And I think I agree with Gingrich...
Modern road to White House 'verges on insane,' says Gingrich - CNN.comThe race for the White House seemed to start the day AFTER the '06 election. I'm frankly damn tired of it already, though what I'm seeing most of in the media are the Dem candidates racing for nomination.WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Potential presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich on Tuesday blasted the modern-day road to the White House as too long, too expensive and verging on "insane."
I odn't know - if I were looking to make an electoral cycle as uninteresting as possible, I don't think I could find a better way than to drag it out for two years... except for making it run for 4.
I'm hoping soon that I'll be hearing something POSITIVE from the Democratic side. They need to understand Bush isn't going to run again, and presenting themselves as the Anti-Bush (especially with the Surge seeming to produce results) isn't going to automatically get votes. There's a lot more to being President than just being automatically against your predecessor's policies.
J.
Comments (1)
I don't know which set of candidates is worse: the D party's stuck in the 1990's or the R party's stuck at 9/10 with a flourish or two. After just doing the light and breezy look, take a few candidate's talking points to see what the two parties look like, I now come to the conclusion that we are in Incumbistan.
Our great decision on 'health care' is: more big government and huge taxation, or more big government and larger taxation. That is it!! Just what I *always* wanted was more big government! So many catalog the problems and woes of the D party that the R party gets away on the fumes of the 1980 campaign, with a gentle waft of nitro from the 1994 campaign that lingers after the storm has struck. Remember that the R's promised to 'cut big government' back in 1980! Instead the fertilizer and watering hose to the Federal kudzu was applied. Then *again* in the 1990's, this time 'for real'. Well, that lasted a couple of years and then even *more* fertilizer and water and soil were added to the Federal kudzu. Now with the Ds back they are bringing even more, fun and long lasting kudzu varieties and a few other strange and nefarious plants to plunk down with their fertilizer and watering duties.
Foreign Policy should see stark differences, and yet we are in 'secure Afghanistan and Iraq' either by asking its nasty neighbors to 'play nice'... or to do that with a 'pretty please, how much can we pay you to be nice?' There are only a couple of candidates that realize that we are at WAR and have been for the better part of three decades. Can't bring *that* up! Nope! Might impugn the sainted legacies of Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton!
Education, now there is something that has been bad since 1958 and poor Johnny having reading problems. The Federal government had ZERO to do with that in 1958... and today it pours tens of billions of dollars into this 'crisis' this 'problem' annually. And? Children read at the exact, same rate as they did in 1958. Excuse me? That is not *helping* the problem, save to have it continue onwards forever.
Space access, such a lovely thing that SF writers of the 1930-50's put forth that 'private industry' would get us cheaply and affordably. So, the next time you see the 1970's era space shuttle go up to service the 1980's space station, remember that is government *progress*. And don't you dare compare any 20 years of aviation advances to their space industry cousins! Why one is aeronautics and the other is 'rocket science'... which, in theory is SIMPLER than aeronautics because the majority is pure Newtonian physics.
On top of all of that, there are all the 'legislative initiatives' also called 'programs' that the contenders put forth. A program for this, one for that and one for the third! Yes, and each and every one of those must be enacted into law by... CONGRESS! Say, for all you Congresscritters running: if it is such a 'good idea' why don't you pass it from your lofty perch Upon the Hill? You know, if those Congresscritters can't figure out the powers of the President and the powers of Congress, then they have reached the apex of the 'Peter Principle' and are at the level of their incompetence and need progress not one step further.
Simple tests to see if these folks understand these things wipes out, for me, all the Congresscritters running for office. Bar NONE. Won't consider them because they don't understand their current powers, so they deserve none more to mess up.
That leaves us with... what? Four governors and a mayor? Well that, at least, simplifies the field for me. Actual 'Executives' that had to 'run government' not pontificate about how well they would do legislating from the Executive...
Experience! Now *that* is a concept to think about when it comes to running a government. I will probably donate to a couple of those that I can find any real basis for agreement with... on *policy* and *outlook* and *enforcing the laws*. And if the number of 'programs' goes up, my estimation of them goes down unless they propose to do it within the budget, within the manpower given and not ask for one blessed thing more as Congress seems predisposed not to give what Presidents ask for on things that require cash.
That can be done.
If you are a skilled Executive. Then success gains 'political capital' with which to pound Congress with. Not the other way around.
Posted by ajacksonian | August 11, 2007 7:35 AM
Posted on August 11, 2007 07:35