|
Let's put the political red herrings to bed. Bush isn't a Nazi, he's the Republican President. Cheney's not a vampire, he's the Republican Vice President. Dean isn't a liberal Satan, he's the Chair of the Democratic National Committee. Kerry's not a whipping boy for Viet Nam, he's a Democratic Senator who is a Vet, and that all time fave red herring, Moore...Moore's a movie maker, for crying out loud. Are we all OK with that? Democrats and Republicans both want government to do a good job. We both think it matters. While we may have widely divergent ideas on the role of government, especially at the federal level, I think we agree that competency counts.
And that's my point. In the last few years, we have seen our budget surplus implode to a record deficit, become mired in a war that has cost thousands of lives for an increasingly unclear agenda, lost thousands of jobs due to "outsourcing", seen health care costs go through the roof, watched Social Security played like a political soccer ball, and scandal become a routine fact of political life. And, we have lost a city. Somehow, this seems the most unkindest cut of all, after all the rhetoric, to see New Orleans crippled by a hurricane but lost to sheer incompetence. Republicans can win elections, but they sure can't run a government.
|