Starting All Over Again

                                                                   -by The Radio Guy

           Did you see the latest poll of American satisfaction with its’ legislators in Congress?

           A whopping 89 percent of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the performance of Congress.

           And, my God, who can blame them?  People tired of Democrats tax and spend ways, so, in the 90’s, they put the Republicans in power.  Which turned out to be an awful mistake.  Because as soon as the Republicans got in power, they started acting like Democrats!  Both parties have become so drunk on earmarks, they consider them rights. And, most all begin acting like spoiled 5 year olds, when the discussion turns to reform of the earmark system.

           Reforming Social Security?  Oh, Lord…don’t go there!  Today’s Congress apparently wants to pass this problem onto our grandkids to solve.  Reforming the Tax System?  No way! They might end up with less money to spend on pork projects!

           Then, there’s the election process.  If Abraham Lincoln was alive today, he couldn’t even consider running for President.  He wouldn’t have the money.  Since he was a country lawyer, I’d assume he’d have gotten smart and become a lobbyist.  No common citizen these days has even a prayer of being elected to anything other than a menial local office. And elect to a national office someone with other than an  ( R ) or ( D ) after their name…?  Well, you’d better have the name recognition, record and cash of Joe Lieberman.   Even with good ideas, bucking “the system” is almost impossible. 

            Not long ago, I read an article about Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. (You may hiss and boo now, if you’d like.)  In it, she showed a pragmatic side, suggesting that one had to work “within the system” to effect change.

            I appreciate where Senator Clinton is coming from.  But, I would pose the question…under normal circumstances, working “within the system” to effect change might be fine.  But, what if the real problem…was the system itself?  

           And that’s the question I want to raise here.  More and more I’m becoming convinced that our entire system of government has gotten beyond our control.  And, I respectfully wish to raise the idea that perhaps what is needed is a total reform of the system.

           If I read my Constitution correctly, our Founding Fathers gave us the right to establish our government…and, the right to abolish it, if necessary for the future of democracy.

           I’m not suggesting anarchy here.  But, consider:  is it time to think about establishing a new Constitutional Congress to take a hard look at how government is run…how taxes are raised and spent, how money has infiltrated and infested government, our election process and look at possible changes to improve on and, hopefully, make some fixes to the system?

           Should lobbyists have such wide ranging personal contact with our legislators?  (We have reports of Congressmen who want to kick constituents off their “private” elevators, but welcome giving a lobbyist a ride!)  We have suggestions for a Flat Tax, and A Fair Tax.  I don’t know which,  if either of these ideas is correct,  but shouldn’t they see the light of day?  Shouldn’t our government give us a serious examination of our tax code and see if there’s a better way? 

           Why is there no solution to the Social Security crisis?   Why are our legislators spending so much time clamoring about enforcing “timetables” on Iraq, (which is the job of the Commander-In-Chief, not them!), instead of dealing with a problem that could bankrupt our nation, or saddle its’ citizens with taxes we can only now dream of in our worst nightmares!

            Why is there no talk of solving the problem of earmarks?  Congressional pork?  Health Care? Tort reform?  

           And, God…why do we now have a 2 year long Presidential election cycle?  I’m already sick of Presidential politics…and I’ve got a year to go.   No candidate truly excites me. (So far!)  Nobody’s giving us real ideas.  No one is giving us anything that hasn’t been hashed and rehashed over the past 20 years.   By the time Moveon.org starts buying radio advertising, I’m going to be looking for an oven to put my head into!  (Just kidding, but you get the point.)

           Why?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Why?

           No wonder only 11 percent of Americans think Congress is doing a good job.

           I wish I had a little of what they’ve been smoking. At least I might feel better.

           Ideas?  Anybody?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?

Some Thoughts

                                                                                             -The Radio Guy

         So, I got this “survey” from the GOP, asking me for my thoughts on a possible “slogan” for the next Presidential campaign, and other questions. 

         You want a slogan?   How about:

         “Ok! Ok! We won’t spend more money than the Democrats!”  Or…

         “Earmarks are bad”!   And my personal favorite…

         “We’ve learned our lessons.”

