I don’t know why, considering that the party always makes me feel like an extreme outsider, but I thought I’d look in on the Republican Convention. I tuned in just as Clint Eastwood was doing what seemed like a Comedy Club routine, acting like he was listening to an imaginary Barack Obama who was badmouthing Mitt Romney. We were to guess what the Prez said via Clint responding: “He can’t do that to himself. You’re absolutely crazy!” Well, you saw it.
Later, after the chuckling was done, Marco Rubio tried to rally the Latino vote but Latinos I know I’m sure were going “Chale! Hell, no!” Rubio is quite the hombre, though. But the dude he introduced? Mitt Romney, the man with a Five Point Plan which he zipped through while I was still trying to understand who let Dirty Harry get out of hand up on the stand?
I do recall hearing the man say something about budget cuts and tax cuts and how he’d like to spend the bucks. And that got me leaning forward because this man is always rapping about how the rut the nation is in is because of runaway spending – but yet he wants America to continue as the world’s “lone superpower” with China, I’m sure going: “Yeah, right. Like Clint Eastwood is a match for Jackie Chan – or Charlie Chan.”
But, fantasy aside, you can’t maintain superpower status without opening up the money vaults and getting out of the money’s way because the dough is definitely going to run away. Romney should know that. He might have been a mere lad when we were walking tall and carrying a big stick in Korea in what was called a “police action” instead of the war it was. Cost a pretty penny. And he was probably bullying classmates in high school and didn’t sense all that rage in Vietnam, all that defoliating and other forms of mayhem and the bill for that madness was quite a sum. And we got our superpower tag reduced down a bit as we tried to defend agent orange.
But the bearer of republican hopes for the presidency was very much a grownup when the U.S. set about mining the harbors in Nicaragua and playing hanky panky with drugs and arms in El Salvador and stomping on a bunch of Panamanians as we chased and put the cuffs on our pimp, Manuel Noriega, who outgrew his britches and “freeing” medical students in Grenada who weren’t in danger until the GI’s arrived and covering Desert Storm live – these were not bargain aisle events.
And then we, the superpower, woke up one morning to planes crashing into the centers of our economic and military power, piloted by dank and dark thinking people who sought 72 virgins in the next life.
And the next thing we knew many of our teenage kids, who had recently graduated from high school and heeded Uncle Sam’s call, thinking they were going to learn a trade or earn money for college, were fighting in Afghanistan in a what, if anything, should have been a SWAT like operation, “police action,” if you will, and before we could take in a deep breath we had to drop our jaw while our military launched another illegal war in Iraq, like the one in Afghanistan, called Shock and Awe. And now, like children flying kites in a park near their home we’re fighting our wars with drones – and innocent people die in Pakistan.
And the man who would be Commander-in-Chief didn’t mention any of this in his speech. Superpower thinking has no regard for how man treats man.
Oh, we can scream “No more taxes” to the top of our lungs but this insanity costs trillions upon trillions of dollars. It’s the single reason why we’re broke. And a man who can ignore such insanity wants us to “walk together to a better future?” What could possibly be better about it?
Hey, in this world there’s unfortunately a need for some gun toting warriors and warships and fighter planes and armored tanks but we’ve got all we need along with beaucoup WMD’s to maintain our security; we just need to talk less trash and walk less stompingly and entertain life affirming ideals such as: making gay people full citizens; tending to our pregnant teens; considering how to decriminalize the drinking and drug abuse that stems from the stifling feeling of hopelessness so many of our citizens suffer; seeking ways to acknowledge and face the reality that sexism and racism still prevent us, despite the rich diversity in cultures and races in our midst, from becoming the loving nation we need to become – our anti-Latino sentiments are just downright shameful; questioning why erecting prisons is a growth industry and why overwhelming numbers of black and brown folks are prominent among the clientele; feeding the millions of children who go to bed hungry every night…
And nothing would give birth to hope in our country more than facilitating learning experiences for our children in our schools that encourages them to think critically so that they can find ways to stop the wars and end the apathy towards building a better world that plagues our nation.
Oh, I’m talking about Soul Power. The power of a people who think with a conscience, with an understanding that the whole world has a planet to save and the more together we are in spirit the better chance we have of saving it. With Soul Power we would truly “walk together to a better future.”
Well, our descendants would. And that’s what we want, right?
Note: Mitt Romney would not be the man to initiate such thinking as I’ve laid out here. That should be crystal clear.
