2009-05 GEORGETOWN

Despite some trepidation after my recent chute sur piste, I trudged back to the mountain and after one tentative run I was back in the saddle progressing at speed. The problem is that the voices, once undistinguished from the wind, then merely vague whispers, are now growing in volume. A French friend once remarked, after I professed my love of the raw oyster, “une huitre mauvaise,” just one bad one (is all it takes). I’m not sure, but the voices may be saying “une chute mauvaise…”

Regardless, I am once again a skier, desperately clinging to the hope I will survive at least until the nirvana of securing a free Senior’s Pass. I must report, however, that since attaining age 60, ski resorts have systematically raised the required age just ahead of me. At most mountains the magic number is now 70, and I have little doubt that as I claw my way to that exalted place, the threshold will again be bumped slightly beyond my reach.

#####

Dick Durbin, in response to Republican kvetching over the Stimulus Package, opined on the Senate floor “I wonder where the tears have been these last eight years when their President doubled the national debt?” Hold on, cowboy. Deep in the last century when I studied Civics (which I gather has been largely removed from the curriculum because it bores students and fails to impart warm fuzzies), I was taught that it is Congress that appropriates funds (and therefore controls spending). Has this changed? Has my fear of the early Alzheimer’s become a reality?

Now, granted, the President kept the Veto in his pocket and blatently encouraged spending, and yes, Republicans (not conservatives but Republicans) were in charge for six of those eight. But for Durbin, considered one of the more intellectually nimble of the federal Solonic community, to so charge is a startling indication of baseline intelligence in Washington (or perhaps more accurately what Washington considers to be the baseline intelligence of the American people).

And then comes Maxine Waters, unable even to read intelligibly the questions for bank CEOs written by her staff. In these days of challenge, whenever a ray of optimism peaks through, 15 minutes of C-SPAN is sure to yank me back to reality. As per Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” The widely regarded Atlantic Monthly commented about Waters “It's like watching your crazy aunt challenge your boyfriend to prove that fairies aren't real.” A generous evaluation I would say.

#####

I was recently warned to be careful of viruses before clicking on all the e-Valentine cards in my in-box. Just one more annoyance from which I have been spared.

#####

And so the die has been cast. If the Stimulus works, full credit should rightly accrue to the Administration and congressional Democrats. Failure should vindicate Republicans, who overwhelmingly turned their back on the legislation. (Enough crowing about bi-partisan support --3 votes does not bi-partisanship make: 1.4% of all Republicans; 0.5% of all of Congress). But wouldn’t it be nice if for once we could honestly evaluate results and declare a winner?

Alas, it will not be. Failure will cause Democrats to say it wasn’t their fault at all and find somewhere else on which to hang the blame (I’ve predicted Bush with be available to fill that void for years to come). Republicans will disclaim success no matter how obvious it appears. Politics is what it is, and we are not better for it.

#####

I confess that each time I hear my President speak I am bedazzled and can’t imagine a more mesmerizing experience, yet the next time is always more eloquent. If Barack Obama executes but one-third in reality what he delivers in rhetoric, we will have found in truth a man for the ages. But the down side, and there always is one, is that if he fails to deliver on the soaring oratory, disillusionment and despair may rise to epic proportions.

In the tsunami of his first 30 days and the euphoria surrounding the Stimulus, there has been a tidal wave of “what’s in it for me,” and virtual absence of the Kennedian “ask not what your country can do for you.” Perhaps the saddest part of this entire drama so far is the fact that the winners are the least responsible, and we poor schlubs who lived within our means, didn’t buy houses we couldn’t afford, and didn’t invest with charlatans promising wholly unrealistic gains, are once again paying the bills.

Sadly it is always so. Along the Gulf Coast, those who can’t be bothered with buying insurance and funding protective measures are rewarded with pastel-colored, furnished double-wide mobile homes from FEMA (i.e. from you and me), while responsible homeowners are left to fight with their insurance companies over whether damage was caused by wind or water (i.e. by definition, the plague that caused the destruction is that from which you are not (or least) insured).

#####

One of the most emotionally wrenching of human experiences is to be faced with a policy you neither support nor believe in, yet need desperately to witness its success. We already have ample evidence of how the radical left approaches such dilemmas (and yes I know you have heard it before but it is so starkly descriptive –“General Betrayus.”) How anyone could wish for the destruction of a society in order to further its political and social aims is, well, unspeakable.

I have grave reservations that current political efforts will return our planet to stability and our nation to promise, but I must hope (and work) for its success, even though it means that core values I live by will be relegated, perhaps for decades, but not forever, to backroom status. Part of the price we pay (some of us, anyway) for civilization is that we allow ourselves to be persuaded that there is a solution other than the one we favor.


…it has been a mild winter, and the snow I had hoped for has been sparse. But the adventure continues and with a seasonal change on the horizon, thoughts turn to new venues…
.
.