Here we are in the middle of all of this magnificent fall weather. Never have I seen the trees and foliage more beautiful. It’s as though some unseen hand has taken a broad brush and painted the entire area like a canvas, with such a variety of colors and beauty.
In this post-election time, I de-brief myself by playing with Prince William in the back yard, sitting and starring at the fall foliage, watching the squirrels gather nuts while he hits golf balls. I started teaching him golf at two-years-old. Now at three, he can tee up the ball and knock it across the back fence. When he does, yells, “I knocked it to kingdom come.” I know no greater joy than observing the pride a small child enjoys when he accomplishes something new each day of his life, the spontaneity of sheer joy the child experiences with each thing he does that is a new experience. I feel so privileged to share some of these times with my grandchildren.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, so to speak, I do keep up with the daily news, but spend less time listening than I did before the election. The news media is so repetitious and so are the politicians. I never seem to be surprised at the predictability of each subsequent event, but amused at how the liberal media takes the same old predictability of what politicians do and say, re-hashes it and presents it to the American people as though it’s all unexpected news. When instead of covering the news, they could spend time uncovering news and presenting truth to their audience.
Take for example the new President-Elect, Obama, who campaigned on “change change change.” In his speech, after being elected, said, “We’re going to get there.” He used the same non-specific rhetoric in his campaign speeches. After choosing a Vice President from the established crowd, his first appointment was another Washington insider from just down the street from his new home, The White House, inviting him to be one of his top people to assist in governing.
Right off the bat, he defies his lofty promises of changing the way things are done in Washington, and then surrounds himself with familiar faces from other presidential advisors. In addition, he immediately arranges another speech, telling America he intends to push through another Stimulus Package. He is following in the footsteps of the current regime who implemented a staggering Stimulus Package, not long ago, for taxpayers to be indebted to pay for.
I started walking around my house humming the Tom Jones song, “What’s new Pussy Cat?”
I must give the President-Elect his due; he really ran a very effective political campaign. He out-foxed, out-witted, and out spent the other seasoned political machines of the Clintons and McCains. Someone in his organization discovered how Roosevelt and Kennedy—two Liberal Democratic presidents—were elected. Here’s how they did it.
Franklin D. Roosevelt had the most mesmerizing, reassuring voice and used the radio to convince voters he was the man to lead them out of a depression into the “promised land.” He was a polio cripple and campaigned across this country from the rear of a train, waving his hands and speaking. He drew large crowds from the platform of a train, and no one paid much attention to the fact that he couldn’t walk, because he could talk the talk. This was in the thirties when we were in the middle of the Great Depression.
I was there and heard his speeches broadcasted over the radio. I was in high school and we would be called into the school auditorium to hear his speeches. He could speak so eloquently.
Then in the sixties, John F. Kennedy was elected President—a young, handsome, Harvard graduate. He too was a dynamic speaker and had that special eloquent speaking quality. Because of his looks, youth and speech eloquence, he used television to sell himself and his message to the American people. And he was elected.
Now here we are 40 plus years later and another eloquent speaker rose from the ranks to win the election. Instead of a train he used a private jet to criss-cross this country, and used the internet to collect money, organize and repeat his message like a mantra — “change change change”, and “we can do it.” According to reports, more than 600 million dollars were collected to elect him, largely through the internet.
John McCain was out matched when it comes to speaking eloquence. He spoke more of the past than he did the future. His record in the military was old news. He did not effectively organize to use the internet. He did not exude the healthy, enthusiastic energy of youthful Obama, having had cancer and multiple physical injuries. He, of course, could not help his health problems and age, but he did not avail himself of tools he could have to be elected.
So you see, Roosevelt used the radio to his advantage to be elected, then Kennedy used the television to his advantage to be elected. Obama used both, plus a new device, the internet, to seal his win. In my opinion, McCain lost because of several key ingredients, but failure to use the internet to collect money and organize was one of them. McCain failed to utilize the most powerful and effective communication invention and discovery of our time.
Now I’m certainly no political strategist, far from it, but common sense can be a revelation. McCain was behind during most of the long campaign era. As I observe my three-year-old grandson struggling to hit a small golf ball, I watch him change his stance, rearrange his body language and the way he holds his club, until he’s able to hit the mark. When he’s successful, he tries to repeat.
So many times during the campaign, I heard McCain speak of his effectiveness when he was behind in the polls. Hello! That’s a losing attitude to begin with. If I heard my three-year-old Prince William say, “I’m doing good every time I fail to hit the ball,” I would say, “Put the club down, sit down, and let’s talk about changing your attitude to change your results.” That’s not rocket science, but common sense.
I’m quite amused listening to all of the post-election talk about the disarray and confusion among the Republicans, trying to figure out what to do. Some things in life are obvious and predictable. And the course of action the new President-Elect is taking, is one of them.
The U.S. Supreme Court Justice, William O. Douglas, was quoted in the New York Times in 1980 saying, “A people who extend civil Liberties only to preferred groups, start down the path either to dictatorship of the Right or the Left.”
Let Freedom Ring!
JUST ME,
AC
