Week of 10/03/2011

ADHDGOP
– by David Matthews 2

So here we are, still months away from the first primary or caucus, still in that glorified “fantasy league” phase of the over-extended 2012 campaign season, and it seems that the most vocal part of the GOP just can’t seem to figure out who they want to support to take on President Barack Obama.

Yes, the field of presidential contenders is pretty thick. A whole bunch of people think they can beat Obama. The problem is that there is this eternal call for other people to join in. First it’s Donald Trump, who wisely decides he can be a better pain on NBC than in DC. Then it’s Michelle Bachman, who follows through and then can’t get her geography right. Then it’s Texas Governor Rick Perry, who joins in after Rush Limbaugh pesters him to. Now the “call” is going out to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who apparently is doing the smartest thing in the world, which is to say “no”; although rumors are circulating that he may consider running after all. And, of course, still lurking in the corner of the media is former Governor Sarah Palin, who is still saying “Hey, remember me? I haven’t announced whether or not I’m going to run yet! Don’t count me out, but don’t follow me around either!”

You have to seriously question the fickleness of the GOP for continually changing their minds over who they want their “savior” to be. It seems like they have an attention span that is shorter than that of a TV executive during the Fall Season. Every horse they back seems to be “perfect”, until they do something totally unexpected… like, talk.

Michelle Bachman was “perfect” until she couldn’t tell the difference between New Hampshire and Massachusetts and was getting publicly schooled by high-schoolers. Rick Perry was Limbaugh’s “dream pick” until he started to explain his own policies and he started to get really tired during the debates. It makes you wonder what Governor Christie would say that would cause him to lose favor. Maybe sing the “Big Mac” commercial?

And, yes, getting off-track for a moment, Governor Christie’s girth is fair game! If Bill Clinton can get ragged on about literally running to McDonald’s during his run for the White House, then Chris Christie can be ragged on about his love of food. As someone who is far from skinny himself, this commentator echoes the time-honored advice of “he’s a big man, he can take a little criticism”.

But my beef here is not with Governor Christie. It is, instead, with the fickleness of the “favor” and this idea that somewhere in the political world is a “savior” just ready to make their debut and end Obama’s White House tenure; if only they can be coaxed into stepping up.

This isn’t the first time this happened. Remember Fred Thompson? The man was both a former U.S. Senator and an actor that was very much on-demand. In the 2008 campaign, the spin was that he would be “perfect” for the GOP. He was supposedly the 21^st Century’s version of Ronald Reagan. He quit his steady job with NBC in order to listen to the advice of the GOP spin doctors and run for president, only to fail miserably. I would hope that at least he got his money back from the people who sold him that bad political advice, but given the “screw-you” mentality that is politics, I seriously doubt he even got a second glance as the campaign door hit him on the way out.

Then there’s the pre-fabricated hype surrounding ex-Governor Palin. How strange that people suddenly treated her like she was the Second Coming without any reason why. At least with Obama it could be easily explained through Oprah Winfrey and big-money Internet memes. Palin’s sudden cultism, on the other hand, almost came right out of something from a “Doctor Who” episode. I half-expected there to be a room with a swirly display and a voice that tells me I’m getting very sleepy.

But while the Ministry of Truth is eager to grab and elevate the next “flavor of the moment”, there are still plenty of other candidates that are already in the running that are getting systematically ignored. Remember Gary Johnson? He’s a former governor! Same with Buddy Roemer and Jon Huntsman. Three people with solid leadership skills. How is it that these three candidates are getting systematically ignored while political spin-artists are on the hunt for the next “big thing”?

I would strongly suspect that the reason why some people are fixated on finding that “next flavor” is so they can later be recognized as some sort of king-maker. It would give them notoriety and political influence, not to mention big consulting bucks. That in and of itself is a scary concept; to build up this idea that the leadership of the United States can be chosen by an elite few that call themselves “king-makers”… especially given how this nation has for so very long despised the idea of having a king.

Let’s get brutally honest here… the GOP doesn’t need a new “flavor of the moment”. They sure as hell do not need a “savior”. They need the political equivalent of Prozac… and then they need a colonic. They need to be purged of all of their spin-doctors and “king-makers”, and then take a look at that huge stinking pile of contenders that are already out there trying to hustle for attention and campaign dollars and see what they have to offer that sets them apart from the current batch of so-called “front runners”.

The problems we are facing in this country need to be dealt with by leadership that is willing to handle them. Real leaders don’t need to be coaxed into stepping up. They certainly don’t need to be propped up as some sort of phony political “savior”, especially when the powers-that-be neither want to be saved nor do they want this nation to be saved from the misery that they helped to bring about.