While We Wait

While we wait for news that the DNC Rules Committee has resolved the dispute over whether or how to seat the Florida and Michigan delegations at the Denver Convention, I have been thinking about the whole frequently untidy business of governing…and how easy it is to get off track.

I recall when Newt Gingrich stood on the steps of the US Capitol in 1995 and, while announcing the Contract for America, said, “…and on this contract, we will not compromise.” As I watched him walk away from the podium, I thought, “Well, your side of the aisle will not be in the majority very long.”

As we pick a new President for ALL of us this fall, I hope the new members of the Congress will take another look at the booklet, “How Our Laws Are Made.” Legislating is not about objecting and obstructing, it is about compromising and governing. We will always have stalemate in Washington so long as the players look only for opportunities to checkmate each other.

The mess we have today was started long ago – both sides contributed to it – but it was certainly exacerbated by the Republican leadership in 1995. For someone who made his living at one time teaching history, Newt has forgotten some of the most important parts, in particular, that whole chapter on the importance of balance of powers among the three branches of government.

I know all the candidates will all be busy until late fall but, before the new Congress takes its oath in January, I urge them to take another look at the US Constitution, study it, and commit to making it work – as it was intended by our founders, not the way today’s partisans would like to see it work. There is a reason that Robert Byrd (D-WV), the oldest and longest serving member of the US Senate, carries a copy of the Constitution in his vest pocket every day. I wish they all did.

Don't worry about your enemies...

Is there something in the air at Trinity Church in Chicago that makes preachers go nuts when they enter the pulpit? Maybe it’s some sort of swamp gas emitted from the base of the pulpit itself. Whatever it is, it seems to be an aphrodisiac for egos in search of their 15 minutes of fame (or infamy) in the media. The silence of Rev. Wright and Father Pfleger would be more golden than anyone’s I know…if only we could guarantee it.

I remember a lesson I learned from an old pol some 40 years ago who said, “In politics, don’t worry about your enemies, you know where they stand, but your friends….ah, your friends. Worry about your friends; they will cause more trouble than all your enemies put together.” I learned a lot from that fellow but none of his advice, over the years, has been more sound.

Whatever happened to preaching the gospel from the pulpit? I'd like to hear one of these guys preach on this text: “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from trouble.” Proverbs 21:23

To Curl Your Hair

The blogs have been white hot since the first reports appeared last night that former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan had released his memoir, What Happened.

McClellan’s book is just another in a series that will appear in greater and greater numbers as the chickens and the rats abandon ship to save what’s left of their professional reputations. Most informed observers – witnessing the malfeasance and misfeasance of the Bush-Cheney administration – knew this day was coming.

More books will follow. And like this one, the honesty of those who seek to preserve some semblance of personal integrity will curl your hair. Republicans will swear at their former colleagues, now Benedict Arnolds of the first order who will never see inside the front gate of the White House again. Democrats will delight in seeing the mighty fall but they should take no delight in seeing the truth come out. There is nothing to smile about as we watch the last days of this administration unfold – not even the truth. The damage done is too deep and the national pain too great to bring any pleasure to Democratic partisans.

There will be other books. McClellan’s is just the tip of the iceberg. I have a collection already that starts with The Price of Loyalty, former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil’s inside look at a mismanaged cabal of mostly political hacks who did not – and do not – understand the difference between campaigning and governing.

But the American people have moved on, and that is the good news. The enormous crowds that gather when Barack Obama speaks are all the proof one needs to see that a new day awaits our nation. This is a strong republic and there is hope for a better day ahead. The record breaking turnout in the primaries is more evidence of that belief that a better day lies ahead. In November the people will share their conviction with millions of fellow citizens as they begin to prepare for that better day on January 20, 2009.

"I drive a new Google!"

There is change in the air…and I’m not talking only about the change that will come when America elects a Democratic President this fall. Yes, of course, his election means we will finally quit dismantling Iraq and start rebuilding America. That's a change we all seek. But many facets of our national infrastructure are calling desperately and are in immediate need of attention. Some are obvious like bridges and highways in need of repair.

But there are other challenges not as well known.

