David

Karki

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July 14, 2008

Purge Congress, Because We’re Sure Not Getting Much from the Next President

Morton's Fork: An expression that describes a choice between two equally unpleasant alternatives, or two lines of reasoning that lead to the same unpleasant conclusion.

I don't think one could find a better description of this presidential election. Barack Obama and John McCain – both senators, both preponderantly liberal, both poor options for a next four years that stand to be very difficult. From a nuclear Iran (which test-fired missiles a few days ago), to a government-created energy shortage which will require all-out war against the radical environmentalist crowd to solve, to an impending entitlement disaster that is a demographic and mathematical certainty, it's not going to be at all easy.

And no one in public political discourse today even has the courage to admit these crises exist, much less do anything about them, least of all the two standard-bearers.

Obama displays a stunning disconnect from reality, whether it be his naïve ‘60s peacenik belief that Tehran can and should be reasoned with, or that when it comes to oil and energy he can simply wave the magic wand of government and change the laws of physics, or that enough tax revenue could ever be raised to cover the multi-trillion dollar overruns of Medicare and Social Security.

Both the minimizing of the scope of the problems and the simpleton nature of his ostensible “solutions” demonstrate an inherent unfitness for the office. And when you add to that the cult-like portrayal of him as a messiah, it becomes downright frightening to contemplate. America might survive an honest, humble, incompetent neophyte but not an incompetent neophyte who lives in a world that only exists in his and his followers' minds.

Which brings us to the alternative. McCain is a little better at times, at least acknowledging some hard realities and paying some lip service to the tough solutions. But no sooner have those words left his mouth than he does something else which makes one utterly unable to trust that he really means or intends to follow through on them.

He talks about offshore drilling and nuclear power plants, yet still opposes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and co-sponsored the ghastly cap-and-trade bill. He talks tough on finishing Iraq and handling Iran, then goes to Latino groups and pledges to once again ram amnesty through – which is a little like carrying a gun in public while never bothering to close and lock the doors at home.

It's a fool's errand to expect anything from McCain that is substantively different from Obama, especially if he's opposite a Democratic near-super-majority in Congress. To expect him to fight for that in which he clearly does not strongly believe – if he even believes it at all – is an exercise in farce.

Speaking of farce, that brings us to the inevitable end of either fork chosen – the ascension of the two most execrable people in Washington to a de facto co-presidency run from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Whether it's Obama's inexperience or McCain's squishiness, it's almost impossible to envision either not being extremely malleable to the whims of Senator Sourpuss and The Botox Bimbo from the Bay.

Lest you think this isn't a catastrophe in the making, let me share the latest gems from each:

Pelosi: "This call for drilling in areas that are protected is a hoax, it's an absolute hoax on the part of the Republicans and this administration.”

This is of a piece with Baghdad Bob (a.k.a. Comical Ali), who denied Americans were in Iraq kicking Saddam's butt back in 2003 even as tanks all but rolled by in the background. Whatever your personal take, having the person third in line to the presidency be this willfully blind, in such an appalling manner, cannot be a good thing.

Reid: "Coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick. It's global warming. It's ruining our country. It's ruining our world. We've got to stop using fossil fuels."

See above. Without energy, there is no modern human civilization. It's not a disease, and if we don't keep using them, that is what will ruin our country and world. Having such a powerful person be this completely delusional can't be a good thing either.

These two belong in an insane asylum, not the halls of Congress. Yet unless voters rise up and vote anti-incumbent on a scale heretofore unseen in American history, these two lunatics will effectively divide control of Washington between them no matter who occupies the Oval Office.

That fact reveals the only way out of this Morton's Fork dilemma. Neither option for president is acceptable, nor is either likely to produce an outcome all that different from the other. The only course that remains is to try to change the other half of the equation and purge Congress of as many incumbents as humanly possible. And to start preparing to survive the inevitable disaster that will ensue should we be unsuccessful in that endeavor.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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