Reagan Reverence

Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States, is revered amongst the current Republican Party.  His name is spoken in worshipful tones.  He was their star achiever, carrying 44 states with 489 electoral votes.  He is a saint in many eyes.

So why they be dissin’ him, homey?

OK, no one is actually dissing him.  But they are ignoring what made him popular.

We’re less than a month out from the 2012 Presidential election.  The Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, lost.  Now the Republican Party is throwing him under the bus as a “bad candidate.”

OK, he didn’t have the charisma Reagan had.  He didn’t have a positive “Morning In America” message like Reagan did. He made that dumb remark about the 47%.  But what he really didn’t have was Reagan’s common sense on social issues.

Ignore them.

What was Reagan know for?  Reaganomics.  Not abortion.  Not gays (he actually was quite moderate on gay rights).  During the presidential campaign, questions were raised by reporters on Reagan's stance on the Briggs Initiative, also known as Proposition 6, a ballot initiative in Reagan's home state of California where he was governor, which would have banned gays, lesbians, and supporters of LGBT rights from working in public schools in California.  His opposition to the initiative was instrumental in its landslide defeat by Californian voters.  Reagan published an editorial in which he stated "homosexuality is not a contagious disease like the measles..." and that prevailing scientific opinion was that a child's sexual orientation cannot be influenced by someone else.

The demographics are against being a party of old, white men.  The younger, darker and ovary-enabled population is growing and voting.  If the Republican Party wants to survive, they are going to have to remember what their beloved Ronald Reagan stood for…and what he didn’t.

Dear Republicans

Last night was pretty rough, huh?  I know, I've been there.  Losing hurts, no doubt about it.

You're probably not in the mood for advice, but perhaps before long, when you are looking for answers as to what went wrong, you'll consider my words.

You need to break up with Social Issues.

Now I know, it seemed like a good idea at the time. There was a certain niche that that thought you two were great together.  You probably gave their opinion way too much weight.  But you're in a a losing relationship. Social Issues is no good for you. Social Issues is...honestly...a selfish bitch. All that, "My way or the highway" drama - who needs THAT?  Look at the trouble it caused you in the last few weeks. At least two Senate seats went down the tubes for you because of Social Issues shooting off its mouth.

Afraid you'll be all alone and lonely?

 Take a look at your old yearbook. Remember your first love, Fiscal Responsibility?

Pull out that old prom picture of the two of you.  You were great together.  Fiscal responsibility is popular. You used to love Fiscal Responsibility. I like Fiscal Responsibility.  A LOT of people like Fiscal Responsibility.  Now sure, it might seem kind of shallow to just go with popular, but hey, everyone likes popular and wants to hang out with popular.  Popular can get stuff done!

So dump Social Issues. Break up and don't look back. Delete their number so you're not tempted to dial them if you feel desperate. Find Fiscal Responsibility's number, give them a call  and start a conversation.

It will do you good.

Why Obama Could Lose

We are now barely a week before the Presidential election and polls are showing the race pretty evenly divided between President Obama and his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney. Why are things so close?

*The economy has not recovered as well as many had hoped.

*Unemployment is still high.

*Although many had hoped electing a black man would resolve some of the racial issues in the US, in many ways it has only increased them.

*The youth vote that helped push Obama over the top in 2008 is not as engaged as they were 4 years ago.

*Many whites who voted for Obama out of "white guilt" no longer feel obligated to show how open and unbiased they are. This year the "prove you are not bigoted" vote could swing toward Romney due to his Mormon religion.

*The attack on the consulate at Benghazi, Libya, which was initially reported as a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Muslim video, has now been shown to be a coordinated terrorist attack that killed 4 Americans, including the ambassador. It makes the Obama administration look weak and confused.

I Support Ike Skelton

U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton is in the political fight of his life.

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, new forecasts are calling Skelton’s re-election race a toss-up in one of the most Republican districts in the country now held by a Democrat.


Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/21/2341490/skelton-vs-hartzler-is-a-fight.html#ixzz139s7Icmu

I support Ike. He's been good for Missouri and good for the United States. He supports veterans (like my husband) and he has brought a lot of jobs to Missouri. I sincerely hope he wins.

I like Ike!

RIP Walter Cronkite

I lived through the Vietnam War - saw boys I went to school with worrying about the draft. Many of those who were unlucky enough to be sent to the Vietnam War, died or were injured.

When I was a freshman in college, I attended anti-war protests. I believed then, as I do now, that the war was a mistake. It was a troubling time in the United States and the Vietnam War divided our country between those who saw the war as a mistake (mostly young people) and those who believed that our leaders were defendi8ng freedom and democracy (mostly the older generation). That was "the way it was" until that fateful day in 1968 when Walter Cronkite essentially told Americans that the war was a farce and we had no hope of winning.

My family watched Walter Cronkite that night, along with millions of Americans of all ages. His words changed hearts and minds, and even disamed President Lyndon Johnson. Some of Lyndon Johnson's aides have recalled that the president watched the broadcast and declared that he knew at that moment he would have to change course. A month later Johnson declined to run for reelection and announced that he was seeking a way out of the war; David Halberstam has written that "it was the first time in American history a war had been declared over by an anchorman."