         You see, this is what I’ve been talking about all along.   Both political parties are the problem.  The other side?  Heck, even Hillary Clinton is beginning to find out the problem (I’m just not sure she knows it yet).   Senator Clinton (and I do want to be polite here), have you noticed that the Democratic Party is far to the left of you?  The other day, your “reasoned” response to a question about America talking to its’ enemies was overcome by Barack Obama saying, “Sure…we’ll talk to them…why not?”   Those constituents don’t want reason, or thinking. They want “surrender at any cost”.   They want blood.  Particularly if it belongs to George W. Bush or Dick Cheney.  (And a pint from Joe Liberman wouldn’t be hated, either!)

          They’ve turned on you, Senator Clinton. Your party is out of control. That’s why you’re not winning.

          But, wait, dear GOP…don’t pop the champagne corks yet! 

          You, on the other hand are wasting taxpayer money at a rate that might make the late, great Ronald Reagan go back to being a Democrat!   Bridges to nowhere!  “It’s my money!” “Someone will pay!”   I’ve never seen a more childish argument in my life.

          Earth to Congressional GOP:  It’s not your money!

          Stop building wasteful projects!   Why not improve our infrastructure?  We don’t need useless projects!  We need updated interstate highways!  Even Ike approved of that, remember?

          Build some schools.  There’s a lot of overcrowded ones now.  We can debate educational standards and teacher’s unions all day (and, by the way, I’m not a fan of teacher’s unions, or their influence, and it’s a debate we should have.)  But that’s no reason not to build school buildings.

          We need to find an answer to the coming Social Security crisis!  Both parties are fiddling while Rome burns on this one.   You just want to stall as long as you both can, then say “it wasn’t our fault!”   We’re paying you guys $185,000 a year or so…for what?   How about some leadership.  That’s what we’re paying you for!

           It is time to totally revamp the income tax system!  Is the “Fair Tax” the answer?  I don’t know…but it’s worth considering.  And, oh yeah…protect the borders!

           Government spending.  Hey, you know?  I’ve worked in the radio business for the last 20 years.  Want to know what I’ve learned?

           “Less is more”.  “Work smarter, not harder”.  “Do more with less”.  Time for government to do the same.  If I have to do it, so do you.  Figure this out…get some real ideas.  And you can win in 2008.   Or else, go ahead!   Doom yourselves to 15-20 years in the minority, and wreck us!

My Day As A White House Pool Reporter

-The Radio Guy

It was just a few days ago, our radio station received an e-mail from The White House with an offer to allow one of our news staff to act as a “local pool reporter” for President Bush’s recent visit to Tipp City, Ohio. Our News Director offered me the chance to be in the pool. I thought it would be a fun experience and agreed.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I would have felt the same way regardless of who was in the Oval Office. I believe the person sitting in the office of the President Of The United States is worthy of my respect, regardless of political ideology. The fact, though, that I did vote for President Bush twice made it all more appealing.

I received a phone call from the White House on Wednesday of last week, notifying me of where and when I needed to be the next day for credentials. I arrived at that point about 15 minutes early and found myself among a number of local TV, newspaper and radio types just waiting for what we were to do next.

After about 20 minutes, a Secret Service Agent told us we could proceed to the place down the driveway to get credentialed. Upon arrival, we found our White House contact, along with local police and sheriff’s officers, Secret Service and…the inevitable drug/bomb sniffing dog.

At the request of authorities, we placed our bags containing our recording/reporting equipment on the ground for inspection. After they passed the “dog test”, a visual inspection, and we were “wanded” for weapons, we were given our credentials. I was among 6 or so people who were given special “pool” credentials. We were told that, when Air Force One arrived, we would be permitted to walk to a place underneath the left wing of the plane to witness and record the President’s arrival.

I covered Jimmy Carter’s trip to Dayton for a town meeting in 1979. But, nothing prepared me for watching Air Force One…what a gigantic monstrosity it is…pulling into the secured area on the general aviation side of the Dayton airport. Simply put…if that plane doesn’t impress you, nothing will. And, to be standing at a point where I could touch the plane was, frankly, awesome.

