McCain-Palin Win Where Bush Couldn't

I think that, if he wins, John McCain will have done what George Bush only wished he'd have accomplished. What's that you may be asking? Well, George Bush wanted to create a permanent majority for the Republicans. IF Sarah Palin can impress in person the way her resume does she could go toe to toe with Hilary Clinton in the future and having served as a VP would have an edge. She will come off as an in a head to head match up as a stark contrast. She's an accomplished woman who has done it without the help of her husband. She comes off as a less entitled person and more like your next door neighbor. She has a child with special needs and as a father of special needs childre I can say that I can relate to her. She's a former athlete, outdoors person and beauty queen. A lot of men can relate to that. So while Sarah Palin could have an impact in the 2008 election the impact of her nomination may have a more resounding impact in 2012 or 2016.

Change, YES! Big Government, no.

I've got to hand it to Barak Obama. He performed well last night and his speech was very good. And I agree with him that America needs to change. The elected 'leaders' in Washington care more about their team than they do about the country. God forbid that they actually work together on an initiative for the benefit of the country over having an edge over their political opponent. I'm actually for eliminating party politics because they're counter poductive and legally not mentioned in the US Constitution.

So a resounding YES to change from what we see now in Washington. But what about the change that Barak Obama spoke to last night. He gave us a Clintonian litany of big government concepts and solutions to our problems. Yet, dispite the all of the stories about Obama's difficult past he succeeded without big government. So, why, other than for political reasons, are big government solutions necessary.

What change should we expect this election cycle. Well, few if anyone is talking about how we're being challenged in the world. China and India have cost advantages over US workers. The Arab states are milking us of our dollars because of worldwide demand for energy. Russia, now a wealthy capitalist country with a flat tax, is reasserting itself in the world. The change we need is in our mindset. This is now a global world so US centric thinking will not work.

I don't mean that we should make a beeline for the UN and place an emphasis on world government. We need to keep our sovergnty but need to be prepared to live, work and compete in a multi-power world. We need to get energy independent, export oriented and thinking bigger than what our government can do for us. We need to stop attacking our companies who will provide the jobs and export capability that will create an economy with fewer dips. Don't believe me? Look at recent GDP numbers. Our economy grew by 3.3% - a number far larger than expected. Not exactly the stuff of depression or even recession. Why? Because we grew through importing less (mostly because of a slowing domestic economy) and an increase in exports. Those jobs that Barak Obama says are going overseas may actually be remaining here in the US and helping us to grow.

So, over the next 3 months when people talk of change tell them you agree. When they tell you that Big Government is the answer tell them to revisit their premise.

My John Kerry Moment

The first rule of blogging is to never change your mind. There's a public record of everything you say and if you change your mind you'll be branded a flip-flopper like Senator John Kerry. The second rule of blogging is to never change your mind. Same reason.

Since my post about boycotting the networks and 24 hour news channels I have received news that there are some fireworks going on at MSNBC. Apparently, Joe Scarborough, former Republican Congressman and current host of Morning Joe, and Keith Olbermann, MSNBC's resident hate monger and self appointed second coming, had words. It didn't end there because Scarborough had words with David Shuster this morning.

I'm going to flip flop and tune in tonight, at the risk of falling into their ratings ploy. While the political coverage these days is for the hate Bush crowd I'm not expecting a revelation.
They say that some people go to NASCAR events looking for a wreck so I'm going to tune in and hope for another wreck. If I'm really lucky there'll be a celebrity death match.

Viewing the DNC Convention the Wrong Way

I'm tired of the 24 hour news channels and network news. There's no journalism at these networks and I'm really really tired of the nitpicking and the anchors reading vitriol written by others who then go on to make snarky remarks (yes, Keith Olbermanm I'm talking about you). So, rather than endure more torture I found a new outlet to watch the convention - BBC America.

Yes, BBC America. The British National Network's USA division. A show hosted by Brits trying to decipher American politics. Do they make mistakes? Yes, the anchor tried to make a connection between President Kennedy's ascension to the president via the US Senate and the path for Barak Obama. A colleague had to remind him that it's the same path that John McCain would be making. Mistakes aside, I'm still not down on the coverage. They're trying and they're not under the pretense that the coverage needs to be from the right or from the left they want to neutral. And they're willing to do something that I'm not seeing from the American media - asking challenging follow up questions that force the interviewee off their talking points.

So, CNN, Fox, CNBC, ABC, NBC, CBS you all can count me out. I'll be tuning into the BBC for the next two weeks.

Gravitas

So, Barak Obama picks Joe Biden as his running mate. The pick was to balance the ticket with someone with foreign policy experience and Washington experience. 8 years ago, when George W. Bush selected Dick Chaney it was exactly for the same reasons. What did the media say at the time? They ALL and I mean all came out saying that Chaney's selection added 'Gravitas' to the ticket. I'm waiting for the media's use of 'Gravitas' in response to the Biden selection.

"Above my pay grade"

Q (Rick Warren). Now, let’s deal with abortion. 40 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. you know, as a pastor I have to deal with this all of the time. All of the pain and all of the conflicts. I know this is a very complex issue. 40 million abortions. At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?