WALTER CRONKITE'S "WE ARE MIRED IN STALEMATE" BROADCAST, FEBRUARY 27, 1968

"Tonight, back in more familiar surroundings in New York, we'd like to sum up our findings in Vietnam, an analysis that must be speculative, personal, subjective. Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities? I'm not sure. The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we. The referees of history may make it a draw.

Another standoff may be coming in the big battles expected south of the Demilitarized Zone. Khesanh could well fall, with a terrible loss in American lives, prestige and morale, and this is a tragedy of our stubbornness there; but the bastion no longer is a key to the rest of the northern regions, and it is doubtful that the American forces can be defeated across the breadth of the DMZ with any substantial loss of ground. Another standoff. On the political front, past performance gives no confidence that the Vietnamese government can cope with its problems, now compounded by the attack on the cities. It may not fall, it may hold on, but it probably won't show the dynamic qualities demanded of this young nation. Another standoff."

"We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that -- negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster."

"To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."

"This is Walter Cronkite. Good night."

Mr. Cronkite anchored the “CBS Evening News” from 1962 to 1981, at a time when television became the dominant medium of the United States. He figuratively held the hand of the American public during the civil-rights movement, the space race, the Vietnam war and the impeachment of Richard Nixon. During his tenure, network newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes from 15.

For his exhaustive and enthusiastic coverage of NASA, Mr. Cronkite was sometimes called “the eighth astronaut.” During the first moon landing in 1969, Mr. Cronkite “was on the air for 27 of the 30 hours that Apollo 11 took to complete its mission,” the Museum of Broadcast Communications notes. Monday will mark the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.

Obama Pulls Ahead in Missouri

From latest TIME/CNN state polls:

FLORIDA: Obama 51, McCain 47
MINNESOTA: Obama 54, McCain 43
MISSOURI: Obama 49, McCain 48
NEVADA: Obama 51, McCain 47
VIRGINIA: Obama 53, McCain 44

Dates conducted: Sept. 28-30. Error margin: Ranges from 3.5 to 4 points.

Amorphous Alarm

I...am confused.

It seems that with the shambles that the Bush administration has made of America; our economy in collapse, our reputation sullied around the globe, our military bogged down in an unnecessary war, and the civil liberties of our citizenry being trampled, that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party should be so far ahead that the dust would have settled behind them, and yet here, a month and a half before the election, the polls still show the race to be a dead heat.

How can this be?

Many blame racism, and I certainly think that there is a percentage of the population who simply will NOT vote for a black man. And for every one who admits openly to racist views, there are probably two who, when confronted with the choice in the privacy of the voting booth, may not be able to pull the lever for Obama.

But I think there is more to it. I think that many people are afraid of the changes they see in "their" America.

Since this country was founded, power has been held in the hands of White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPS) {referring to being of European descent}.

Businesses, corporations and our government were controlled by WASPS, despite America being known as "the melting pot". Yes, many people from many nations came to the shores of this great land and many achieved "success". They started businesses, raised families and amassed wealth. BUT...they did not hold the reins of power. The largest corporations and for most of our nation's history, our government, has largely been run by white men. White people were the majority race in America so nobody saw this as a bad thing or even an inappropriate thing.

But the times, they are a-changin'. Data suggests that within a few generations, white people will no longer BE the majority. And I think it is THIS fear that hides itself in the subconscious of many white Americans. It isn't necessarily racism, but the uncomfortable sensation of losing the lead, no longer having the preponderance of numbers on their side, of in some sense, falling behind, being overtaken.

And Barack Obama personifies this shift.

The historical implications of electing a non-white as President of the United States are clear. But the emotional implications are more difficult to define, and are blanketed in fear amd denial. Many Americans who in no way consider themselves racist, are still probably feeling this uneasiness, this vague not-quite-able-to-put-their-finger-on-it anxiety. It isn't that they don't like Barack Obama, or don't think he is capable of being President, it is that he represents this sea-change shift. He puts a face to the wave that is coming. And the wave is scary.

It's a big change and change is frightening. Even when the place we are at stinks, the idea of changing is terrifying, especially when there is that subconscious concern that the tidal wave will drown you. That when things change, your life, or your children's lives, may be different in a not-so-pleasant way.

Now of course there is nothing to suggest that minorities are going to make life miserable for white folks when there are more of them than us. But it the uncertainly of that new world that is scary.

I don't justify this response, I'm just trying to wrap my head around why things are the way they are. I'm planning on voting for Obama because I believe in the future. Plus I've always been a risk-taker, so the uncertainty doesn't spook me as bad as it does others.

But I fear that the incertitude may cause many otherwise logical voters to pull the lever for the white guy, thinking perhaps, that it may be their last chance at maintaining the illusion that things are really not going to change.

Please....be brave, be bold, and vote for Barack Obama.