First of all, whatever person decided that judgment is spelled without the "e" at the end of judge was using very poor judgment.
Second, in political matters, see if you can understand what concerns me about the way Americans judge candidates and, by extension, elect our leaders. Yesterday, I changed my Facebook status to read, "Michael has less confidence in McCain by the minute."
Today, I had a response to that comment which read exactly as follows...
"I'm still for him...dont like the name "Barack (sounds like Iraq) Huessin (Relation to Sadam?) Obama (Osama Bin Laden)...I dont want a president with this name! Priority One!
Take a few seconds to read that again.
Sounds like Iraq. Of course! Why didn't I think of that? How did the pundits miss this important piece of political insight?!?
Am I wrong to question how we make our choices? Is it any wonder that we've had the President we've had for the last eight years when this is the criteria some number of actual voters uses to decide? When news organizations poll likely voters about the most important issues in the election, usually the economy, security, and foreign policy rank highly, but is that only because CNN neglects to include "candidate's name sounds like Iraq" as an option?
God help us.
In unrelated poor judgment-related news, my kickball team lost the other night as a result of a bad call by the umpire on the final play of the game, which resulted in a 1-1 tie being broken.
See if you can count the number of instances of poor judgment in the sentence above. If my blog gave me the capability to do so, I would list the answers in small print, upside-down at the bottom of this post so you could see how you did. Unfortunately, I do not have back-of-cereal-box-activity capability, so I will list them here...
1) I am on a kickball team
2) some guy is a kickball umpire
3) he blew the call at the first, enabling a game-winning run to score
4) I'm telling you about it
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Where, Exactly, Is Washington? And When, Exactly, Is Now?
I hope this little stop on The Ride finds Riders doing well and weathering the storms that assail us. Many are still without power in and around Houston, and other areas affected by Hurricane Ike. Whether it is a blessing or a curse that their means of following the financial turmoil are surely limited, I do not know. For many, these are certainly trying times.
The issues and obstacles before us give added weight to the ongoing (or is it?) Presidential campaign. It is interesting to see how the candidates and their teams are handling themselves here. As I watch and consider the aftermath of Sen. McCain's big announcement of suspending his campaign until the financial crisis is solved/helped/averted, I am becoming more convinced that his campaign is seriously lacking direction and meaning.
Over the past week or so, he has opposed and then, later, supported a bailout of AIG. He has touted the fundamental strength and likely recovery of the economy and then, yesterday, sounded the alarm of a crisis that must be solved by the weekend. He suspended his campaign to get back to work in Washington, then conducted - several hours later - an interview with Katie Couric in New York and, the next morning - this morning - gave a speech at Bill Clinton's conference... still in New York.*
I watched a few minutes of the speech live this morning. He called himself an "old navy pilot" (I'm a little surprised his handlers allow him to describe himself as old) who knows when it's time for "all hands on deck" and that this is one of those moments. This is a moment, he said at his speech in New York, for leaders to be in Washington solving this problem. He said the work in Washington was of dire importance because a solution was not near. Within ten seconds of hearing him say that, I changed the channel to CNBC and I swear the first thing I heard there was that they were hearing from both sides in Washington that they were getting close to a consensus.
While I admire John McCain and believe in his sincere desire to serve the nation and help people, I am left with believing that his "suspension" of his campaign** to work on the financial crisis is either pure political gamesmanship or misguided and, at best, late leadership. Neither of these is good for him.
I realize, of course, that I am playing politics here - giving my interpretation of what is going on when I, too, am anxious for the bailout plan to be finalized, but alas, I am not the one who called off my campaign.
* Anyone who accused John Kerry of being a "flip-flopper" better not be planning to vote for McCain, lest they risk being accused of the very same for supporting one now. And don't get me started on Sarah Palin, just how big an inexperienced nutjob she's turning out to be, and, quite closely related, how old McCain looks every time I see him.
** Saying that he is suspending his campaign gets him a ton of press coverage and few days off from spending on tv advertising. The money saved for a couple of days now will come in handy for late flurries of ads as election day draws near. Also, I couldn't help but notice that his "I'm not campaigning because I'm in Washington solving the problem" speech in New York contained what sounded like campaign platforms and promises. I'm sure he wasn't campaigning at this non-financial-crisis-related conference in New York because he had already called that off to be "on deck" in Washington.
The issues and obstacles before us give added weight to the ongoing (or is it?) Presidential campaign. It is interesting to see how the candidates and their teams are handling themselves here. As I watch and consider the aftermath of Sen. McCain's big announcement of suspending his campaign until the financial crisis is solved/helped/averted, I am becoming more convinced that his campaign is seriously lacking direction and meaning.
