After all the primary hoopla settles down it looks like it will be a race between Joe and Don. A lot like the tortoise and the hare. Joe takes it slow and carefully, gets things done without a lot of flash. Less talk, more results. Boring things most don’t even notice, like the S&P up 17% so far this year, inflation down to a manageable 3% or record low unemployment. Holding NATO together. Joe has been in public service, yeah politics, for 50 years. Think that’s easy? Have you ever endured a council meeting? Can you imagine doing that for a career? It takes patience and stamina. He can ride a bike, still.
Don is like the hare, zip here zip there to end up in the same place. Unlike the hare, he makes a lot of noise. More like the Energizer® bunny. Would you hire a babysitter like that? Don has been indicted 71 times, so far, by two different grand juries of regular people and impeached twice. Well, he is good at setting records, but not the kind to be proud of. He is a savant, at getting his name in the news. He preaches violence, “Go ahead and beat them up, I’ll pay your legal bills.” Maybe that is why some violent crimes are up. He can ride an escalator.
American Presidents have not really been an admirable lot. Some have been very good, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt. Some were good at part of the job and failed on other issues, George HW Bush, Jimmy Carter. A lot have been disappointingly mediocre, forgettable Harding, Fillmore. Only three controversial enough to get impeached plus one who resigned to avoid impeachment for “the good of thecountry” (or party).
In choosing a President, do you want one who self-promotes like a used car salesman, or one who quietly gets the things done like a diplomat or surgeon. Bravado or dignity. Joe channels President James Madison the designer of our Constitution. Don praises Putin, a war criminal.
A lot of rhetoric is devoted to the choice of Vice President. A job that VP John Nance Garner said “…wasn’t worth a bucket of warm piss.” Teddy Roosevelt thought being VP the end of his career. Kamala Harris has voted to break a tie a record breaking 31 times. The other prescribed duties of the VP could probably be handled by most middle school teachers, except the part of taking charge if the President is unavailable. Several VPs have had that opportunity; Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Gerry Ford. Fortunately, the bureaucracy (deep state) in place helped them right-the-ship. Unless the President is determined to undermine the work of their predecessors our modern post Marshall-Plan liberal (free) democracy will continue to flourish. Before that Europe was always at war for a thousand years.
Our Constitutional system is so strong it has survived, incompetent presidents, even absent or unconscious, presidents. What we may not survive is egomaniacal presidents who intentionally wreck the system by filling important positions with incompetents and ideologs. Presidents that tear things down instead of fine-tuning the existing. A president who puts his own ambition ahead of the country, or even his party’s principals. We had one who resigned rather than face the charges. Unfortunately, he was given a blanket pardon, so his sins were not adequately investigated. His middle level henchmen went to Club Fed, but his senior advisors stayed in politics and perpetuated his destructive standards.
Our system was conceived 250 years ago by men who included aspirations that they themselves would have to make sacrifices to achieve, some did. We have slowly moved toward the higher standards they envisioned. “All men are created equal with unalienable rights.” We still have a long way to go. The job of the President is primarily to see that the laws be faithfully executed. He, or she can do a lot of other good by setting examples and coaxing the recalcitrant.
Who would you loan your car to, Mr. Rogers, or Vin (Fast and Furious) Diesel?
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com