Consider this example: An engineer friend drove his Toyota Prius from Georgia to California and, while there, converted his car to a Plug-in-Hybrid-Vehicle, a PHEV. He drove the car across country as a typical hybrid and got 40 mpg. On the return trip, the car, now a PHEV, got 90 mpg! On that return trip, each night he plugged the car into a standard AC outlet to recharge its batteries. So efficient was it on the return trip that the car only consumed two tanks of regular gasoline. When I last checked, he was still driving the car as a commuter and for business purposes, and getting 125 mpg in around town driving when the battery kicks in more often!

Imagine the impact on America’s electric transmission grid when millions of Americans, tired of exorbitant gas prices at the pump, switch en mass to PHEV automobiles. Will our electric utilities be ready for the surge of demand on an electric transmission grid terribly outdated and in need of modernizing and expanding?

Google’s founders recognize a good investment when they see one and have recently invested $10 million in developing PHEV technology. Google, a company created just a decade ago and now the world’s number one Internet search engine, may soon influence the type of car you drive.

And I haven’t even mentioned the potential of nanotechnology. Some are predicting carbon nanotubes will replace silicon-based chips in our computers by 2015, providing an exponential increase in speed and storage capacity.

The price of oil will continue to rise – probably to $180 a barrel before it settles down (Inflation will lead it there; how else did you think we would pay for the Iraq war?) But the high prices will have the effect of stimulating good old American ingenuity in ways we cannot yet imagine.

A large number of new millionaire entrepreneurs will emerge soon as innovative Americans harness all the new technologies in ways we cannot imagine.

I can’t wait to call my neighbor and say, “Hey, I’m driving a new Google.”

Nunn's Decision to Support Obama

Jim Galloway, a political reporter for the Atlanta Journal Constitution recently conducted an interview with former Georgia US Senator Sam Nunn who offered some insight into his decision to support Barack Obama's presidential bid.

Excerpts from that interview are illuminating for all who may still have questions about the leadership qualities of Barack Obama:

Nunn’s top priority is the restoration of the United States’s credibility in the world. You can’t imagine, he said, how much damage the war in Iraq has done.

What must be regained, the senator said, is a non-partisan approach to foreign policy. McCain doesn’t represent change. Hillary Clinton, Nunn said, would find the task difficult — a president who polarizes at home would find it hard to create a unified foreign policy abroad.

Nunn said he’s talked with Obama. But he was also swayed by the good reports about the candidate from Republicans — including the staff of U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Lugar has served as Nunn’s partner in a 17-year program to corral the world’s “loose nukes.”

“Lugar’s staff tell me [Obama] is genuine, he’s sincere, he’s very capable and not only is he a fast learner, but he’s got real depth,” Nunn said.

“Even when he’s heading to the left, he always wants to find out what the other position is. I think that’s enormously important. We’ve been heading down an ideological split in this country — it’s been annoying for a long time. It’s gotten dangerous now.”

“Even though I would love for him to have more experience, I think he’s the most likely to listen, he’s the most likely to be non-ideological,” Nunn said. “There are very few people in politics now who let the facts have a bearing on their conclusions.”

While he served in the Senate, Sam Nunn earned a reputation as one who studies issues exhaustively before making a decision. The decision to support Barack Obama, therefore, is likely to carry considerable weight among those who follow the Senator's activities.

Only the People Can Keep It

I'm hearing from a lot of my Republican friends these days. They sound almost panicked...lashing out here...slashing out there. "Well," said one, "I would vote for Obama because I know we need change but he's just going to waste my tax money on more liberal programs."

Republicans don't understand government is exactly what the people asked that it be. Indeed, it is what we, the people, have demanded. And we all complain about it even as we benefit from it.

For example, farmers depend on crop subsidies while others complain they are a waste. Some complain about the HeadStart and School Lunch programs as a waste just as others depend on them for the health they bring to their children.


Some complain about how much we spend on the defense of this nation while others understand such spending is justified to secure our nation. Some complain about spending on Interstate highways while they and others enjoy using them to get to their favorite vacation spot.


How about the taxes we pay for Medicare and Social Security? What about the funds we pay to help EPA set air and water standards. Or to the Agriculture department to regulate meat packing so the bacon won't make us sick? And of course, it's a pretty good thing we have those government backed mortgages, isn't it?


The point is: we need government. We demand government. We just don't need THIS government...and I will not list all the things you know so well that are wrong with it!! THIS government is stripping government of every dollar it can to fund its misadventure in Iraq and leaving every branch of government, department and agency operating today on the barest of budgets.


