplish that goal. 

I was thrilled when President Obama chose Joe to be his running mate,  and I believe the Vice President has been a positive force overall for the administration.

However, Joe’s well known ability to talk too much has now led to an unwise public statement that Russia was a weakening country economically, and are falling behind the times, as they face a withering population base.  This is extremely unwise, to antagonize a nation as significant as Russia is,  and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did an excellent job defusing this touchy situation on Meet the Press this Sunday, without being critical of the Vice President.

The Obama Administration also has continued to praise the Vice President publicly, but realistically, it is time for Joe Biden to understand that when he speaks, it can create problems for the President, and that he needs to clear whatever he says before says it, so as not to create troubles for the government in its relations with foreign nations.

Even with this weakness of the Vice President regarding his mouth,  it is still far better than the dangerous involvement in the US government by former Vice President Dick Cheney.   So, despite criticisms that can be made of Biden, I still say it is good that he is our Vice President, but PLEASE temper your comments for the good of the Obama Administration!

This past weekend, we had two pieces of good news.  Sarah Palin finally resigned from the Governorship of Alaska, and Senator Jim Bunning of Kentucky finally declared he would not run for a third term in 2010.

Both are embarrassments to the GOP, which has had more than its share of humiliations this year.  Palin has become a nightmare since her selection to be John McCain’s Vice Presidential running mate eleven months ago.  She has now proved that she cannot finish a task, and is a quitter, leaving the Governorship after two and a half years.  Alaska is better off without her, but now she will milk her fame or infamy by making a fortune exploiting her notoriety.  I find it hard to believe how any intelligent person could see her as having any validity ever again to run for any public office, let alone the Presidency.  But we know that Sarah will continue to be news because of her incompetence and ignorance, something unfortunately very appealing to many Americans.

Senator Bunning is famous as a Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher with the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies, but has been a real lemon as a Senator from Kentucky for two terms,  making ridiculous statements and accusations, and demonstrating to some evidence of mental instability when he ran for reelection in 2004.  He is at war with the Republican party nationally, and has a feud with fellow Kentuckian and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.   In my mind, McConnell is just barely tolerable, but he certainly looks a lot better when compared to Senator Bunning.  Bunning WAS a great pitcher in major league baseball,  but he has been a big disappointment in his Senate career, and it goes to show that excellence cannot be automatically transformed from one area of society to another.

So there is some good news coming to the GOP, as the leaving of Sarah Palin and Jim Bunning is a positive step along the long road to revival!