Over the past week or so, he has opposed and then, later, supported a bailout of AIG. He has touted the fundamental strength and likely recovery of the economy and then, yesterday, sounded the alarm of a crisis that must be solved by the weekend. He suspended his campaign to get back to work in Washington, then conducted - several hours later - an interview with Katie Couric in New York and, the next morning - this morning - gave a speech at Bill Clinton's conference... still in New York.*
I watched a few minutes of the speech live this morning. He called himself an "old navy pilot" (I'm a little surprised his handlers allow him to describe himself as old) who knows when it's time for "all hands on deck" and that this is one of those moments. This is a moment, he said at his speech in New York, for leaders to be in Washington solving this problem. He said the work in Washington was of dire importance because a solution was not near. Within ten seconds of hearing him say that, I changed the channel to CNBC and I swear the first thing I heard there was that they were hearing from both sides in Washington that they were getting close to a consensus.
While I admire John McCain and believe in his sincere desire to serve the nation and help people, I am left with believing that his "suspension" of his campaign** to work on the financial crisis is either pure political gamesmanship or misguided and, at best, late leadership. Neither of these is good for him.
I realize, of course, that I am playing politics here - giving my interpretation of what is going on when I, too, am anxious for the bailout plan to be finalized, but alas, I am not the one who called off my campaign.
* Anyone who accused John Kerry of being a "flip-flopper" better not be planning to vote for McCain, lest they risk being accused of the very same for supporting one now. And don't get me started on Sarah Palin, just how big an inexperienced nutjob she's turning out to be, and, quite closely related, how old McCain looks every time I see him.
** Saying that he is suspending his campaign gets him a ton of press coverage and few days off from spending on tv advertising. The money saved for a couple of days now will come in handy for late flurries of ads as election day draws near. Also, I couldn't help but notice that his "I'm not campaigning because I'm in Washington solving the problem" speech in New York contained what sounded like campaign platforms and promises. I'm sure he wasn't campaigning at this non-financial-crisis-related conference in New York because he had already called that off to be "on deck" in Washington.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Why Wait?
This morning, I heard a local radio personality say, in reference to remembering 9/11, that "the best thing about America is how we come together when something bad happens."
I could not agree more. And less.
Our ability to unite for a common purpose is one of the wonderful things about America. The fact that we fail to do so until tragedy strikes is one of our worst qualities. Why wait?
Why not recognize that we have common wants and needs and goals and values every day? Yes, there are ideas that divide us; there are opinions about how to satisfy our needs and reach our goals about which we disagree, sometimes vehemently. But if we know that those differences won't stand in our way when it really matters, why would we let them ever stand in our way? Or why won't we recognize that it always really matters?
I have written before about the difficult beauty of America - of our incredible gifts and possibilities, and how those very things can stand in our way. Here, again, we are faced with the surprisingly difficult challenge of choosing and cherishing what is good and right, and we are challenged to do so of our own accord, without inspiration from evil-doers or mishap like we have, in so many cases, required.
When we notice a gap, now - not when the next hurricane hits - is the time to bridge it. When we encounter a wall that divides us for no reason, now - not when terrorists strike - is the time to tear it down. When families are estranged, now - and not at the next loved one's funeral - is the time to understand one another and heal.
We can come together whenever we decide we're ready. Why wait?
I could not agree more. And less.
Our ability to unite for a common purpose is one of the wonderful things about America. The fact that we fail to do so until tragedy strikes is one of our worst qualities. Why wait?
Why not recognize that we have common wants and needs and goals and values every day? Yes, there are ideas that divide us; there are opinions about how to satisfy our needs and reach our goals about which we disagree, sometimes vehemently. But if we know that those differences won't stand in our way when it really matters, why would we let them ever stand in our way? Or why won't we recognize that it always really matters?
I have written before about the difficult beauty of America - of our incredible gifts and possibilities, and how those very things can stand in our way. Here, again, we are faced with the surprisingly difficult challenge of choosing and cherishing what is good and right, and we are challenged to do so of our own accord, without inspiration from evil-doers or mishap like we have, in so many cases, required.
When we notice a gap, now - not when the next hurricane hits - is the time to bridge it. When we encounter a wall that divides us for no reason, now - not when terrorists strike - is the time to tear it down. When families are estranged, now - and not at the next loved one's funeral - is the time to understand one another and heal.
We can come together whenever we decide we're ready. Why wait?
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