Well, the weather was so beautiful today that I decided to take the blog outside and enjoy a little sunshine. Wait a minute. Who's that over there sitting on that park bench? Why it's Barak Obama. Let's go over and find out what's happening with the Democratic frontrunner.
"Hey 'O', how's it going?"
"Good. Pretty damn good, to tell you the truth. Beautiful day, isn't it?"
"Yeah. I bought a sandwich over at the deli and, you know, it was so nice out that I figured I'd go outside and eat it. You want half?"
"What kind you got?"
"Tuna, on a french roll."
"Yeah, I'll take half of that. Have a seat."
"Thanks. Say, what are you doing in California anyway? Shouldn't you be in Wisconsin campaigning or something?"
"Man, it's 11 degrees in Milwaukee. If it's all the same to you I'd rather be out here in California, you know what I mean?"
"Got that right."
"Besides, I was hoping I'd run into you. You write that blog, don't you?"
"Yeah I've got a blog but I didn't know you read it."
"Oh yeah. I read it all the time. It's great. Sort of perceptive, penetratingly insightful, and yet incredibly stupid all at the same time. I love it."
"Well, variety is the spice of life."
"That's what they say. Hey this sandwich is good. You got anything to wash it down with?"
"Nah. I could go back to the deli and pick up a couple of soda's if you'd like."
"No, that's alright. I'm fine."
"How's the campaign going? You seem to have Hillary on the ropes."
"You think so? I'm not so sure. I'm not polling well in Texas and Ohio."
"Is that right. Hmm. No offense to Hillary, mind you, but she doesn't seem that presidential to me. She seems more like a policy wonk than a leader, you know what I mean. People want someone to follow, not just a bunch of graphs and numbers. Not that I've got anything against her, but for some reason she just doesn't inspire me."
"So does that mean you're going to vote for me?"
"You haven't got the nomination yet, 'O'. Ask me again after Denver."
"Then let's say I do get the nomination?"
"Geez, I don't know. I mean I gotta be honest and...um...let me put it this way. For a guy who talks about all the things he's gonna do, you sure don't seem to have done much. I mean it's probably a good thing that you don't have much of a record to be held accountable for, but still...well...you don't have much of a record."
"I voted against the war, didn't I?
(pause)
"Let me ask you something. Do you honestly believe that you're gonna change Washington? I hear you say it all the time, but do you seriously believe that?"
"Sure I do. I'm gonna stand up to the special interests and ..."
"Do you seriously think that the special interests, the real king makers and powerbrokers in Washington, are worried about what's gonna happen to them if Obama comes to town. Do you think they're telling themselves 'Uh-oh, Obama's in charge now. We better straighten up our act or else he's gonna run us out of town.'"
"I think they're going to find out pretty quick that the days of 'business as usual' are over."
"Right."
"We're gonna have full disclosure when I get elected. The American people deserve to know who's paying what to who, and then we'll just let the cards fall where they may."
"And you know what we're going to find out? We're going to find out that the money goes everywhere, and that everyone's got their hand in the cookie jar. What will that prove?"
"Don't be so cynical, D.C. It's time for change in America, and I'm ready for the challenge."
"Oh I see. This is sort of like 'Destry Rides Again', isn't it. Only this isn't the movies and you aren't Jimmy Stewart."
"Give me your vote and we'll see what happens."
"Nah, even if I believed you could change things I could never vote for you."
"Why not?"
"It's the war. For the life of me I can't see what we gain by abandoning Iraq, especially now that we're finally starting to turn the corner. "
"America was mislead. We have no business being in Iraq. The American people know that, and I know that. The best thing for us to do is get our troops out of there and stop making a bad situation worse."
"But it's getting better."
"Our war is with the terrorists, not the Iraqi's. Everyone knows that?"
"That's not the point. You know General Meade's war wasn't with the state of Pennsylvania, and I'm sure he would have rather fought his battle at the gates of Richmond than up in the Pennsylvania farm country. Unfortunately, at that moment the enemy happened to be at Gettysburg and so that's where the battle had to be. It seems to me the height of arrogance that Americans think we can just start and stop wars at our leisure, and then be so cavalier as to cover our defeats with the excuse that we did not lose, we just chose not to further engage."
"That's not what this is about."
"Tell me something.When this is all over, we aren't going to tun on our TV's and see Iraqis crowding the gates of the Embassy as the last Americans are helicoptered out of Baghdad, are we?"
"Our withdrawal from Iraq is not going to be the end of our commitment to defeat the terrorists and to bring their leaders to justice."
"Are we going to invade Pakistan?"
"Don't go there."
"Let's say we pull out of Iraq and the enemy then feels free to disengage and turn their attention up north, and let's say we start to see a wave of terrorist attacks in Afghanistan with thousands killed and American troops under fire. Will we then follow the pattern we established in Iraq and withdraw from Afghanistan as well? Would the enemy expect anything less of us?"
"You're overreacting to the situation, DC. I'm not going to engage in wild hypotheticals with you except to say that our commitment to the Afghan people is firm."
"Yeah, ok, but I'm sticking with McCain. I think he knows what's at stake here."
"And are you prepared to fight a hundred years war?"
"The Mideast is too volatile. Things will get resolved one way or another before that ever happens. McCain is the adult here. He knows that if you're stupid enough to get yourself into a war, then you're committed to see it all the way through. You don't get to take a Mulligan."
"Well, thank God most Americans don't feel that way. America wants out, D.C., and I do too."
"That's ok 'O'. You seem like a sincere guy. A little wet behind the ears, but sincere. And I think it'd be great if you really do change Washington, but don't give up too easily if you happen to get bloodied up a bit, huh."
"You know I won't."
"Do I?"
"
No comments:
Post a Comment