Inspector Clouseau, Hillary Clinton, Brock Obama, and Ralph Nadir

Inspector Clouseau, Hillary Clinton, Brock Obama, and Ralph Nadir

I found myself getting really p****** off when Ralph Nadir announced his third party candidacy for the Presidency and that leads me to the following comments regarding the past few days on several irritating items, so I'm getting these off my chest.

Political notes: Hilary Clinton reminds me of Inspector Clouseau's Good Cop/ Bad Cop routine in Steve Martin's Pink Panther - one of the funniest scenes I've ever watched. If there were an Oscar for great all-time silly scenes in a movie, this would be a contender. Inspector Clouseau alternately without skipping a beat does a good cop/bad cop routine while questioning a suspect. Pretty funny. And Hilary's Manic Schizo -Frenzetic -- "What an Honor" one day, "Shame on you" the next. Alternating between Gracious and the B-word - wobbling more and more like a spinning top as it loses its speed. Yowling that she didn't say NAFTA would be a "boon" to our economy - she has a long history of supporting NAFTA(apparently she never used the word "boon); and to see her parse words like you-know-who did - remember it depends on what the meaning of "is" "is, " and bounce back and forth with her mocking tone and silly good cop/bad cop routine is pretty disappointing. That's Presidential? I'd still vote for her over John McCain, but jeez.....get a grip. And as much as I admire President Clinton, I wish he's dial it down a notch or two as well. And the more McCain cozies up to the far right of the Republican party, the less I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Barack Obama brings back memories to me of listening to John Kennedy and Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. What an inspirational leader! I supported Bill Richardson, but Obama has won me over.

One of my students' essays expressed some real excitement about getting to vote for the first time and getting to vote for "Brock Obama." I am encouraged by the student's energy and hope and willingness to get involved. I'm going to have to find out who this new candidate Brock Obama is.

The entry of Ralph "The Narcissist" Nadir (nadir = low point) reminds me way too much that, but for him, George W. Bush would not have been and still be President. Most likely no Iraq war, Afghanistan would be much stronger, our relationships in the MuddleEast would be much more business-like. We would likely have far better relationships with other countries in the world; AlQuaida would not have attacked Spain, England, Malaysia, etc., etc., etc. Gas would not be $3.10 a gallon, we'd not be running a $500 billion deficit each year, 4000 young American soldiers would not be dead, 20,000 would not be grievously wounded, etc., etc., etc. Please, would someone buy Nadir a Corvair convertible for his travels....?

One other thing really bugging me is Robert Novak is back as a columnist in the World Herald. I don't get it. Why is he getting a free pass on the outing of Valerie Plame? The whole sleazy episode had political payback written all over it when Plame's husband criticized the GWB persuasive campaign to invade Iraq. Karl Rove and Scooter Libbey, and probably GWB, left their fingerprints all over that episode,etc., etc. Woodward and Bernstein were called traitors and treasonous when they uncovered corruption and crimes in Nixon's Whitehouse. Remember Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers? But Novak is complicit in exposing the identity of an undercover agent, and he gets a free pass? If a reporter had exposed the identify of a undercover agent in Germany in WW II, would that reporter have a column in the WH? Unlikely.

Okay, I'm done for now. I'm getting way too exercised about this stuff. And I'm getting more and more impressed and inspired by Brock Obama, whoever that is.


Bud