Can we do better? Sure. And that is the responsibility of each new generation -- to throw themselves into the political process with an unbridled commitment to make it better. That is what Ben Franklin meant when he said, "You have a republic, if you can keep it." It IS a fragile government...and only the people can secure it, strengthen it, and redress grievances when discovered.


Only the people have the power to "keep it."

What Did You Give Up For the War?

Of all the insensitive and outrageous statements to fall from the lips of our 43^rd President, these are undoubtedly the worst: "I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the commander in chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal." He made these remarks in response to a question from Mike Allen of Politico. His response was not a joke, not offered tongue in cheek. No, his tongue was clearly stuck elsewhere.

Is there no way to get him off the stage? I enthusiastically offer my time and services to collect from private sources whatever remains to be paid him in salary by the taxpayers through January 20, 2009 (and throw in the cost of a one-way Greyhound ticket to Crawford). It is time for this long national nightmare to be over.

Clinton-Obama Bizarro World

I thought I was in a Jerry Seinfeld Bizarro World episode as I watched first Hillary Clinton's celebration of her successful West Virginia primary win followed the next night by Barack Obama's rally in Grand Rapids, MI when John Edwards endorsed him. In West Virginia, Hillary had about 300 paid staff, rabid volunteers and assorted sychophants gathered round a small stage as she all but announced she would be moving to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave next January. (Terry MacAuliffe had promoted the speech as "the greatest ever" and afterward Chris Matthews teased him by asking Terry to quote the most "Churchillian" line in it. MacAuliffe ignored that one.)

The next night, Obama, already leading in delegate counts and virtually certain to be the nominee, introduced John Edwards to at least 20,000 people in a packed arena. They were nearly delirious as Edwards stepped to the microphone, talked about tearing down the wall that divides Washington from the rest of America and, indeed, the world. His eloquence far exceeded the poor effort of Hillary the night before.

What a contrast! It was bizarre!

Hillary remains in her own world...well, Bizzaro World. Obama should remain alert. He could be about to enter a parallel universe. After his swearing in next January, it's just possible that President Obama will drive up to the White House only to be greeted by Hillary: "Welcome to the White House, Mr. Obama. I'll be with you in a moment. I'm signing a couple of executive orders right now. Would you like a souvenir pen when I'm finished?"

Sleepwalking Into A Nightmare

Few readers thought they would hear me admit there was anything on which Newt Gingrich and I agree, but today I find myself agreeing with words the former Speaker recently wrote to his party faithful, and posted on his website. One could almost feel his pain as an exasperated Newt wrote, “We are sleepwalking into a nightmare." I agree.

At least, I agree the REPUBLICANS are sleepwalking into an election year nightmare. The rest of us are quite awake and preparing for a new day when a Democratic President will be sworn in and begin to govern by seeking a genuine consensus on the major challenges that confront the nation. Fully 82 percent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track. Yes, a nightmare awaits the Republicans in November.

[And yet they persist in asserting that “Obama can’t win.” Really??]

But I digress.

Newt continues: "Republicans are isolated and trying to defend incompetence." He writes the Democrats are isolated, too, that they want peace but don't want to face the reality of fighting for it. Not true, of course. Bob Dole once said, "Democrats got us into more wars in the past 100 years than Republicans." If Dole means Democrats know how to go to war, that would be true, but they do so only when it is necessary. And that is the difference.

Newt is right when he points to the danger of terrorists or terrorist states gaining access to nuclear weapons. He says, "We are in a real war." I agree, but Iraq is not the place it should be fought.

The biggest danger to America and its allies in the world is instability in the region where nuclear weapons already exist in large numbers – Pakistan. Terrorists living freely in Pakistan AND nuclear weapons in abundance in Pakistan is a recipe for disaster. Newt understands this. And I agree with him.

Now if he would only encourage Republican candidates for federal office to READ the US Constitution again, and this time, read for a better understanding of the balance of powers doctrine contained therein, the parties might be able to come together to govern in the mutually accepted best interests of all.

Lest We Forget

Most people, anxious to make a change in Washington this year, will tell you they are upset about the ill-considered war in Iraq. Many will quickly follow up with examples of other events/decisions they would change if they could. My personal list would include these:

I hope we never forget the day the bridges collapsed in Minnesota, reminding us that the Bush administration would not support spending dollars from the Highway Trust Fund to repair and maintain our federal highway infrastructure.