Katherine says
You said it, Ernie. I am afraid romney does fool a lot of the people all the time.
did you see that even fox news said the vp lied in his acceptance speech?
i didn’t think i’d live long enough for fox to uncover a lying republican.
keep praying that obama gets in again. i fear for all of us (except that 1%) if he doesn’t.
k
Ernie McCray says
Well, if they keep talking to chairs, there shouldn’t be a problem (smile).
john says
It’s a given that Romney is “painfully” white, (though not on the scale of the patron saint, Martin Mull) with absolutely no appeal to voters of color of any shade-for both political and cultural reasons. There is little in his platform to appeal to white voters who don’t base their own on religion or letting the reins go on corporate misdeeds, other than perhaps disdain for Obama, whether it be legitimate concerns over his record or silly things like birth certificates or even the color of his skin.
There is a small camp who would pick Romney for none of the above reasons but only because he’s not a democrat. I can’t call myself one of those, having voted for Clinton in ’92.
So I can’t criticize Ernie for this article, seeing no reason why he should even be considering voting for Romney, and the reasons are far more tangible than whether Romney has “Soul” or not.
In the context though that I’m probably going to sit this one out or write my own name on the ticket in November, I’d be curious to know what he could relate about what “hope” and “change” we’ve experienced in the last 3 1/2 years, and that a vote for Obama isn’t just a vote against Mitt Romney.
It’s not hard to make a case that he’s a big loser. If it’s even possible the GOP ticket is less appealing than McCain/Palin this year. Nothing creates voter apathy faster, however, than the choice of “anybody but _____”.
I voted for Obama in ’08 FWIW. I think he’s under performed.
Ernie McCray says
I’m voting for Obama because I still hold to the “Yes We Can” spirit. I wouldn’t begin to know how to say that he, with the world, itself, in deep trouble beyond economic woes when he took office, under performed as we’re into a whole new era of humankind as the world teeters from neglect from its citizens and we need new ways to measure progress. I am heartened that under Obama’s watch gays have gained more freedom and recognition as “human beings,” people who weren’t are now insured, there’s talk of the wars ending although talk is, indeed, cheap, republicans have shown through their devotion to making the man a one term president, that they aren’t that concerned about the overall welfare of the world beyond how their “own kind” fare and Dirty Harry is silly nilly and made my day the other day.
john says
That’s actually a very substantive response, nothing to find quarrel with there.
I think what struck me about your article is though as usual it was well composed, the subject matter seems all too easy. Mitt Romney, to me, has nothing to offer unless I cared about denying a woman’s right to elective medical procedures (I’m sure “pro-lifers” would be enraged at that terminology), enforcing puritan morals on everyone, or plundering what’s left of America’s assets. Perhaps between now and November we will see a piece from you on what those of us on the fence or sitting it out might benefit from another term of Barrack Obama in the White House, other than the natural instinct to deny yet another GOP corporate crony with phony bible thumping principles?
Ernie McCray says
Hey, good idea. Let me play with that. Meanwhile, enjoy the rest of an incredibly beautiful day – among so many, huh?
Ernie McCray says
I say we listen to the man.
Jerry Wallingford says
An often overlooked reason to vote for Obama involves appointments to the Supreme Court. The next president will likely appoint two, replacing justices Ginsberg and Kennedy. Ginsberg always votes with the so-called liberal wing, while Kennedy is a swing vote. If either of them is replaced by a hard core right winger, we are guaranteed a hard right court for the next twenty years. That could hurt a lot of people, particularly women, minorities and LGBT. It would mean no chance of reversing or mitigating Citizens United. Any progressive person thinking about sitting this one out should rethink their position and get to the polls to protect the Supreme Court.
john says
Jerry pat yourself on the back for an all too rare accomplishment: I think you just changed someone’s mind by arguing on the internet. The powerful influence of the SCOTUS is generally recognized to be the most significant legacy of a President, that had slipped my mind. As the GOP’s most repulsive trait to me is their consistent efforts to use often hypocritical or downright fraudulent faith to legislate, that may be the thing that matters most. We just don’t think of it because the effects take so long to assess.
John Lawrence says
When Rip Nomney, as Paul Ryan called him, talks about lowering taxes, he is talking about lowering them for the rich, and actually Republicans while lowering taxes on the rich have raised them on the poor and middle class over the years. It’s important to ask which people are having their taxes raised or lowered. It’s not a monolithic issue.
Shirley Sprinkles says
In the “Microwave” world we live in, many Americans think that turning around an economy like the one President Obama inherited can and shoulda’ been done in the scant 4 years that he’s been in office. Are you kidding me? This has been like turning a cruise ship around in a canal without touching the banks (no pun intended)! We have lost the word “patience” from our vocabulary. Considering all that Obama DID accomplish–the scope of it was phenomenal for a new president. First he had to plant the orchard–now he can go back and pick the cherries that he’s been watering and fertilizing. Can’t we just wait a few more months to see this pie come out of the oven? I sure can!! He’s my guy, and I’m sticking with him!
Ernie McCray says
I’m with you.