Vail Daily column: Only 19 months to go!
My View
Here is what I actually think about the past 15 years or so, at least as far as the president of the United States is concerned:
Katrina would have slapped New Orleans silly, Wall Street corporate scandals would have scammed billions (dollars, not people, although perhaps both), the tech bubble would have burst, 9/11 would have changed the world, Muslim extremists would hate the West, North Korea and bird flu would be a threat and Iran would still be screaming about wiping Israel off the map, all even if Al Gore had won the 2000 election.
Everything beyond that is little more than hypothetical speculation.
I’m not claiming that the next winner as the temporary leader of our nation in 2016 is irrelevant, but I don’t mind admitting that for damn sure I don’t want another Bush or Clinton to be involved anywhere along the process.
But alas, like believing in supernatural worlds of angels and demons, wishing for something to be so has no direct bearing on reality.
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So here we are with Clinton, Cruz, Paul and now Marco Rubio all in the running just a mere 19 months away from when us peons have the opportunity to pretend our individual vote can actually make a difference.
I have already shared my thoughts on Cruz and Paul (fleeting and brief though they were … the candidates, not the thoughts), but Rubio’s apparent claim to supposed fame is his Cuban lineage (along with that water bottle), and he is using it constantly as leverage to show what a buffoon Obama is when it comes to Cuban relations.
“How dare Obama demand we do business with a country that is not a democracy and violates human rights,” he said last fall.
Hmmmm, makes me wonder if the man has ever heard of the planet’s numero uno human rights violator, especially when it comes to political dissidents: China.
I could be wrong, but doesn’t America do some level of “business” with them, to the tune of a few hundred billion bucks annually? Perhaps someone will point this out to him over the next few months.
Cuba was the problem of a mostly dead-and-gone generation, on both sides, and will have as much impact on this election as May snowfall has on Christmas bookings. We learned from it, and now it’s time to move on and quit punishing millions for the crimes of their grandparents.
But one of the most entertaining aspects of this still-in-diapers 2016 election campaign is watching the Drudge Report daily headlines about Clinton:
“Hillary lied about her immigrant grandparents!”
“Clinton Iowa stop staged!”
“Clinton flies home coach, carries own luggage.”
“Students support Hillary …just because she’s a woman!”
“Hillary orders a burrito wearing sunglasses!”
Their hyperbolic pettiness knows no bounds, but good grief, are they really that scared of her?
I know she now says she wants to reverse Citizens United, but again, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure a sitting president cannot single-handedly overturn Supreme Court decisions. Something to do with checks and balances, the three branches of the federal government and that pesky Constitution.
Either way, I look forward to the theocratic proposals put forward by Mike Huckabee in a few weeks and perhaps even a hair toss from Donald Trump along with a self-deprecating fat joke from Chris Christie.
At least the next 19 months won’t be boring.
Richard Carnes, of Edwards, writes weekly. He can be reached at poor@vail.net.
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