I hope we never forget the day the Bush appointed head of the Consumer Products Safety Commission shrugged as she testified before Congress, confessing she could not remember whether or not the Commission had recalled a single toy made in China that was unsafe for our children.

I hope we never forget the near misses by aircraft at Reagan National Airport, and the fact that the FAA does not have the money to install current state of the art systems to keep planes from colliding on taxiways because the Administration does not support such spending.

I hope we never forget when USDA announced the biggest meat recall in US history, partially because they cannot afford enough meat inspectors to do one of the basic jobs Americans expect from their government.

I hope we never forget that FDA permitted unsafe drugs to enter the prescription drug market because of lax oversight, and because the FDA cannot afford the experts needed for proper testing in a timely manner.

I hope we never forget the inept reaction of FEMA to the catastrophic damage to the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

And then there were little things that seldom made the evening news programs. I hope we never forget that $500 million in federal support for development of a clean coal-fired electric generation project was withdrawn because such spending would add even more dollars to an already bursting federal deficit, even though such spending might result in cleaner more breathable air for all.

These are but a sampling from a very long list. There are many more from nearly every agency and department of our government where, over the past seven and one-half years, budgets have been slashed, staffs have been cut and the delivery of services American taxpayers depend on has suffered.

Government is not inherently bad. We should not let candidates (or elected leaders) get away with insinuating such and impugning the integrity of federal employees who are drawn to government service by the high ideal of serving the public good. A government as large as ours is essential if we are to provide the protection to the homeland we expect and the domestic services the people deserve and have paid for.

Can government be made more efficient? Sure – and we should all work toward making it so. But when leaders promise to cut your taxes and insist on increasing spending, they do not serve you, they insult you with their fiscal sleight of hand designed to simply pass the bills to your children and grandchildren. We will strengthen our republic when we go to the polls this fall remembering the failings of the current administration and determined not to forget what it did to our country these past eight years.

Monday Morning Potpourri

While visiting a Republican friend (yes, I have many) in his office recently, he proudly displayed a complete leather-bound set of speeches by President George W. Bush from 2002-2005. As he turned the pages and talked about the set, I thought “If I owned these, I wouldn’t have to buy kindling wood for five years.”

My Republican friends sometimes ask me “Why do you hate Bush so?” My answer is “I don’t hate him; I’m sorry for him. But I do not like what he has done to our country.” Obviously, by the size of the turnout in the Democratic primaries this year, I’m not the only one who feels that way.

---

I bought a Toyota Camry Hybrid exactly one year ago. On a recent weekend trip to visit our daughter in Charlotte, the Camry got 38.8 mpg from Washington to Charlotte and the return trip saw us achieve 40.8 mpg. Needless to say we are extremely happy with hybrid technology. I have to admit it takes some adjustment at first to accept the switching from electric to gas and back again. The first time the car “died” at a traffic light, mild panic set in until I realized the gasoline engine had cut off and the electric engine was so quiet I could not tell it was on. So, bring on the fuel cells and PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) and other alternatives to oil. Developing such technologies over here is better than going overseas to fight oil rich dictators who face us with weapons bought with our oil money. And what better way to reassert America’s economic leadership on the international stage.

Under the Dome

Under the Capitol dome yesterday, the excitement in the air was palpable. A special visitor was in the building. Members of Congress, media, and tourists competed for a closer look…and perhaps an opportunity to shake his hand or obtain his autograph. But it wasn’t Bono; it was Obama. Barack Obama, the tall, young Senator from Illinois, fresh off the campaign trail, exuded the quiet confidence of one who possesses a virtual lock on the Democratic nomination to be the next President of the United States.

A Gallup poll released yesterday showed our current President with an approval rating of just 28 percent. Is it any wonder the people are restless to make a change? Citizens sense in Barack Obama a leader dedicated to lifting up America – rebuilding alliances with our international partners, talking with adversaries, restoring America’s credibility abroad, returning fiscal integrity to the federal budget process, reaching across the aisle to partner with political opponents to solve America’s most pressing problems – in short, to govern, as the people have a right to expect their elected leaders to do.

(To govern? Hmmmm...what a novel idea?)

