. . . and waiting for it to be over

Has the span of 77 days (Nov 4 to Jan 20) ever seemed so interminable? He's still here and still saying dumb things. Does he just not think about what he says? Does no one point out the obvious to him?

In his radio address Saturday, President George W. Bush said this:

"Since Hamas's violent takeover in the summer of 2007, living conditions have worsened for Palestinians in Gaza. By spending its resources on rocket launchers instead of roads and schools, Hamas has demonstrated that it has no intention of serving the Palestinian people."

That goes right up there with his saying, about the Russians invading Georgia: nations should not invade other nations.

How much has the Bush War spent on invading another country instead of spending it on roads and schools, both in Iraq and here at home?

NY Times 2/26/08. President Bush rebuffed appeals from the nation's governors on Monday to increase spending on roads, bridges and other public works as a way to revive the economy.

16 days.

Ralph

Washington waits

I just read Elizabeth Drew's article in the December 18th New York Review of Books, "The Truth About the Election." Her concluding paragraph echoes my prior post and is worth quoting:

Obama's thrilling election -- something not long ago many wise heads said wasn't possible -- also made more imminent the prospect that the dark night of the worst administration in history was ending. The American people had overwhelmingly rejected the Bush regime's stupidity, cupidity, its wars, its lies, its torturing and its secrecy, its ineptitude and its power grab that threatened constitutional government. The relief was palpable. Washingtonians were simply smiling as they hadn't in years. Something new was coming, and it was to be looked forward to. People felt cleansed.

People felt cleansed.

Yes !

Ralph

Waiting and hopeful

A cartoon by Rex Babin, reprinted in the AJC from The Sacramento Bee, captures what many of us are feeling: we face the worst combination of crises in our lifetimes, and yet we are hopeful.

The cartoon shows the typical outgoing 2008 Father Time, with his long white beard and scythe and hour-glass in hand. But, instead of the diaper-draped baby 2009, there is the bare-chested, fit Barak Obama striding confidently up from the Hawaiian beach, ready for the transfer of responsibility.

Less than a year ago, it was widely feared that he lacked the experience to be president. And in that year the job only got more formidable, as the crises deepened and new ones emerged. Yet, here we are, counting down the days and impatiently waiting for him to be in charge. One of his fiercest critics is now in his cabinet; conservative pundits are impressed; even far-right nay-sayers, like Pat Robertson and Bay Buchannan, are praising him. And 80% of the people have a favorable opinion and are hopeful that he will make things better.

My guess is that he is not literally the Messiah, but that he is an extraordinary leader and that he will emerge as a great president. We will inevitably be disappointed in some ways -- it would be humanly, perhaps even divinely, impossible to accomplish everything we need, not even to mention pleasing everyone.

But I think the best evidence of what we can expect is the fact that the turn-around of his image did not come from Karl Rovian image-manipulation, nor even from the simple fact that he won. No, he went from "inexperienced" to "longed-for leader" because it has become quite clear from his every action that his wisdom and intelligence are far more important than how many years he has been in Washington.

Eighteen days to go.

Ralph

ShrinkRap

Why "ShrinkRap," which is a monicker I have long wanted to use?

It captures both the teasing reference to my profession (shrink = psychoanalyst) and the idea of talking (which shrinks don't do much of; we do more listening). And all of it packaged in a concise blog format (shrink wrap).

This blog is primarily for me. Putting thoughts into the written word moves me a step beyond the miasma of vague thoughts and feelings that never quite get articulated. I have no illusions about a wide readership; but just the idea that someone might read what I'm writing moves me to try to say it well, which is what's fun about writing, for me. If anyone does read it, comments will be most welcome.

