I have always been one to enter a cold pool slowly. Though the pain is clearly prolonged by the method, left to myself, I will enter a cold pool agonizing inch by agonizing inch. I am often not left to myself, however. Very often, someone else thinks that splashing me is a good enough idea to go ahead and do it, a proclivity that I find astonishing.
This isn’t much of an introduction to McPolitics, and I apologize for that.
In my defense, the bullshit comes so quick and thick that spending much time…read that, expending a principal asset…on craft of composition and aesthetics of publication is an investment of debatable value. Spending hours pawing through research, then hours carefully constructing readable sentences, then time proofreading and editing…re-thinking and re-writing…is to drop right out of the loop. A day or two spent in contemplation? Outta the question.
By every measure, this is a JUMP situation. It shouldn’t be too difficult to persuade myself that The Situation, title credit to CNN, is better characterized by a burning building than an icy pool.
President-elect Barack Obama, a.k.a. PEBO, resigned his seat in the Senate. Finally.
I believe that a person should have to resign from one public office in order to run for another. What other person in what other field could run around in full-time petition of a better position whilst being paid by their current employer? It is preposterous on its face.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained…that is the wisdom of the ages, yes? It’s called Risk Taking, and I would draw attention to how we underwrite unwillingness to pay the price of a bad bet in politics the same way we underwrite unwillingness to pay the price of a bad bet in business. Gamble big, win big.
In theory. But because we are a Democratic society willing to incur the considerable cost of maintaining the illusion that we give a shit about people and that life can be rendered risk-free with enough of Other People’s Money, if your big gamble results in sufficiently big losses, we will extend to you a hand out AND a hand up via gargantuan bailouts funded by Ordinary Taxpayers. GO FOR IT, we’ve got your back.
Mike Flannery has been covering Chicago politics since 1973. He was answering questions on C-SPAN about Obama’s resignation from and his replacement to the Senate. The kingpin in Barack Obama’s replacement in the United States Senate is Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich who is hounded by, say it ain’t so, corruption charges. According to Mike Flannery, Governor Blagojevich has a paltry 13% approval rating among all voters, but a FORTY percent approval rating among black voters. What’s THAT all about, Changelings? The previous Illinois Governor, George Ryan, is already in prison following conviction on EIGHTEEN corruption charges.
Hey…why not, right? Change doesn’t mean change EVERYTHING. I once saw a birthday card the front of which depicted a monk at transcription and the text of which said something like ‘CelebRate! The word was CELEBRATE! Someone dropped the R!!’ Maybe there was a misunderstanding at the beginning? Charge, Change…it’s a simple mistake, anyone could make it.
Ted Bridge-To-Nowhere Stevens, CONVICTED on corruption charges, had the audacity to run for re-election and the citizens of the great state of Alaska, incredibly, rewarded his risk. Pervy Larry Craig returned to the Senate by the citizens of the great state of Idaho. William Money-In-The-Freezer Jefferson continues to be sent to Congress by the citizens of the great state of Louisiana. Smarmy Tom DeLay returned to Congress how many times by citizens of the great state of Texas?
Great States, it would appear, constitute a conflict of interest with United States.
You know what I think? I think that Barack Obama has raised and spent enough money for and on himself that he could set an honorable precedent by reimbursing the American Taxpayers his Senate compensation package for these past two years wherein he has CLEARLY not been working as a Senator.
Certain of television appearances seem to corroborate what I read somewhere and heard somewhere else, that Barack Obama is kicking it with more-than-usual Secret Service, and that he has been doing so since earlier-than-usual. I think he oughtta be picking up the tab for that out of his colossal campaign stash, too. It is my understanding that there are quite a few millions of dollars between what he raised and what he spent during Campaign-O-Rama.
Cost effectiveness isn’t sexy and glamorous and exiting, the way launching a new product is. But cost effectiveness speaks to short-term stability and long-term growth. Cost effective leadership will want, I think, to excite less passion in the Minority and more respect from the Majority.