GOP, Democrats almost, not quite, agreee
The Republicans and Democrats held their conventions and it seemed early on that they were beginning to reach agreement, to establish some unity; but it turned out they didn’t quite make it.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie began the GOP session with a long tribute to the accomplishments of Gov. Christie, leading me to believe he might announce as a write-in candidate, until he mentioned Mitt Romney as a candidate of his party worthy of consideration. Both Republicans and Democrats agreed, it was an awful speech.
But then differences broke out. It ended up with President Barack Obama noting what the race is really about. Republicans want to cut taxes and to cut regulations on business and Democrats don’t.
He made it perfectly clear that it is Democrats with their soon-to-be-heavily-funded wind, solar and battery power, against the Republican’s soon-to-be-heavily-regulated gas, oil, electricity and nuclear power.
It won’t be fun to watch the loser go broke.
But you can see some room for agreement there. Batteries use electricity, and electricity takes a lot of coal. Maybe a compromise could be that electricity could be used with batteries but not with wires. That would hold the sea level down maybe a few more inches, but not likely as much as a foot. More EPA employees could be hired to work out the details and improve the height levels. There’s a lot to be learned yet and great potential. Remember solar and wind are in their infancy.
One big item from a previous Obama speech was missing. No progress report on algae. But it was less than a year ago that the president pointed out the potential of that resource, so surely at the State of the Union… I can see the press out leaking already: Hey, President Obama in January will be making an announcement that will reshape America and we have a hint at what it is, Secretary Chu, who won a Nobel Prize, is working on it, but we can’t give details yet…It could really be something when he springs it on the public.
The greatest speech, after Obama’s, was by former president Bill Clinton. He pointed out with logic that Obama should be reelected based on simple arithmetic. The Democrats definitely have the GOP beat on percentages: What are the odds that the Obama administration can have another term as bad as that first one? Got to be astronomical.
Clinton, one of the most women-friendly of all the presidents, made an ideal representative for stressing the Democrat’s voting lead in that area. He praised Michelle Obama and her importance in backing her husband at this vital Democratic moment. He himself would have been backed by Hillary at the big event, had she not had a previous commitment to a meeting in East Timor.
Clinton got one of the biggest laughs of the convention when he pointed out that even bad clocks are right twice day. The cameras then panned to a roaring crowd, obviously in wonder as to how he can keep coming up with such good stuff.
The GOP made a few feeble attempts at closing the gender gap, with some talks by Ann Romney and assorted other GOP-type ersatz females. I was glad to see both sides go strong toward equal opportunity for women, because I feel strongly about it myself. I’m a fan of Mary Sanchez, and I’ve long wanted to see Mary get a shot at the WBA featherweight boxing title…I kid you, Mary…and I’m a fan of Bill Maher, too.
But the love story of Barack and Michelle is real, and it is poignant. Michelle told of dating this young boy, with shoes too small and a car with a hole in the floorboard, and she said she loves him even more now. Well yeah. He’s now not a dumb kid who can’t pick the right shoe size and has a junk car. He’s the president. With a limousine. And a jet!
There was a lot of talk about Hillary’s running for president. All the Democrats seemed excited about it. But I hope she doesn’t, because she might lose. And I can’t stand to see a grown woman cry. And I’m afraid Andrea Mitchell might break down during prime time on MSNBC if Hillary didn’t come through.
Both sides made good points and new stars shone. Steve Schmidt, a rising Democrat who, strangely, tutored Sarah Palin for Senator McCain, rose in the ranks by pointing out the Democrat convention was without flaw.
David Gergen of CNN, also strangely, pointed out the third day, not the last day, was the greatest session of any convention ever, and that day clinched it for the Democrats. “Just shut it down,” CNN advised after the third day. I think an election in November is required though, under the Constitution, but with enough press backing, perhaps an executive order would be deemed sufficient.
Of course, no convention is totally without flaw. Some minor matters were noticed. Christians were irritated that God was taken out of the Democrat plank, Jews were upset when Jerusalem was left out as their capital, and Muslims were angry when they were voted back in; and a recording is available to prove the validity of the vote. But these were minor items that no other groups even seemed to notice.
There were a lot of random comments, some not kind: Democrats pointed out Romney had an elevator in his really big garage. They observed that Paul Ryan was a liar, and a lot of Republicans were called racist, homophobic, anti-woman, anti-dog and rich; and, of course, the convention could not close until at least one Democrat:
…In this case, John Kerry, possibility for secretary of state, who pointed out Sarah Palin is dumb
The schedule gave the Democrats the chance to get the last word. But the Republicans are now trying to come back. One of the GOP magazines (The GOP has magazines?), yes, the National Review, has just issued 689 reasons to defeat Obama. Being a GOP magazine, it cheated. It listed Joe Biden six times. Or something like that. I lost count.
The magazine also pointed out the question now facing us all: Is the country ready for its first African-American former president?
Mark Hastert
9 months, 2 weeks ago“Is the country ready for its first African-American former president?”
…. not now but it will be in 2016 when we celebrate the first woman President!