Gallimaufry

Note: As tomorrow night is New Year’s Eve there will be no blog until next year. So Happy New Year!

Well, first there is the rumor, claim, or belief, or whatever it is, that for the coming election President Obama will pick Hillary Clinton for Vice President and make Joe Biden Secretary of State. Robert Reich, who I have a lot of respect for has recently suggested this, but claims to have no inside information. Actually this rumor has been around for some time and is not an original idea of Reich’s. From the standpoint of the Democratic Party this makes a lot of sense. Obama and Clinton are apparently now considered the two most popular people in the country so this would be a dream ticket. If all goes well it would also make Clinton a sure candidate for President in 2016 with a great chance to become the first Woman President of the United States. As Biden has supposedly long dreamed of being Secretary of State, presumably he would be amenable to such an arrangement. Of course there is no evidence at the moment this is anything but wishful thinking on the part of a few who might like to see such a development. Hillary has already said she would not run again for President (but would the lure of becoming the first female President be too much of a temptation). As far as I know Obama has never mentioned this as a possibility, and it could be the case that Biden would not really like to be switched. I believe an Obama/Clinton administration would be far better for the Middle Class and the Poor than any conceivable Republican administration, but both Obama and Clinton are far too hawkish for me and also highly questionable on civil liberties (of course one can’t have everything). What we really need is Ron Paul’s foreign and drug policies (only, and without Paul himself), coupled with Bernie Sanders’ domestic policies. Sanders/Kucinich would be an ideal combination with Russ Feingold and Alan Grayson as high level cabinet members (fat chance anything like that would happen in our developing neo-fascist nation). Obviously I don’t know for sure what Obama will do. I was pretty sure on the Republican side it was going to be the Rich Guy and New Jersey “Fats,” but now I have some doubts. If Romney is forced to pick an Evangelical as a running mate, Fats would be out. On the other hand I can’t really imagine a Mormon/Evangelical ticket as I think that would be a too obvious warning of bad things to come. So I confess I have no idea what Romney will do after he is picked as the candidate that almost no one wants.

Then there is Leon (the Pathetic) Panetta, our current Secretary of Defense, a position I am beginning to believe for which he may not be well suited. First, he blurted out the unfortunate truth that a war with Iran would be disastrous, which has infuriated the Israelis and no doubt our neo-con hawks that seem to be obsessed with illegally and unconstitutionally attacking that country as we did Iraq. Although he spoke what has to be the truth, he should have known better. But a much more amusing gaffe (if such things can be considered amusing) was his recent claim that any cut in the Defense Budget would spell “doomsday” for the United States. This is an even more shocking claim than Herman Cain’s statement to Barbara Walters that he would like to be Secretary of Defense, that drew from the normally unshakable interviewer, her completely disbelieving, “WHAT!” Panetta would have us believe that a country that spends more on “defense” than all the rest of the world combined, that has a Pentagon and Military that can literally lose billions of dollars without even knowing what happened to them, that spends huge sums on military hardware that is known to be obsolete or unnecessary, and that siphons off a truly enormous percentage of our annual budget for an obscene military/industrial/political scam that converts taxpayer dollars into profits for corporations and the wealthy, cannot have its budget cut without spelling doomsday? This is such a transparently ridiculous claim I doubt even the hawks can believe it without actually laughing out loud. “Good ol’ Leon, he’s lookin’ out for us right fine.”

Let us not forget the astute Rick Santorum who actually said you could avoid unemployment (and poverty too, I guess) by doing just two simple things: complete High School and get married. I’m certain the millions of unemployed High School graduates and the millions of unemployed married men must be pondering this sage advice. I guess this is the kind of thinking that helps you surge in the Iowa polls. Not to be outdone for absurdity, Willard Mitt Romney has asserted that President Obama, raised by a single mother and his grandparents, doesn’t understand the plight of the Middle Class, whereas, by implication at least, he, Romney, born into wealth and sitting on a quarter of a billion dollar fortune, does. He has also assured us that he prays every day and goes to church every Sunday. The kindly old doctor Paul doesn’t understand why his awful racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic newsletters should be important to anyone, after all, he says, he didn’t write them (and claims apparently to have not even read them). I haven’t heard if he disavows the support of one of his supporters who believes Gays should be executed. Michele Bachmann is once again touting what a fine gun the AR 15 is, and what a fine shot she is (doesn’t seem to be helping her much). Newton Leroy Gingrich said if he won the nomination he might pick Sarah Palin as his running mate or for a cabinet position. He also said he can’t do “modern politics.”He seems to have that right. Rick Perry, the Texas embarrassment, according to Santorum, has flunked Anti-sodomy 101. When asked about Gay marriage he replied, “I love the sinner, hate the sin,” not very helpful.

You gotta admit, they’re an interesting bunch, each and every one, but not very Presidential.

A state is not a mere society, having a common place, established for the prevention of mutual crime and for the sake of exchange...Political society exists for the sake of noble actions, and not of mere companionship.

Aristotle