A (Barak Obama). Well, I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade. But let me just speak more generally about the issue of abortion because this is something obviously the country wrestles with. One thing that I’m absolutely convinced of is there is a moral and ethical content to this issue. So I think that anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue I think is not paying attention. So that would be point number one.

Not exactly a Presidential answer to any question. Is it just me or is Barak Obama looking and behaving like a playground weakling? First, he allows Hillary Clinton's name to be put into nomination at next week's convention. Let's not forget that Hillary didn't lose by much when it came to delegates and is currently on the outside looking in because of the Super Delegates, or Democratic elected officials, who went for Obama even as the closing states were going to Clinton. Since these voters can change their minds at any time whose to say if Obama's audition over the last few months causes a few to change hands in smoke-filled back room in Denver? Not exactly the type of move that Sun-Tsu or Nicolo Machivelli would recommend to world learders.

Case 2 is the Russian invasion of Georgia. Has there been a clear and decisive statement from Obama yet? Has he been forceful in a way that gives you confidence that if he received the 3AM call that he'd get the Russians to back down the way that Dirty Harry got 'punks' to back down while looking at his Magnam? No. Yet, he goes on as if he gave a definitive answer to the question while the Russian army digs in for the long haul. Meanwhile, John McCain had siezed the issue and came off as more presidential than our sitting President. Strike 2.

Now we see this self-neutering answer to a difficult question in which he clearly did not want to make enemies in his base or among the audience - both live and in santuary. There are more Clintonian ways to answer them. Since I am not as artful as to try to define the word 'is' I'm not going to offer any. However, I am astute enough to know that way that when you do respond you frame the answer in a way that makes you look authoritative and insightful even though some will invariably disagree with you. This response was neither and the end result is frightening because once you occupy the Oval Office there are supposed to be no pay grades above you.

Women's Gymnastics All-Around

Thank you to Miss. Liukim & Miss. Johnson for going Gold & Silver in the gymnastics all-around and making me look like I know what I'm talking about. And good luck I'm the upcoming event finals.

Sent from my iPhone 3G

Olympic Coverage

I doubt that I'm the first to say this but the NBC Olympic coverage is really bugging me. Part of my does not really like the NBC hype machine. "Must See TV" was really only must see when Seinfield was on. After that there was nothing must see about it. Throw in their political coverage which is far more over the top than Fox News ever was, their painting of everything the color green and a GE swagger which should have been gone long ago since GE is not as relavent now as it was when Jack Welch ran the company and you'll understand my slightly negative feelings for the network.

Still, I want to watch our team and want to like Bob Costas. Costas is from Commack, New York and went to the same high school that I did - Commack High School South. So this Long Islander and Spartan wants to watch the best that Costas and NBC can offer moreso out of Spartan pride (cue the SNL cheerleader sketch) than anything else. I've seen Costas do some great stuff in the past and currently on HBO. His interview with Hank Aaron and Willie Mays last month was simply superlative. So, my hopes for good coverage outweighed my dislike for NBC.

Dislike - 1, Hopes - 0. Why? I don't mind that Michael Phelps is the story - how could it not be? I don't mind that they'll sometimes be homers. This is as Borat said the United States and America and if we can't be homers inside our borders then when can we be? But they've done more to over-hype and create contraversy that really doesn't exist than necessary during an Olympics. Need evidence? Here it is:

The night of the 4 x 100 meter men's relay NBC made the story more than Phelps. They showed a clipping of a quote by one of the French swimmers where he said that his team came to Olympics to beat the US relay squad. That was fine for a moment but they keep bringing it up over and over and over again. That story popped up and died the same day. Why beat it to death unnecessarily.

More nonsense during the women's gymnastics team finals. This was a China -vs- US story. The two best teams in the world head to head. China was leading and opened the door. One of our gymnasts had a bad night and fell twice leading us to a silver while the Chinese won gold. OK they won we had a chance and blew it. NBC goes back to the studio and has Bella Caroli, gymnastics coaching legend and husband of the current US coach, analyze how the events unfolded. Fine, Bella can give insights to the sports that few can and normally I'd appreciate the analysis. However, he came out with an anti-Chinese tirade about the age of the girls saying that some on the team are younger than the 16 year age limit. He didn't stop there arguing that the younger athletes don't fear the limelight or losing as much as the older ones - a way of saying that our 20 year-old who fell was at a significant disadvantage even with her years of international competition experience. Now, for one I don't trust the Chinese and believe that they'll game the system to try to win. Just look at the 1984-ish stuff that they pulled to enhance the opening ceremonies. But the we lost because you cheat story is not one that this American wants to hear. I want us to win even though they do cheat. And if we come up short I want us to take the fight to them in the next even and prove that we're still better. In other words I don't want excuses I want competition. This story line put the coverage into the tabloid realm.

