Speeches

My good and great friend Bruce has been posting excerpts from various inaugural addresses throughout our history. Interesting stuff.

Here's a piece from an Inaugural address in the past-- tell me that Pres. O couldn't include this passage in his speech a few weeks from now (the identity of the President who gave this speech is in the comments section.)

Standing in this same place..., Franklin Delano Roosevelt addressed a Nation ravaged by depression and gripped in fear. He could say in surveying the Nation's troubles: "They concern, thank God, only material things."
Our crisis today is the reverse.
We have found ourselves rich in goods, but ragged in spirit; reaching with magnificent precision for the moon, but falling into raucous discord on earth.
We are caught in war, wanting peace. We are torn by division, wanting unity. We see around us empty lives, wanting fulfillment. We see tasks that need doing, waiting for hands to do them.
To a crisis of the spirit, we need an answer of the spirit.
To find that answer, we need only look within ourselves.
When we listen to "the better angels of our nature," we find that they celebrate the simple things, the basic things—such as goodness, decency, love, kindness.
Greatness comes in simple trappings.
The simple things are the ones most needed today if we are to surmount what divides us, and cement what unites us.
To lower our voices would be a simple thing.
In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading.
We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another—until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.

Caroline Kennedy?

The more Caroline Kennedy opens her mouth, the more convinced I am that if we didn't permit trusts to exist in America the present day Kennedys would all be broke.

There would be a helluva lot of rich bartenders and hookers up and down the East Coast.

And Caroline would be behind the counter at a Madison Avenue boutique, and not a customer.

Any comparisons between Sarah Palin and Caroline Kennedy are totally out of line.

Palin has actually run for office (and won) a bunch of times. She has successfully run both a city and a State government. And she is wholly self-made.

Kennedy on the other hand is a typical member of this generation of her family-- great educational resume (although I think we all know how they got into those schools), light on brains (remember her brother took a few times to pass the bar), heavy on press-fed mystique, and carrying a huge load of entitlement.

Someone once called the Royal Family of Britain England's most famous welfare family. Except that it's Joe's bootleg money, and not taxpayer's funds, the Kennedy's are our's.

People are sniping at Gov. Paterson for failing to appoint her quickly, to end these attacks on her. Our Governor-by-hooker is showing himself to be a pretty adept politician. He is simply waiting, letting this incompetent dilettante burn herself out in the press, then he can pick whom he chooses.

Smart Governor.

Typical Kennedy.

J...E...T..ah, whatever.

The Jets collapse is as frustrating as...the Mets collapse(s).

Today's topic is whether Eric Mangini, the Jets' coach, should be fired.

In analyzing Mangini, let's not forget that coming into this season Chad Pennington was NOT his starting quarterback; Mangini was going with the backup. Great evaluation of talent, right there.

Favre never looked comfortable. Maybe it's too much to ask of a guy to come in and be successful in his first year--but the collapse came at the end of the season--not the beginning. If anything, you would think the Jets offense would have gotten better as the season went along--not fallen off a cliff like it did.

To me the reason Mangini should be fired is the stat about how lame the Jets have been in opening the second half-- I think yesterday was the first opening drive score in a couple of years. I always thought the sign of a good coaching staff was that they could make adjustments at halftime--clearly Mangini was unable to do that.

I am a Met, Jet, Islander, Knick & St. John's fan. I think I am entitled to a bailout of some sort, no?

The Big Three

Two car leases ago I made an effort to buy or lease an American car. I went to every single American dealership, in person. I'm not a car guy--this was my first such effort, ever. My car buying usually lasts about an hour. This was a big deal.

I was looking for a middle-age crisis car. Something that handled well, that was sporty, that had some umphh! to it.

I couldn't find anything. Nothing.

I wanted a convertible; the best the Americans offered was a Vette--not my style, and ridiculously overpriced. The Mustang was a piece of garbage--even the showroom floor model looked and felt like it was ready to fall apart.

The Sebring looked sharp, but had no power, and handled awfully--and was more expensive to lease than the car I ultimately got.

I wound up with a Saab 93 convertible (GM subsequently bought Saab).

Maybe it was my taste, maybe I had been spoiled by foreign cars that were well-built, handled well and were, dollar for dollar a MUCH better value. Maybe it was hype.

All I know is, I honestly feel I gave the American cars a shot--and they fell far short.

Our last American car was a Ford van--whose transmission fell out in month 9. I vowed never again.

I drive a Prius, my wife drives a Honda. The Big 3 will have to change a whole heckuva lot to get either of us to buy one of their cars--especially since I believe both of our cars were made here in the US anyway.

Regarding the bailout--I would have voted no also unless the UAW renegotiated now. Their promise to come to the table later is worthless-- put up or shut up before billions of taxpayer dollars are wasted trying to prop up companies that simply are not managed well enough to survive.

