I'd like to meet someone who was inspired by our President, any American who's now sitting on a fire that wasn't lit long ago.In fact, let's have a show of hands...anyone?
We weren't just watching a "lame duck" last night. Standing alone before the governed, he was The Great and Powerful Oz, the picture of a man whose charade has been exposed.
Over seven years, Pres. Bush willfully squandered his credibility -- and thus his ability to lead -- on a series of propaganda campaigns and flash-bang diversions. The man who shouted into a bullhorn atop the rubble at Ground Zero is gone, replaced by a frightened shadow, a tired fellow who looks like he's suddenly discovered the value of candor and wants desperately to be believed.
Because I'm a citizen and a patriot, all of this saddens me -- but just as candor is overdue, we have no time for sadness.
The "revelation" that our economy is in dire straits isn't news to ordinary Americans. That Congress will pass some form of bailout, over their constituents' objections, is a fait accompli. And it's equally certain that whatever is enacted will be legislative morphine, momentarily dulling our national pain but leaving our injuries untreated.
So in this time of crisis, there's a leadership vacuum in the Oval Office and in the halls of Congress. Lifting our eyes to November, we look for the cavalry, hoping to glimpse a leader on the horizon.
We see two riders, one bringing fresh ideas and an aptitude for leadership, in return for a bag of entitlements and a promise to socialize far more than capitalism -- a bargain that free and independent citizens would be loathe to strike. The other rider brings the comfort of experience, but as he draws closer it becomes clear that he's sitting backward in the saddle, offering the same propagandism as the man he seeks to replace -- witness yesterday's campaign-suspension stunt, not to mention his choice of a running mate.
There are other riders, of course, but we've chosen to ignore them. We've staked our future to either Sen. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama.
Our error lies not in our choice of one or the other, but in our reliance on that choice.
There is no cavalry. We, the People, must save our nation.
This government has failed us, our children and our Constitution. November won't bring the "change" we need.
We, the governed, must withdraw our consent.
The alternative, it seems to me, is to resign ourselves to a long and inevitable decline.
