StandingWater Creations

Well, it is Tuesday. You all know that yesterday was President's Day. Go Presidents. Well, some. I am not fond of G.W., am hoping for Obama, disliked Slick-Willie (regardless of the amount of fun he produced as president), didn't mind (so much) the senior Bush, except for the blurb: "Read my lips, no new taxes," and then he hiked taxes. Go figure.

As a child, I was inculcated with Reagan, and have to say I like him... liked his biography... enjoy his economics. Not many presidents actually have an economic plan, they just rehash something else and try to claim it as their own.

Liassez Faire Economics. Yeah. It's all about spin.

My parents disliked Carter, I dislike Carter (now, not then as I was really too young) and wonder how this nation could vote for such a man; but hey, we have a few elections where, apparently, we are willing to vote for anyone. Can anyone say: John Kerry.

Nixon was a joke and Ford was an even bigger joke.

Makes you wonder, really, how people can fall behind a political party where the leaders spew out so many bad choices that you begin to wonder whether there is any real leadership in the world, or not. Seriously.

G.W. will go down in history as one of the worst leaders this country has had. Regardless of who the next president is (and it won't be a Republican, folks) he/she won't be much better than our current misanthrope. Right now I like Obama for his lack of experience over his vast time in the Senate. Wait, two years is nothing. He is still a Freshman. And, I think, that is the point. He doesn't have experience or insight that the other party (either party) candidates have and as a result, he makes me want to fall in line and support him to the top.

Besides, he is the only one who can't screw it all up any worse than everyone else.

The best news I'd heard this year was that Ron Paul (Ron who??? Yeah, man from Texas who is a doctor, delivered thousands of babies, and (before this election) has run as an independent for President) might relaunch his bid to be president through the independent process. Granted, he is no Ross Perot (who I will not vote for again), but he will pull votes from the conservative base as a result, those votes will lead to whomever the Democrat contender is becoming president.

Remember Perot? Yes, I voted for the man way back in '92. I am proud of that. My first, real, political decision. Yeah, anyway, both times he pulled from the conservative base causing (first) senior Bush and then BobDole (a combined name like AlGore... go figure) to lose enough of the vote in every state to give it to Slick-Willie.

Don't get me wrong, I dislike both parties and I believe the worst possible candidate for President is John McCain (followed closely by Hillary Rodham Clinton - still looking for a suitable moniker for her). He is not a conservative. Well, he is a conservative in the sense that a Republican from New York State (or most of the northeast) is a conservative. He is more likely to vote with the Liberal side of an issue, he is anti-establishment (which you would think would be a plus (for me) in his check column), but in such a way that he is actually only anti-establishment so long as it doesn't affect his job (senator) or his paycheck (lots-o-money people).

The fact that Romney (maybe next time Mitt) and the senior Bush and others of the conservative base are getting behind McCain is because he has become the candidate of choice for the people as a result of which the party leaders (ex-presidents, influential congressman and senators, mayors, candidates, governors, and etc.) either fall behind the man or throw their support behind someone else thereby disenfranchising the core conservative population.

Sure, they could do what they did with Senator Lieberman when he didn't get the Democratic nomination nod for his seat in the senate. They stopped backing their own candidate (what was his name again???) and fell in line with Lieberman, supporting him over the Democrat who took Joe's spot. The rhetoric: It is better to have the monster we know, than the monster we don't know. And, "No," Lieberman is not a monster.

Which really lends itself to the Lieberman/McCain combination. They vote a lot alike. Lieberman was the running mate to AlGore. Lieberman is, undoubtedly, a liberal... and yet we allow McCain, because of a party difference/distinction, to be a conservative and to have the support of the conservative base and leadership.

You know, being liberal in Utah is being slightly more conservative than, say, an stereotypical Mormon housewife. It means that you don't vote, without serious contemplation, for the Conservative base, and often you vote Democrat because he/she/it is not Republican.

No, Republican is not the official party of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In fact, according to the church, we hold no official (or unofficial) political position on most things. There was the Equal Rights Amendment, but, you know, creating a new amendment to The Constitution that further declared what was already law and needed better enforcing would've created true inequality in this nation... or I could've succumbed to the propaganda against the ERA, you decide.

Hilary as president means that her attempts at universal and socialized health care will have a better chance of succeeding. Not her first term. She does learn; but that second term in office, when she isn't stumping for reelection, she will push (and how) for that reform. She does have an agenda. Most people do. However, Hilary also has a past that is not very positive and decries her ability to lead the country at any time.

Do we need a female president? Yup. And I think we can have one in the near future. I just pray that it is not Hilary. She is bad news. If she gets the nomination, though, you will get to see how bad the news is when it comes to that woman.

Watched a Saturday Night Live skit the other night where she was congratulating herself on winning the election (for President) and that all of her opponents (not past) never had a chance against her; and that she was going to serve two terms - and that the term limits needed to be erased so she could, effectively, serve as President longer, only to have Bill stick his head in on occasion and comment (very funny - though the actress portraying Hillary didn't look like her and certainly didn't sound like her... so, essentially SNL had to tell me who she was for me to understand); though, rumor and gristmill had many of the same rumors floating around Slick-Willie as his terms as president came to an end.

Who should be president? That's a great question. You know, at present, I don't think we've seen our next great leader. No. I don't think it is Romney. It's not Hilary. It's not McCain (we will be lucky if McCain makes it out of office alive... yes, he is that old). It is (most likely) not Obama. But the untested and untried among us can frequently stand taller when put to the test. Sure, he sounds a lot like a preacher, but maybe, just maybe, we need a president who really does believe in God... and not just the convenient one that allows him to stand on the bullypulpit and spew out rhetoric to cause fear among his constituents (and yes, G.W., I am speaking at you).

What I do know, in all of this, is that we have a very large field of losers and bad choices and I think it is getting time for a significant change in the way politics play out in this country. Different leaders, different ways of finding those leaders. Different approaches.

Oh, and regardless of all else, we will have the third President that was also a Senator elected this year. The last one was John F. Kennedy. I don't remember who the first was.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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