Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Deep Thinking
Is hard in August
So many ideas fermenting in my cloudy mind this morning. Iraq (soon to be Iran-lite?), the military (and how we'll have to rebuild it after W leaves office), gas prices, the failure of corporate mega news media, Pat Roberston and so on.
The sad part is, things are so wacky here in DC under W, that I've really disconnected from the whole political thing (which, if your job is that of a lobbyist, probably isn't a good thing).
We here in DC, who are encamped on the right side of the aisle, have segregated ourselves into two camps. The kool-aid drinkers and the non-kool-aid drinkers. The former are folks connected with leadership or the administration. Bush is their messiah, a visionary who can do no wrong. No excuse, however Clintonian, is too over-the-top or lame to pick apart. Critical thought is discouraged (perhaps even treasonous) and all that is required for our country to prosper is blind faith in our dear leader.
The other camp is sound the warning bells regarding the ominous signs that the GOP majorities legacy will be no better, and perhaps much worse, than that of the democrats. Spending is out of control, ethics are notably absent (and on a scale that dwarfs the banking scandals of the early 1990s), our military is becoming a shell of its former self fighting an ill planned war in Iraq, and we seem to lack a strategic direction or plan for our economy in an ever more competitive world.
Elephant and most of his contacts fall into this group. I'll try to sort my thoughts on this during the course of the day, but to some of us, it's becoming apparent that who ever is elected in 2008, will have to spend their first term, cleaning up the excesses of the last eight years.
So many ideas fermenting in my cloudy mind this morning. Iraq (soon to be Iran-lite?), the military (and how we'll have to rebuild it after W leaves office), gas prices, the failure of corporate mega news media, Pat Roberston and so on.
The sad part is, things are so wacky here in DC under W, that I've really disconnected from the whole political thing (which, if your job is that of a lobbyist, probably isn't a good thing).
We here in DC, who are encamped on the right side of the aisle, have segregated ourselves into two camps. The kool-aid drinkers and the non-kool-aid drinkers. The former are folks connected with leadership or the administration. Bush is their messiah, a visionary who can do no wrong. No excuse, however Clintonian, is too over-the-top or lame to pick apart. Critical thought is discouraged (perhaps even treasonous) and all that is required for our country to prosper is blind faith in our dear leader.
The other camp is sound the warning bells regarding the ominous signs that the GOP majorities legacy will be no better, and perhaps much worse, than that of the democrats. Spending is out of control, ethics are notably absent (and on a scale that dwarfs the banking scandals of the early 1990s), our military is becoming a shell of its former self fighting an ill planned war in Iraq, and we seem to lack a strategic direction or plan for our economy in an ever more competitive world.
Elephant and most of his contacts fall into this group. I'll try to sort my thoughts on this during the course of the day, but to some of us, it's becoming apparent that who ever is elected in 2008, will have to spend their first term, cleaning up the excesses of the last eight years.
