Yesterday afternoon, summer arrived in Washington, DC, as it does this time every year. It promises to bring with it much oppressive atmospheric conditions not only meteorologically but also politically.
Global warming suggests even more draining circumstances especially in the political realm given the publication and hype surrounding former Vice President Al Gore’s bestselling book, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
What is truly inconvenient is not merely the potential cataclysm that awaits us from an over-heating planet, as bad as that would be, but the heat from hazy haranguing that we must endure with the 2008 presidential election closing in on our rearview mirror.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s announcement – or renouncement - that he is no longer suited for the Republican Party provides a potential 2008 urban cowboy candidate as an answer to the more traditional one we saw in Ross Perot in the 1992 and 1996.
Mr. Bloomberg is saying all the right things. It is management, not mantra, that is needed to cure our ills. It is practicality, not politics, that must guide us. It is working hand-in-hand with all parties in partnership that will bring us success, national unity, and a renewed sense of well-being. Working together will bring us all back together again. Or that is his hope.
We are told that Bloomberg’s bidding appeals to the more moderate components of the electorate versus those anchoring the more ideologically extreme positions from which Republicans and Democrats woo and motivate their ‘base’ to participate in the all-important primary elections. Once the hard-core party faithful choose their anointed one, efforts are made, we are told, to moderate earlier positions to coax the more reasonable among us to hitch our political, economic, and social future to that candidate’s wagon.
Despite the critical issues of the Iraq War, immigration, and economics (government spending v. revenue), it seems doubtful that any legislative fruit will be forthcoming before Congress’s summer recess in August. I fear that too many candidates and party officials are far more focused on their respective futures in 2008 and beyond than on the nation’s problems today.
Many will say that this is an unfair assessment. For some officials, I may be wrong, but I believe that with the overall state of our political affairs today, I am more right than wrong. Would that I were wrong. I can only pray.
So, beware. As the summer heats up, so will the political rhetoric. My advice is to relax, lie low, and stay cool, because all that our leaders will be generating this summer is more heat than light.
Happy summer! I cannot wait for the winter of 2009, after all the dust has settled and our leaders may actually get back to doing the proverbial “people’s work.”
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YETMO: “You’re Entitled To My Opinion,” A Balanced Point of View
"To stimulate thought, debate, and introspection”
Fred W. Apelquist, M.Ed.
Approximately 455 words.
(c) June 22, 2007