Sep 5, 2008

Hide the Dog

San Diego has an ongoing public arts project along the North Embarcadero area called Urban Trees. The current display is the 5th addition of this project and features 31 sculptures. These are two of the current 31. (There is that woman again). "But now - surely! - it was so obvious! Grissom had just screwed the pooch! In flight tests, if you did something that stupid, if you destroyed a major prototype through some lame-brain mistake such as hitting the wrong button - you were through! You'd be lucky to end up in Flight Engineering. Oh, it was obvious to everybody at Edwards [Air Force Base] that Grissom had just f*cked it, screwed the pooch, that was all." (from page 230 of "The Right Stuff," by Tom Wolfe) Anyone else, besides Nan Patience and me, think that Barak Obama has screwed the pooch with his choice of an inside-the-beltway, old white man as a running mate? How in the name of god, does a guy running on a message of change, saddle up with a joker who is poster boy for the problems he vows to fix? And how did the most dynamic candidate since Kennedy, manage to pick one of the most boring human beings in Washington? Obama's instructions to Biden must go something like, "Shut up and look like you know what you're doing". Maybe it's just me, but I really don't get it. Perhaps Obama had a moment of doubt or felt vulnerable on the experience issue and tried to make a safe pick. You may recall that this is exactly how we got Cheney as a Vice-President. Perhaps Obama's pride got the best of him when the smart choice, the almost victory-assuring choice, was Hillary. Maybe he just couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger on Hillary. Maybe the ticket wasn't big enough for the both of them. To make matters worse, McCain has outflanked Obama. Like her or not, Palin has created a buzz and Biden has created a vacuum. In politics style mostly trumps substance, so this doesn't look good for Obama, at least at the moment. Merle Wayne Sneed would not be the least bit surprised to wake up any day now and find that Biden is out and Hillary is in. I don't expect it, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it. As my pal Kurt says, better start practicing saying, "President McCain", just in case. Things in this blog represented to be fact, may or may not actually be true. The writer is frequently wrong, sometimes just full of it, but always judgmental and cranky.

6 comments:

Megan said...

Hmm. Who is stalking whom?

I can't decide which of those trees I like better - but there's that green again!

Interesting thoughts about Biden. I will ponder.

Kurt said...

I'm not practicing "just in case." I'm preparing for the future.

It's decision-by-committee, which eliminates all good or interesting ideas and results in one bland, safe one.

Anonymous said...

The thought of "President McCain" has me so scared that I'm already packing for a move out of the country....

edward said...

why do you keep taking (and posting) pictures of that lady?

Steve Reed said...

It's all about balancing the ticket. Obama and Palin are "youthful energy" (albeit in different directions). McCain and Biden are "experience and wisdom" (allegedly).

I don't know whether Biden was the best choice, but in the end I don't think the running mate has a huge effect on the ticket.

bitchlet said...

Me and my friends here feel that Palin and the stolen agenda of change just might make a President out of McCain.

The running mate should have been Clinton.

Btw what time does the debate air on 22nd?