Wanted: A President Who Is Smarter Than I Am

So many of the articles I read online question what virtues the average American is looking for in his or her president. There is often discussion as to whether the people want a really intelligent guy or one who is a "man of the people"....someone to identify with, sit down and shoot the bull. Many folks claim to want the kind of leader we could all sit down and have a beer with.

Well, count me out.

I don't want a fellow who is just one of us. "Us" is in a bad way at the moment. "Us" is up to our eyeballs in debt, in a pointless war, short on health insurance and good jobs. In other words, "Us" is sort of screwed right now and don't have a clue how to get "us" back on track.

I don't want to be the one to throw stones, folks, but this state of affairs came about because we have had two full terms of a president that lots of my fellow Americans thought would be a great guy to sit down and have a beer with.....
figuratively, of course, since he is a dry alcoholic.

This time out, I want to choose our president the same way we would choose our financial advisor, our surgeon, our teachers. You never hear people saying that they want a financial advisor or doctor they can have a beer with.

We don't care about the personalities of those who are performing vital services for us. My stockbroker can be a total jerk, my brain surgeon can a most unpleasant guy. No problem...just deliver on what you said you could do for me.....make me money, make me well.

I want the next president to be smart,certainly smarter than I am. I want someone who has a better idea of how to turn the country around than I do. The problems that the United States faces today loom large over all of us. I want a person who can start the fix. I'm not looking for a beer-drinking buddy. I don't drink, and even if I did, I can guarantee you that I will never be invited to have a beer with the next president, or any president for that matter.

So, as a nation, let's start thinking like good consumers. Let's demand the best of the best. Let's not let the media or the parties allow us to become embroiled in some side issues, or a discussion of which candidate seems like the nicer guy.
Let's get the most bang for our votes. Let's elect a president who is smarter than we are. Future generations of Americans will thank us.

Why The MSM Is So Easy To Dislike

Hate is such a strong word. We're not supposed to hate vegetables, or clothes, or entertainment. We can dislike things, but we really shouldn't use the term hate. That's what my parents and teachers told me loudly and often as a child. But I have to say, God, it would be easy to say I hate the mainstream media these days.

I am very interested in this campaign for the Presidency of the United States. Actually, it's one of my main interests in life, kind of an obsession. I want to see the country squared away and on the right path before I get too old to care. So, daily, I click through the cable networks looking for the latest updates on what's going on in this much too long war of words. Instead of information, I encounter some of the sleaziest and laziest reporting in my memory by pundits who seem far more intent on impressing other pundits. Most have little interest in educating the public. They want only to show their fellow reporters what inside info they've gleaned at the last cocktail party they attended.

It is ever more clear that the Washington establishment and the press corp that covers it have settled down in some big feather bed together. None of the bed's occupants wants to crowd any of his or her bedmates, so nothing that would cause any discomfort gets reported to the poor schleps out here who are paying the rent on the room they all occupy.
That would be us, the taxpayers.

This unwillingness to actually report anything of import is compounded by the media's desire to appear "fair". What the hell does that mean? By this campaign's standards, it means that John McCain is outed for having 8 homes, then we must be sure to point out that Barack Obama made a lot of money last year. If we point out that John McCain doesn't seem to have a handle on the economy, we must point out that Obama got a low-rate loan on his home back in Chicago. Not quite the same thing, but, you know, it's fair.

Instead of concentrating on all the non-news items of this campaign, the press could restore some of its former dignity by forcing all parties to talk about something novel, like the issues.

I would like to hear about John McCain's plan to give us all a tax credit of up to $5000 to purchase health insurance. I want to hear how that's going to work for the folks who don't have the $5000 to purchase it in the first place....will he see to it that the government helps those people in some other way? I want to hear how Obama will fund his plan for health care. I want to hear how these guys plan to help end the job drain in this country. I would like to hear responsible media types discuss these matters, not the silly trivia and personality drivel so many of their members seem to thrive on. The MSM fears that we will all get bored and switch channels. Some viewers will. That's why there's a game show network, folk.

I hear interviews with candidates and their surrogates in which totally inaccurate and deceptive information is delivered by the pricipals and never challenged in any way. Is this because the interviewers are afraid they won't be able to get the guests back on their program or because they really don't know the correct answers to the questions so they can't challenge the guests? I have a sinking feeling that its a combination of both problems.

Edward R. Murrow, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor and Dan Rather would not have been afraid to ask the tough questions. And if they were given B.S. for answers they would have known and challenged the B.S. Like so many other things, those days are over and those figures gone.

Wake up, MSM. People are spending more and more time on the internet because you no longer satisfy. Man up and start doing your job. I promise that if you do, I'll try to only dislike you.

Back To The Future With John McCain

Last night, I dreamt I was back in grade school. The popular kids were telling the rest of the class who to like and who not to like. The nasty, vindictive kids, who are always jealous of the cool guys were making up awful stories about them so that the rest of us wouldn't like them anymore. It seemed so real.

When I awoke this morning, I tried, as I usually do when I remember my dreams, to figure out what triggered this particular one. Then I remembered......shortly before falling asleep last evening, I saw the McCain campaign's anti-Obama ad. It's the ad that runs every hour on the hour here in Missouri.

You know, the one I am talking about....the one where people are chanting Obama's name and a very solemn voice tells us all that Obama is the most popular person in the world, BUT IS HE READY TO LEAD? No wonder I thought I was back in grade school.

The psychology behind the ad is really very good. You know how often most of us had less than kind thoughts about the "in crowd". They always made the rest of us feel a little unsure of ourselves. Sometimes we hated them, sometimes we envied them, sometimes we just wanted them to acknowledge us.

John McCain wants you to believe that Barack Obama is the 'in crowd" that snubbed you back in grade school. He wants you to believe that there is something wrong with the fact that Obama was hailed in Europe and the Middle East, that hundreds of thousands of people turned out to see him in his travels. John McCain wants you to believe that this is a very bad thing.

Amazing, isn't it? The past eight years have made us ugly Americans worldwide. The present occupant of the White House has, through his arrogance and downright stupidity, turned friend into foe from the North Pole to the South Pole. From the McCain campaign, only agreement with Bush policies and a foreshadowing of more of the same. However, that no-good Obama had the audacity to make the rest of the world give us a new look, a forgiving look.....to want our friendship and partnership again. The Bastard!

The rest of the free world wants a modified form of the old order restored. They liked the US when it was the guardian of liberty and free speech around the world. They liked our country when our word meant something. They liked us when we stood for something. In other words, they liked us a whole lot better before W and his henchmen took hold of our country.

I can only imagine what Europe and the Middle East will think if they wake up on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November and find that we have elected a sad, befuddled e old man who is more of the same Bush crowd. They seem willing to consider the last eight years some sort of strange aberration on the part of the American people.

If we choose McCain as our next leader, they will, undoubtedly, think that we are past saving.

And all those nasty, silly little people who hated the popular kids just because they were the popular kids will come out on top.