Ralph

2009

The buzz word for 2009 will be "Change," with "Obama" almost inextricably linked to it. Most everything I think of -- in our public life, anyway -- needs to change. Our concept of the role of government and our elected officials as that old-fashioned concept of public service for the many, rather than connections for the privileged; our concepts of honesty and truth and justice in our leaders, instead of power and influence; our moral position in the international community, instead of the world's bully; the basis of our economy as something other than greed, or at least regulation of its excesses; the necessary rebuilding of the wall between politics and governing, and especially restoring the integrity of the Justice Department; our concept of ethics in public life as being about doing what's right, instead of what you can get away with; and policy decisions made from reliance on Reality Based evidence rather than someone's particular Faith Based dogma. The fact that those terms even came into usage to describe official policies says a lot about what has been wrong for the last eight years.

We still have 19 days to go before Barak Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States. Meanwhile, the Bush dynasty continues to spin its dismal record, sometimes with absurd claims of success, but mostly in obfuscating hopes that history will vindicate George Bush.

Two of my favorite spin-absurdities have to do with Iraq and the "freedom" we have brought to that nation. Karl Rove's spin was that the Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at Bush was evidence of the freedom of speech we have brought to them. It's true that Saddam would have had him tortured and killed on the spot, whereas he is now languishing in prison with court appeals for a reduced sentence. But this ignores the message of the shoe-throwing, which has been bolstered by wide-spread celebrations throughout the Muslim world: an insult to the U.S. president who brought them this "freedom." Shouldn't he wonder why?

Instead, they have passed it off lightly with comments about how quick Bush's responses were in dodging the shoes. Again, how emblematic of his presidency: his greatest asset seems to be his agility in dodging responsibility for anything that happened (bad intelligence on WMD, no way of predicting 9/11, couldn't have foreseen the collapse of Iraqi society, bad apples not policy in Abu Graib, no control over the economic collapse).

The second is in today's Doonesbury cartoon, in a series depicting a FOXNews reporter interviewing an Iraqi family about how they view the results of our liberating them. In a prior strip, the reporter was trying to make much of the fact that the family now lives in safety and comfort, while trying to gloss over the fact that they now live in Syria.

Today's strip has the reporter asking the same man to give him the "big picture." "You mean the 4 million who have been driven from their homes? This is our new freedom -- the freedom to flee for our lives!" Reporter: "Which is a lot easier to do now than under Saddam, right?" Iraqi man, "Um . . . I suppose so." Reporter, "Gotcha! Sorry, it's my job."

There you have it . . . the FoxNews, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Dubya spin.

Nineteen days to go.

Ralph

What's wrong with America

No, I'm not going to list all the things that are wrong with us.
But this one is a doozy. At a time when the American automobile industry is on the verge of collapse, when the Big3 have failed miserably to develop and market fuel efficient cars, what have they been developing?

Ford Motor Co. today proudly announced a new break-through technology: The Car That Parks Itself. I'm not kidding. The technology uses ultrasonic sensors on the front and rear of the vehicle, combined with electric power steering to angle and guide it into a snug parking space -- all with the push of a button.

Of course, parallel parking is a challenge, and it might be nice to have this luxury. But that's what it is, a luxury. It's not going to save Detroit, nor our economy, nor our endangered planet.

Proudly announcing this bauble for the rich, instead of some break-through in fuel efficiency, seems about as dumb as flying to Washington in a private jet to beg for money.

"Let them eat cake," she said. Remember how that story ends?

Our cherished American priority of expensive non-essentials over useful necessities reminds me of an apocryphal story from the days of the U.S.-Russia space race. It seems there was a problem of ball point pens not working in gravity-free space. So the Americans spent millions of dollars and after several years developed a ball point pen that would write in zero gravity, in all temperatures, and upside down.

Meanwhile, the Russian astronauts simply used a pencil.

Ralph

Coming Soon

The political commentary blog TwoGuysSpoutingOff, that Richard and I wrote for the last several months, has come to a natural end with Obama's transition almost complete and the countdown to his inauguration in progress.

I plan to continue an occasional blogging here under the name ShrinkRap, a fitting title for a psychoanalyst who likes to talk. And that will be the primary purpose: just to comment on whatever happens to be on my mind. Putting it in writing helps me think things out. Whether anyone reads it or not is secondary.

So I invite any readers who found our SpoutingOff blog of some interest to check back here and see what this turns into. I'm not sure myself at this point.

Ralph