The Dems can blame the Senate Republicans--but the truth is they should have had the UAW guys sitting next to the CEO's during their hearings--and the "plans" submitted by the car companies should have included the UAW's concessions.

Anything else was simply a charade.

The Great American Bailout tour seems to have hit a snag--and not a moment too soon.

A Couple of Quick Thoughts on Blagojevich

1) After hearing about the arrest of yet another Illinois Governor, I flipped around the news channels. Watching MSNBC for a few minutes, my goodness, you would have thought all of their parents were in a plane that went down. Glum, solemn-- how might this affect The One?
Pitiful.

2) Last week David Axelrod volunteered that Pres. Obama had been in touch with Blagojevich; yesterday, Obama stumbled in his answer--first saying we, then quickly changing it to I, had no contact with the Governor about his replacement.

Uh oh. If that had been Rove & W, instead of Axelrod & O, that would have been the lead story. But not now, not for The One. Just a small sidebar, and, oh, by the way, Axelrod misspoke last week.

Two year campaign, the man was virtually perfect. Now, on the precipice of office, we have communication problems?

Or is he lying? And if so, why?

3) I think Obama is clear here, by the way, which made yesterday's stumbling so silly. Hell, the Governor is apparently on tape calling O a m-fer for not "going along". Sounds like a great endorsement to me--seriously.

And I hope he's clear, too. The last thing the country needs now is a scandal of any sorts.

4) Is the prosecutor, the same guy that nailed Libby, going to yank as far reaching a group of people into this mess as he did with that prosecution?

5) Finally, somebody is going to have show me more than was released yesterday to make me believe there was crime committed. The language was coarse, but how was the notion of what do you give me if I give you this a crime in politics. Obviously if he asked for cash for his pocket, he's got a problem.

But doesn't government, or at least politics, run on quid pro quo? How are they going to prove criminal conduct here--and if saying I'll give your guy a job if you get my guy a job is a crime, well, the easiest and cheapest thing to do would be to put fencing and barbed wire around the Capitol building and call it the latest federal penitentiary--cause they ALL do it.

(For instance, didn't reports say Hillary would consider bowing out of the primary race if O agreed to help her raise funds to pay off her debt?)

Inauguration Day

The Constitution originally provided for Inauguration Day to occur on March 4th--which gave the members of the Electoral College plenty of time to cast their ballots (GW actually wasn't sworn in until April 30, 1789.)

Of course, a trip across the ocean back then would take a Man O' War a month.

The 20th Amendment to the Constitution changed the day to January 20-- so FDR was sworn in for his 2nd term on January 20, 1937. The four month lapse during the economic crisis of 1933 was the impetus for the change.

The Congress we elect in November takes office on January 1st.

So should the new Presidential term.

With modern technology, with the pace of the modern world, with the need to keep the country moving, we can no longer afford almost a three month inter-regnum. Let the President be sworn in on New Year's Day and get to work on the 2nd.

Right now, everyone is kind of waiting, waiting, waiting for President Obama. For those of us old enough to remember, it is reminiscent of when the British declared war on Argentina over the Falklands, then took weeks to amass and send their Navy. It was surreal--and so is this interminable waiting period.

I understand he needs a bit of time to catch his breath, pick a Cabinet, etc. But enough is enough.

The New Year should start fresh--fresh resolutions, fresh Congress, fresh President.

Especially in hard economic times, let's not forget this about American business-- the rules matter, but not as much as stability. Americans can adapt to most circumstances--higher taxes, lower taxes, tax breaks for this, not that, regulation, no regulation. We adapt. But uncertainly--that's the killer.

Until businesses know what the rules for 2009, 2010 and on will be, everyone is going to stay hunkered down.

The same goes for foreign affairs.

People are looking to President Obama, but because he's not in yet, all he can answer are questions about whether he will smoke in the White House, what does he think about Richardson's freshly-shaved face, and other issues of great import.

January 1st.

Let's get to work.

W, AIDS & Africa

Daughter-the-Elder sent along this article from RealClear Politics- a good and fair point about W and Africa.

They Won't Give Him Credit

Excellent article. For all his faults and failures, and I acknowledge as many or more than most do, W has done right on this issue.

Pres. O & Printing Money

Watched Pres. O's appearance with the Governors yesterday. Impressive.

Two things he said struck a chord. I know the people in the room heard the first--I hope they heard the second as well.

The part the Governors heard that they liked is that Pres. O wants to borrow a whole bunch a money and send it the Governors for roads and bridges and other large projects. As I wrote last January, I think that's an acceptable way to try to move the economy, especially if we're doing it with borrowed money.