20,000 people in Houston, 35,000 more at a rally in Philadelphia. It’s a scene repeated in every state where he has campaigned. The excitement that follows Obama reflects an impatience for the better days that lie ahead for our republic.

The Limburger Effect

I don't understand how Rush Limburger can claim his "Operation Chaos" was a success. He instructed his followers to walk like sheep into Indiana voting booths and vote for Hillary Clinton to increase her chances of winning by a margin big enough to impose "chaos" on the Democratic selection process. If it was such a big success, why did she win by just 15,000 votes? If it was such a big success, why didn't she win by 500,000 votes...or even 100,000 votes? Geesh, she almost lost! What about that, Rush?

All of us know the truth. And the truth is this: Rush is afraid of an Obama win. He knows thinking Republicans are giving Obama a close look and many seem likely to support him in November. As MSNBC reported, exit polling of Republicans who voted Tuesday in Indiana showed 58 percent of them think Obama can beat John McCain in the fall.

Another Republican Party leader told me that when they can't find their volunteers in a given state, they have only to look to an Obama rally...and there they are!

No, Limburger knows what we all know, that America is ready for change and if the change is Obama, there is likely to be real change in Washington. And that type of change -- real, productive, positive change that solves problems, restores American integrity and credibility across a broad range of issues doesn't sit well with Rush and his minions.

This democracy thing is inconvenient, isn't it, Rush?

Is it over? Souvenir shops say so.

While walking through Union Station yesterday, I passed a souvenir shop loaded with all sorts of presidential campaign memorabilia. The Hillary Clinton items already had been marked down 50 percent. The trinket market has spoken. It IS over. But she is within her right to stay in until the bitter end. This IS a great country.

Too Late, Newt

By now, you may have read media accounts of Newt Gingrich's recent strategy letter to House Republicans. In it, he calls for "real change to avoid a real disaster." Sorry, Newt, too late.

Newt is calling for "real change in legislative, communications, and campaign strategy and involves immediate, real action, including a complete overhaul of the Congressional Campaign Committee." Too late, Newt.

John Boehner, Republican leader from Ohio, added his two cents: "Republicans can only succeed this year by being agents of change and reform. The American people know that Washington is broken, and we have to convince them that we can fix it."

Too late, John. The American people have your number. We've seen the money laundering of Tom DeLay. We've seen the Bush Administration's reckless disregard for the US Constitution. We've seen your profligate spending in everything from misadventures overseas to earmarking special projects for your friends here at home. We've seen your spending up close and it is not pretty. Not even liberal Democrats, your favorite whipping boy, spend money the way you guys have spent it for the past seven years. You are not Republicans. Barry Goldwater wouldn't know you. You might best be described as the GOOP Party (Grand Old Opportunists Party) for that is mostly the course you have taken.

On one thing we do agree, there has been a "catastrophic collapse of trust in Republicans" as Newt has correctly noted, and in the end, that will be the problem that will keep John McCain from winning in November.

Take the Dog to the Vet

It is, indeed, over for Hillary Rodham Clinton. We are at the stage where it is time to decide who will take the family dog to the vet. It would be prudent for that decision to be made sooner rather than later.

Carolina Dreamin'

I just returned from a weekend trip to North Carolina. With all that is at stake, I found voters surprisingly calm. Most of the yard signs were for local candidates, not the two presidential contenders. TV reports were mostly about Bill Clinton sitting in church Sunday with Rep. Heath Shuler, one of the superdelegates. I think Bill Clinton hit every media market in the state Sunday and Monday. The former President is absolutely indefatigable.

Monday, as I was in line at a Charlotte coffee shop, a Republican, standing in front of me, turned, saw my Obama sticker and lit into me. He was quick to tell me he was unhappy with all the candidates and was not going to vote for anyone this year. He is convinced Washington is the "root of all our problems." Here's what I told him:

I'm so sorry you feel that way. Washington is, of course, some of the problem, some of the time. But when it is a problem, the people have the right, indeed, the obligation to correct it. THE PEOPLE ARE IN CHARGE. If you want to point the finger of blame somewhere, be sure to include yourself and anyone else you know who does not take the time to learn enough about the candidates to vote for the best person for these times. These are sad days for America, to be sure, but they will be sadder still if the people abdicate their responsibility and don't vote.

He listened politely (everyone is polite in North Carolina) then walked away muttering something about hoping Lou Dobbs would run as a third party candidate!

