a peace prize for a war president

the line i've been waiting for

i've been waiting for a presidency-defining line since the inauguration, but really haven't been impressed with the material thus far. then came this ditty from the health care address -

"we did not come to fear the future. we came to shape it."

and there it is!

ah, the irony of it all

picture the scene - while crossing the bay bridge on the way back from rehoboth, we were driving behind a big, gas guzzling american-made pickup with a bumper sticker that read -

"i'll keep my gun, my money, my faith and my freedom and you can keep the change"

"keep the change" has become the rallying cry against everything obama - everything that this person, and those like him, believe represents big government and socialism. that got me thinking - so this guy doesn't want government intervention, yet he was speeding across a publicly funded bridge, in his truck that wouldn't exist save a government bailout of the company that produced it; a truck that needs heavily subsidized gasoline to run?

yep, i'll keep the change!

will the real barack obama please stand up

i am not ashamed to admit that i love having barack obama as my president. he’s proven himself to be leader that is at the same time articulate and colloquial, politic and humble. he’s even got a sense of humor. and i’ve always been drawn to that humor – until last night.

as you’ve probably heard, obama spent last evening talking policy and yuking it up with jay leno. topics ranged from the economy to the presidential dog – all pretty innocuous. then they started talking about sports and that’s when the president likened his bowling score to that of a person who participates in the special olympics. this exchanged turned out to be such a big deal that it has dominated the coverage of his appearance.

i find this to be REALLY troubling. just so there’s no confusion – the “this” is obama’s instantaneous response to make fun of people with disabilities. it’s so not a joke and it’s so not cool. i think that you can tell a lot about a person based on their gut reactions to a situation. it’s an uncensored, unprepared, and “unspun” response – it’s what’s going through their head and not what someone else has told them to say or what they think someone wants to hear.

now, i’m real clear that obama is just a man and bound to make mistakes (i say things that i regret on a daily basis), but i want consistency. if we truly are living in a post-racial, post-gender, post-sexual orientation … society then that society needs to include people with disabilities and the understanding that, as a valued member of your society, they can no longer be the punch line.

and, it’s not just obama. it’s leno and the audience that laughed, and the media, and even the special olympics, that have seemingly given him a pass. but i guess it’s not all that surprising – the media are still in their honeymoon phase and the kennedy’s run the special olympics.

some of the pundits said that the tonight show appearance will be the first and last for a sitting president because there are just too many opportunities for gaffes like the special olympics quip. that’s too bad. we need to see the relaxed, spontaneous, and, dare i say, real side of our leaders.

**the poster above is from a special olympics-headed new campaign to stop the use of the r-word. it's called "spread the word to stop the word." the effort is targeted towards teens (but don't we all know more than a few adults that would benefit) and launches on march 31. check it out at - www.r-word.org

i've got things to say ...

first, i dare anyone to argue that white men of the elite class are not afforded special privileges. they may be out of the oval office, but they can still ...

... "forget" to pay substantial federal tax bills and still be promoted to positions of the highest authority (don't worry daschle - your boys have your back and you'll be confirmed soon too. they just need to make you sweat a little more since your mistake took you over the $100000 mark.)

... be an emissary for god

second, obama had it right when he called out washingtonians for their inability to deal with even the smallest amounts of winter weather (and for those of you with your panties in a bunch - he was poking fun. looks like you can't take a joke either.) and don't give me the "this is washington, not chicago" argument because you're right - this is washington and in washington it snows EVERY YEAR and every year the same stupid shit happens. here are a few pictures of the debilitating ice storm in case you were wondering ...

and while it looks debilitating, it all actually melted by 10:00 am.

third, we will do pretty much anything to get our cats to stop peeing and spraying - including spending ridiculous amounts of money on two cat trees (had to have one for each so there wouldn't be any rivalry which would then in turn cause a cat to pee and spray) and turning an entire corner of our living room into a kitty playground. (this is one giant step towards becoming grandma pugga!)




and of course, they decided to use just one of them after the novelty wore off.