The part I was happy to hear, that I know no one in that room bothered to listen to, and the part I'll believe when I see, was when he said that we have to get through this, but we can't keep printing money.

Finally.

These past three months have been a blur. Essentially we went from a capitalist society to a socialist one in about a week without anyone firing a shot. Some of that can be undone in the future when it fails, as it will.

But hyperinflation caused by an explosion of federal debt is something our economy cannot withstand. People I trust are saying that right now this massive borrowing is OK because we are in a deflationary spiral. Fine. But we can't keep pumping indefinitely, and my fear is that once politicians (or individuals, for that matter) get a taste of spending without limits, it is almost impossible to stop. Think crack or meth.

The metaphor that keeps popping in my mind is a small car facing a huge hill. It's necessary to put the pedal to the floor to grind the car up the hill. But, if you don't let up after you crest the hilltop, you are going to speed yourself into a ticket or a crash on the downhill.

Pres. O's statement yesterday was the first indication that any Dem gets it-- let's hope he can ease the accelerator at the right time.

Hillary, Secretary of State

I guess he knows what he's doing, but I think President Obama may have underestimated the evil that is the Clintons. A few thoughts on the selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State:

1) I don't see how she's qualified, but then I didn't see how she was qualified to run for President. But I will admit she has the public demeanor to look the part, she's smart--or so everyone says- and she has had tea with the spouses of world leaders(loosely quoting Candidate Obama), so, sure, why not? Our last two Secretaries of State were lifelong career people in the international/security arenas-- I don't think Hillary's resume matches up. But it's Pres. O's appointment;

2) It gets her out of New York, so that's a big plus for us. Of all the Dems the Governor-by-hooker is considering, Caroline Kennedy is the most palatable to me. But once carpet-bagging Hillary is out of here, she ain't ever coming back--so that's a big win for us NYers'

3) Bill. Bill. Bill. He's the nine hundred pound redneck in the room.

Hillary couldn't control him.

Obama won't be able to control him.

Bill can't control himself.

The whole despicable Clinton machine will be in force, behind the scenes. They'll embarrass Pres. O if it helps Bill or Hillary--just ask John Kerry. Bill's inability to shut his mouth will hurt Pres. O, which would be good entertainment for us Red Minds, except that when people at that level play games people die and the country could be hurt.

4)If Hillary does lay claim to the "Clinton legacy", well, then, even including W a case can be made that Bill was one of the worst foreign policy Presidents ever. So are we going to get O's world view, or a Hillary-shaded one?

5) Pres. O is apparently infatuated with Doris-the-plagiarizer-Goodwin's account of how Lincoln named a cabinet of rivals. He must not have read the last several chapters wherein 3 of the 4 rivals didn't last a year, and where they proved to be both distractions and detractors--sound like Bill?

6) I thought Pres. O was all about change, about putting the last 16 years of bitterness behind us. Both Republicans & Obama supporters have to be at least puzzled, if not concerned, by Pres. O bringing the Bill & Hillary show back to DC.

7) And finally, I harken back to a piece I wrote back on April 17, 2007, when Hillary was a candidate and was talking about using Bill as an ambassador to the world:

Richard Gere has an arrest warrant out for kissing an actress at an event in India.
Which means Hillary, who is considering using her husband as an "Ambassador-to-the World" better think twice about sending him to India---if Gere is facing 3 months for just kissing a woman, you know ol' Bill will wind up on death row there.

Mumbai

Simply terrible. Again, Muslim extremists have wreaked havoc on innocent people.

I don't know what Pres. O and SOS Clinton can or will do about this. But it feels like the Muslim world is creating a circle of victims about it--first, really, were the Israelis; then some European cities; then the Russians (Kosovo); then us; then Japan, Indonesia, England & Spain; now India. The list is longer than that, and unfortunately, growing.

How long will it be before it breaks down simply to this: Muslim v. non-Muslim?

Will this just bleed out for more decades? Or will some nation and probably not us, take the bait and engage the Muslims in a way that will make this truly WW III? India could do that. So could the Chinese.

Were it not for the oil, I imagine the entire region would be quarantined--nobody, especially no young men, in or out for any reason--business, tourism, education, etc.

But, 4 decades into this disaster, we still need their oil. Of course, with gas prices falling, it would not be unexpected for the US to abandon alternative fuels and run back to our SUV's.

I am forcing myself to stay optimistic despite what the world is facing--so I hope that the new administration will find a way at least not to make things worse-- and I certainly hope we really push towards energy independence,

Because the day is going to come when some nation is not going to stand politically correct, and will react violently against the entire Muslim world that breeds, supports, and enables these monsters. And when that happens, the first thing they'll hit are the ports, the pipelines and the refineries. If we are not prepared, shame on us.