The Many Bush Records

Yesterday, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey revealed 71 percent of the American people disapprove of the way President Bush is handling his job. It’s a new record disapproval rating for a modern President. His record even surpassed the high disapproval ratings of presidents Truman and Nixon. I started thinking about the other records President George W. Bush already holds…and there are many:

Record Debt

The current national debt under the Bush administration is a whopping $9.5 trillion. Interest payments on the national debt exceed $406 billion annually. That’s debt of $31,000 for every man, woman and child in America!

Record Annual Spending

$3.10 trillion in proposed federal spending for FY ‘09. Barry Goldwater would not recognize his party today. As Newt Gingrich recently said, the movement he started has been “run off the rails.”

Record Spending on Nation Building

The war in Iraq is estimated to have already cost taxpayers $550 billion in outlays. The Bush-Cheney pre-emptive strike policy (a first for our nation) led us to the Iraq debacle that continues to drain our nation of its human and financial resources. Some estimates put the total costs for Afghanistan and Iraq adventures at more than $1 trillion.

Record price per gallon for gasoline

$3.62 per gallon is the current national average for the price of regular gas according to AAA. The price of crude oil is at a new record, too, currently $120 per barrel. This is, indeed, quite a record when you consider the price of crude was just $15 per barrel in 1998!

Record miscalculation in cost of Rx drug benefit for seniors under Medicare

Originally $400 billion but the cost increased to $720 billion by ‘06, and is now over $1 trillion, according to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Record cuts in Medicaid

The Bush administration proposed a cut of $60 billion in Medicaid for FY ‘06 – and later revised the proposal to a cut of $13 billion over next five years. This remains a record for cuts in the nation’s largest health insurance program.

Record loss of health insurance

The number of Americans who lost their health insurance since January 2001 is estimated to be 8.2 million.

Record setting cost proposed for privatizing Social Security

$3 trillion and rising for privatizing Social Security. Republican members of Congress did not wish to share this record so they refused to pass it.

Record “reshuffling of chairs on the deck” of the good ship Bush

As Hurricanes Katrina and Rita proved so tragically, the Department of Homeland Security, established after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, has not improved our government’s ability to respond to national emergencies. Nor has DHS, in the minds of most observers, made America safer from terrorist attack. That perception will not be made crystal clear to all Americans until the next attack. And there will be one according to Vice President Dick Cheney. “It’s just a matter of time.”

Good luck to the next President, indeed, to all of us and our children as we struggle to correct the mistakes of this administration. The Bush administration weakened the American presidency with ineptness, undermined the economy with profligate spending, and threatened our national security by creating new enemies abroad through the pursuit of reckless and ill conceived foreign policies.

That Flag Pin

As a resident of the DC area for the past 36 years, I have seen Members of Congress come and go. I always enjoy meeting them. Most come with the highest ideals of public service and do a good job. Something changed with the arrival of the Bush administration and the new Republicans who accompanied them in the House and Senate. In early 2001, I met one of the new congressmen when he visited our church. I introduced myself during the coffee hour following the service, and innocently asked, “Are you – Democrat or Republican?” He glared at me for a moment, grabbed his lapel and while shaking the pin in his lapel in my face, said, “Why, a Republican, of course! Can't you see my flag?”

His flag? I thought it belonged to all of us. No wonder Barack Obama doesn't wear one. He has this crazy idea that the flag and all it stands for belongs to all of us, not just one political party.

Five Years Ago Today

As Bush 43 sauntered up to the microphone on the deck of the USS Lincoln, sniffed the air out of the side of his nose, and cast that “I’m so proud of myself” eye around the gathered sailors, one could almost taste an impending public relations disaster.

When he said “the United States and our allies have prevailed” in the war in Iraq, I immediately called to my wife who was in the next room. “Come here, quickly. You have to see this!” She ran into the room wondering why she had to drop everything and come. “It is not often one gets to see a major political figure – not to mention the leader of the free world – make a huge political mistake live and in living color on national television," I explained.

We both watched in rapt attention…..but as he finished I had a terrible sense of sadness. Anyone with a modicum of understanding of the history of the Middle East knew the President – our President – was wrong, that plenty of long hard days lay ahead for our troops and our nation. No one could imagine it would last this long. May 1, 2003 was a sad day for America. But so is today.