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"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance."

...............................................................Thomas Jefferson


Thursday, January 24, 2008

Obstructed Views

Driving the morning errand circuit today, I stopped in the left turn lane at a busy intersection. Had the green light, but facing me in the opposite left turn lane was a honkin’ big SUV that totally obstructed my ability to see the oncoming traffic in the lane next to him.

Even craning my neck to the left ’til I bumped the window, couldn’t see what was coming.

The political-media world is a lot like that these days.

We try and try to stay our course and prudently see what lies ahead, but the view is too often obstructed by honkin’ big SUVs. [Yeah, I tried to come up with some clever, snarky phrase for that, but the caffeine’s not kicked in yet this morning.]

The radio news talks about the latest headlines and kinda slips in “bailout for two bond companies…” What’s this? You mean it’s not all about putting money back in people’s pockets? Saving people’s homes? Protecting the little guy?

Why are we not surprised.

Politicians are busily lining up arguments for their points of view on the FISA retroactive immunity issue. Orrin Hatch was spinnin’ away first thing this morning on Imus. Short take: civil liberties are for wussies, we gotta protect our patriotic American phone companies….

Wouldn’t have anything to do with CYA for the White House spin machine and its 935 and counting lies that led us into the criminal enterprise of corrupt cronyism known as the occupation of Iraq, now would it?

That’ll be bailout for the big boys, too, while the foot soldier is down to one foot and struggling for decent healthcare in a grossly underfunded VA system.

Senator Chris Dodd’s filibuster intention is being pecked away at by the lockstep rubberstamp Republicans…but also too many Democrats who still haven’t found their spines. Maybe they think those ski poles in Davos would be a working substitute?

Or is this just more “bailout for the big boys”?

Lots of media sturm und drang about Hillary’s campaign style these days. She brought her guns blazin’ to a knife fight was one take on the SC debate. Maybe the Chicago political organizer and his team and the hand-wringing media guys need to remember just where Hillary grew up—she’s got The Chicago Way in her DNA.

Picking our way through this tangled course to the election, to every vote that comes along, whether it’s votes in Congress or our own in a voting booth, demands much. If we have expectations of our politicians, we gotta remember that face lookin’ back in the rearview mirror is our own.

Will we be able to say on Election Day, I chose the right way to travel, I stayed the course, I cut through the obstructions and fog and followed the right road, and there’ll be no mea culpa’s from me once the journey’s done?

Well, will we?

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