politics and politicians

There is a presidential election coming. Can you tell? Politicians are blaming, distancing themselves from various things that they perceive might be unpopular with the masses, and trying to posture themselves to appear to be better than the next person.

I only see one guy who is a straight shooter right now. I'll tell you who in a minute.

I was born during Eisenhower's administration. I think I'm the only person my age who doesn't remember where he was when John F. Kennedy was shot, although I do remember where I was when I heard that Martin Luther King was shot.

In my lifetime I've experienced 10 different presidents. The worst of the 10 was Jimmy Carter, no question. I voted against him the first time and for him the second time. I believe that he was a good man, a smart man, but he was not a good president. A lot of bad things happened to this country during his administration that were the result of poor leadership and policy. Here lately he's said some things about the current administration that shock me. He's a better man than what he's showing in the last few years. I'm afraid he's gotten old and bitter.

The best of my ten presidents was Ronald Reagan. Yes I know a lot of people poke fun at him but having lived through that period of time I know how demoralized the country was after Carter and Ronald Reagan got Congress to work together, something that hasn't happened since.

I can't complain too much about the presidents because almost everybody I voted for got in. I voted against Clinton and as I said I voted against Carter once.

The guy I like right now is Joe Lieberman. I listen to Hillary and Kerry and Carter and Gore and all the rest and then I listen to Lieberman and what he says has the ring of truth.

Hillary for example has tried to make it sound like this Iraq thing was all George W Bush's fault. Only thing is, the whole world knew that Saddaam had weapons of mass destruction and had used them before. She's conveniently forgotten about Bill Clinton's policies. She's forgotten about her own votes and statements. All she seems to care about is appearing to look smart in hindsight. Well hindsight is always 20 20.

The fact is we have a problem with a lot of people in this world who adhere to a religion that advocates killing people who don't agree with them. That is a reality. We have to do something about that or else just dig our own grave and wait for them to put us in it. There are evil people in this world who hate us and want to kill us and it has nothing to do with whether Americans have exploited anybody.

We can take on an isolationist policy. We're pretty good at doing that historically but we have to pay for our isolation eventually. People in Europe have historically had a policy of appeasement when it comes to their evil enemies. The only thing is, we've been there to bail them out when that policy didn't work out so well. That's where Europe is heading again and a lot of people in America (particularly celebrity types) seem to follow their lead. Unfortunately, we'll probably have to bail them out again.

It's disturbing to me to hear politicians like Hillary Clinton and others blame everything from Katrina to the radical actions of terrorists on any one person or administration. It's just not that simple. Even if FEMA was flawless after Katrina, there was no way we were going to be ready for something like that. The other thing, as someone who spent a week last year helping out in the aftermath, you can do everything humanly possible for some people and it will never be enough. We had a disaster. People get hurt in disasters. There is no reset button when it comes to disasters. Everything takes longer than what you think it will take. Everything costs more than what you think it will cost. Nothing happens the way you think its going to happen. That's life. This is a fallen, messed up world. Bad things happen to good people. That's why we need a savior.

So what politician stands above the rest in the opinion of this old man? One who doesn't get pulled into the popular bashing, blaming and name calling. Joe Lieberman will probably not get a chance to run for president. Maybe that's why he is such a staight shooter. Maybe since he isn't posturing for the presidency he can just work for the American people and be a public servant who actually serves the American people instead of himself.

Granted I don't know very much about Lieberman, and I don't agree with everything he says. But he does seem much more balanced than the shrill critics who hope to gain the presidency.