I promised Anglofille I would stop the pepper games. But as to Saddam: In the states we call this a lynching. Our little state had a judically aproved lynching in 1845. When the people came to their senses they abolished the death penalty. I think we were the first state to do so, but don’t hold me to that.

If in doubt, don’t do it. Great advice. In the right time and the right place it will win you the Nobel Peace Prize.

A red neck friend of mine, in a bar in far southern Ohio, on the night Jimmy Carter wraped up the nomination said to me, apropos of nothing: “The World doesn’t want to be saved.” Then his boob friend
Steve, a nice guy actually, but dumb as a box of rocks asked why there was no Confederate Flag over the bar?

My redneck friend looks at him and says, because you are in Ohio.

Clinton was too slow and Bush was too quick, I kind of liked it when Clinton cruise missile’d an aspirin factory, in the Sudan, if you are going to send a message, making it understandable is not strictly necessary.

In Bosnia, Clinton had a ’self-help’ message for the Bosnian Muslims, it was hugely embarrassing, it cost a billion to send anti-tank aviation to the region only to move it back, because there were fears the technology might be crap.

My solution for Saddam Hussein was to kill Saddam Hussein,

it was illegal, as a concept, but no more so than the sectarian tableau of his eventual execution.

My advice for Ciscaucasia or Transcaucasia in Asia, Anatolia, or Mesopotamia, is don’t lose,

the USA has a reputation for extravagant dabbling, over a century, which has alienated everybody.

US citizens, intoxicated by their splendid fleets, may find it difficult to accept,

that the USA was widely viewed as a ‘loser’ in the regions I refer to, and long before Vietnam.

The French are also viewed as a bit weak-kneed, it takes visions that are delivered, and which last, to impress.

(the Brits are non-entities)

Let Russia do what Russia does, and if in doubt, don’t do it.

I would like for the world to be different. But considering the way the world really is, having Barack Obama leading the nation looks pretty good for now. It could have turned out much worse — John McCain elected and that very attractive Hooters waitress (Ken’s term) around whom courses an ever-rolling stream of violence and lies. Think the commentary on Michelle Obama is trivializing and unpleasant? The coverage for Sarah Palin would have been so much worse: Slavering family photo-ops, condescension, and right-wing “She’s the real America!” nonsense. Coverage of Michelle O has been more neutral. After six months, we’ll see.

Since we are talking about appearances…did anyone notice that Bill Clinton walked through the Inauguration ceremony as though he were being escorted to the gallows? I think in the end he was a liability to his wife. People look at him and sense trouble. Everyone likes Bill, they just don’t want him back in the White House. He projected his desire to return there too nakedly and made HIllary’s aspirations come second to that need. Not very encouraging for a woman/feminist candidate — and something to be assessed in her noble failure to land the presidency.

With all due respect this argument is at odds with real American history. Presidents taking office at the regular time have always been sworn in in public and given their speeches right after. The parties and all the other hoopla are traditional. And how do you propose to tell 2 million people they can’t come to DC for the inaugural? And do you propose to pretend they aren’t there, with their bowels and bladders on the verge of bursting once they are there. Not to mention keeping things orderly and moving?

I prefer to spend my outage at sexism at the kinds of real life abuse and opression of girls and women (and boys and men for that matter) I’ve really seen for myself. Can’t get worked up about silly commmentary about Mrs. Obama’s clothing choices. She’s an experienced member of the bar who is probably calculating every effect she is making.

Obama does have a huge mess on his hands, I agree. I hope he succeeds. Of course I do. But he desperately wanted this job and now he’s got it. So work your magic, Obama. He doesn’t need a pat on the back from me. I don’t have to give him a chance. I don’t have to give him one damn thing besides my tax dollars. That’s enough.

2. Hillary ran a terrible campaign. She surrounded herself with terrible people. She had no clue what these people were doing. They didn’t even know the delegate selections rules because they thought they were above that. Although I will be the first to say she ended her campaign with dignity and class–she deserved to lose.

3. Obama is a real smart tough guy. Not a fake tough guy–the real deal. I’d like to see you in a game with five card stud poker with him, but I’d fear for the way you’d walk out of there quite dazed by the experience.

4. He’s our president. He’s got a huge mess. We (and by that I mean me, most of family, and about 53% of the rest of the country voted for him) He gave us about as close to no bullshit speech I think and incoming president can give . Give the SOB a chance please. If you are from this country and care about about our collective future, you owe it to us to give him his chance.

I never tune out the voice of common sense. And Caroline, you have a ton to spare. You get the joke. And yeah, the fact that I have spent my entire life among actual living and breathing pols does give my opinion a standing and a grounding that those of you who never stuffed and envelope, or never circulated a petition, or made a canvassing call, or a lit drop, or managed a crazy old Jew into the governorship of an American state (the most Catholic state in the country!) a credibility you can never match.

By the way, one of my most prized possessions is a photo of my boss, then the future governor, in a one on one meeting with President John F. Kennedy. We made prints for commericials 20 years ago, and I had an extra plint struck for me. Brucie actually saw it and approved–he thought that it was just fine I was admiring hin AND JFK.

No offense meant to you, Splice Girl. I am sure you are a fine human being. But Moon Unit Zappa milked all the juice out of this act by the middle of the Reagan Administration. Inaugurations, as Caroline, the hometown DC girl can tell you, have been like this forever. This is the first time 2 million people have descended on DC for the party.

They were much more behaved than the folks who came to Andrew Jackson’s inauguaral, on March 4, 1829.

Today Obama is freezing his employees’ salaries and telling them that they must be open to ethical investigations and the Freedom of Information Act. Something Bush would never do.

Sorry Splice Girl thinks I and others are boring and that our comments should be moderated. That’s up to Anglofille.