At my advanced age (48) I've lived through Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. I remember every one of them; I was interested in politics at a very early age. And I've watched them closely, and a lot more characters that have paraded across the American stage, Humphrey, McGovern, Agnew. You don't really judge a man by what he says, you judge him by what he does. I know that Gore's record is one of colossal mendacity. Bush isn't as pure as the driven snow, I don't think anyone who has raised as much hell as he did walked away without any scratches, but nothing compared to Gore's fundraising scandals. George Washington died from a cold he caught jumping from a woman's bedroom, Thomas Jefferson fathered children with a slave who was his deceased wife's half-sister, Kennedy had hookers in the White House, I don't think any of them were as pure as the driven snow. Did it affect their ability to lead? Did it affect how they executed their duties? That's the question.
Once a man is elected President, he no longer has any real contact with the American people. It may very well be true that he had no contact before he was elected, but it's a sure thing that until he's out of office, the only thing he is going to know is what is told to him by those who surround him. A friend of mine who worked for the CIA explained to me that every morning, as soon as he gets up, the President is given a briefing book, prepared by the CIA, that tells him what is going on all over the world. The most powerful man in the world, right now, is the President of the United States, but all he knows about what is going on in the world is what he reads in the briefing book, and what his aides and Cabinet tell him. So it really matters who is writing the briefing book and whether they can be trusted.
So we are not electing a man, we are electing an admistration. That's what we really need to decide. Did you know that when the President assumes the office, in a change of administration, the only thing that's in place is the furniture and the servant-class staff? There's not even a Rolodex with the names of who to call if you have a problem. You have to start from scratch, literally, every time the administration changes office.
I already know what I think about the present administration. I know Gore would be more of the same. I know Bush has a good adminstration already lined up, e.g. Colin Powell. So, yes, I support him without reservation. |