Finally, there are the human interest stories and in studio banter that just gnaw at me. I was a huge Jim McKay fan growing up because of how he handled the Olympics in 1972 & 1976. The up close and personal pieces were terrific and were done for more than just Americans. They set the table for the stories on the fields. There was no friendly banter it was all business. But everything in the studio is an inside joke, a snarky remark or something to witty for the rest of us. The stories don't have the effect of making the coverage more interesting or personal because we don't have enough of a back story on the athletes - Americans or other.

Sadly, I'll still watch. I want to see Michael Phelps break Mark Spitz record - an indellible memory from when I was 7. I want to see fellow Marquette University alum Dwyane Wade bring home a Gold Medal in basketball. I want to see Americans go Gold and Silver in the women's gymnastics all-around proving that our depleted team is made up of true athletes not just one trick ponies. And when the coverage turns to the studio I'll be on my iPhone texting one of my teenage nieces or surfing the web. Anything but watching the coverage in studio.

USA! USA! USA!...

The Bear is Back! Will the ad be?

Back in the '80's there was a political commercial produced by the Reagan campaign which was simple but made an important point about the need for an experienced Commander in Chief. The visual was simple, a huge bear shown in it's natural environment. The narrator spoke about the bear, not knowing it's intentions and the ramifications of actions when interacting with the bear.

It should come as no surprise that the bear in the woods represented the Soviet Union. The actions described were the potential actions of the candidates in the presidential race - the democratic leave the bear alone/don't upset the bear approach versus Reagan's load up on weapons and be ready approach.

Over the last 20 years the bear has been in hibernation. But the recent events in Georgia show us that he's awake again. Not only that he's shed some pounds, is hungry, mad and is far stronger than he was before his long rest. Russia has gone through a transformation. Russia now has a market economy on top of it's already vast natural resources. In fact, they have the most important natural resource in the world right now - oil. The Russians never lacked imagination or the will to be technologically advanced. They were founding members of the nuclear club, led the world in space technology and had advanced fighters and missiles. With money they have all of that and less poverty so now there's no choice between weapons and feeding the masses. In short, the Russians may be more dangerous now than the crumbling Evil Empire of the '80's.

The question now is how will this play out in our current presidential campaign. One candidate is a political newcomer with no foreign policy experience who was damaged when his primary opponent ran an ad about him getting a 3AM call. The call in that ad was about terrorism but in the new context can be about terrorism or an invasion of a friend or ally - both of which Georgia is. The other candidate is as old as Reagan when the ad was run and actually has more military experience that Reagan did. Will he rerun the ad or a variation of it to make a similar point? If I were his adviser I know I would.

Olympic Message - 1

For months we've heard in the media that the United States is done. Our best days are behind us, we're about to get our economic and political heads handed to us by the rest of the world, we can't do anything right anymore. I could go on but you get the point because you've seen tons of those reports and heard many arguments for that position for a long time now. I have opinions about why it started and when it started but that's simply not the point of this post.

The point is that someone needs to tell our Olympic athletes. Yesterday, there were two stories that we should all take note of because our athletes could have done what the media wants us all to do and pack it in when things get tough but in the end did not.

Story 1 is the men's 4 X 100 meter swimming relay. Yes, our team has Michael Phelps on it but was not the favorite going in. The folks on NBC made it a point to tell us that 1) France was going to win and that 2) they were talking trash. So they lowered our expectations and were supposed to settle for Silver. The American team led early and then gave up the lead to France just as NBC predicted. By the turn of the final leg it looked like NBC was right. Then Jason Lezak began to close the gap. With 25 meters (1/2 a pool length) he had almost caught up. It wasn't until the closing fractions of a second that he took the lead and won the Gold for the US. The French swimmers were stunned while the American team celebrated. I'm sure that our swimmers would have been proud with a Silver medal but they didn't settle for it. They put their all into the event and walked away with a win.

Story 2 is the women's gymnastics team. When they were first shown on TV you could tell something was up. They all looked like they were dealt a blow and they were. One team member was already injured and would be limited to one of four events. Now they found out that a second teammate was limited to the same way. They had 4 gymnasts who could compete in all events meaning that all of their scores would count - no margin for error. The night started out badly. Two gymnasts had penalties which reduced their scores which had an impact on the team's score. They settled down a bit on the vault but had more trouble on the uneven bars where two gymnasts either fell off or did not land their dismount. All looked bad going into the balance beam, arguably the most difficult even in the rotation. Something happened at that point. One after another the gymnasts turned in excellent performances. In the end, the team managed to finish the first round in 2nd just 1.5 points behind the Chinese team and in a position to take the gold when the competition begins again.

4 years of hard work. Hearts of lions in a pressure spot. That's how American athletes responded. For them there's glory - it is the Olympics and it's all on TV. However, we are all in a similar but not as bad situation right now yet the media would tell us it is more dire than it is. Do us all a favor, the next time the media decides that we're done turn them off or throw out their print article. Get back to doing what you do best, buckle down and win one for our Olympic athletes knowing that small victories by each of us will lead to a big victory for America.

Now that's what I'

Test

Testing iPhone to blog capability.

Best Regards,

Directionally Challenged
Sent from my iPhone 3G