We dashed out to our permitted spots and, after about 5 minutes, President Bush appeared at the top of the steps. A quick wave…and the President was on to meeting local dignitaries and citizens. I was only about 25-30 feet from the leader of the free world. Sure…I recognized him from the instant he appeared…but there’s just something about actually seeing a President from that distance. All at once, he’s no longer that “figure” one sees on TV…he’s a real person.

Yes, even at a distance of 25 feet or so, one can’t help but feel excited. And I will not apologize for feeling that way, objective though I try to be as a reporter.

As the President reached the final people he was supposed to greet, our White House contact said, “Let’s go, people, we’ve got to get to the car!” That was our signal to trot (no, really it was..run!) to the car with a sign that said “Press 2”. I hopped in and, within seconds, we were off riding in the back of the President’s motorcade.

If I could run the world, everybody would get the chance to ride in the President’s motorcade once in their lives. The police stop traffic everywhere you have to go. You stop at no traffic lights. There’s armed guards at every expressway overpass. We passed a good number of citizens lining the public access-ways along the way. I saw no protesters, though I figure a few had to be somewhere. I was particularly struck by the number of American flags on display and, frankly, got a lump in my throat when I saw a few uniformed members of our Armed Forces snapping to a sharp salute as the President’s car went past. I felt Miami County, Ohio was being not only cordial, but downright friendly, to the arrival of the Chief Executive.

The President met with the local residents in a “Town Hall Meeting” style format. He was clearly flying “without a net”. I was impressed with how passionately he made his points. On the need to give the current troop surge time to work, I truly believe he means what he says. And, when President Bush made the point that he didn’t want to see something happen years in the future and have an entire generation saying, “How could they have missed this?”, I thought…”There’s his legacy. He doesn’t want to go down in history as the guy leading a nation that was asleep at the switch.” The President is not the communicator that the late President Ronald Reagan was. But, on this day, President Bush was, if not impressively articulate, real.

He opened up the floor to questions from the audience. And I think the President handled himself well. I, personally have been critical of his actions on the question of immigration so far. But, on this date, he explained his position well, and I thought I detected a nuanced shift in his position, taking away the impression that securing the borders must be first, but the notion of a “guest worker” program is needed, when he made the point that one can think you could just deport 10, 12 or 15 million people, but to do it…is just not practical. Nonetheless, I was impressed with his comments about securing borders. Now, if he can just muster the political capital to pull it off.

Overall, the President was on the offensive this day. It’s my humble opinion, he needs to continue on this course, or else the opposition will do as they are strongly trying to do…to make him totally irrelevant. The President may not be fighting for his political life here, but I think he’s in the position of having to fight for his legacy. Though, I applauded him when he said he would not make decisions based on polls or focus groups.

When the Town Hall Meeting came to an end, I made my way back to “Press 2”. We waited for quite a while in the car. A White House staffer came up and told us the President was meeting privately with the family of a soldier killed in Iraq. I can only imagine how painful such a meeting is for any President.

During this time, I filed my first report on the President’s meeting with the radio station. OK. I admit it. Here, I took advantage of the one ego-driven privilege of a White House Local Pool Reporter. I closed my report with the words, “…from the President’s motorcade”.

I didn’t see the President emerge from Tippecanoe High School, but all at once, vehicles started, the State Patrol escort turned on his lights, and suddenly, I saw the Presidential limo turn around and head past our vehicle. I took a quick picture with my camera phone that caught a glimpse of the President in his limousine. Dang it! I hit the wrong button after I took the picture and my camera phone didn’t save the picture! Oh well.

Back to the airport. Along the way, the crowds were, if not quite as big, almost as big, and, again, friendly. As we drove along I-75, I saw parents with their children waving, soldiers and veterans saluting. And, the sight of American flags along the way made one think that, perhaps, there are still some people who truly believe we’re, though not perfect, still the greatest nation on Earth.

We arrived at the airport and I watched the regular press corps dashing to get back on Air Force One. I caught a brief glimpse of the President going up the steps and into the plane. And, as I got right across from the engines, they were starting up. Having been a student pilot, I was convinced Air Force One’s captain would be backing the plane up to get out to the runway. Nope. He turned that gigantic 747 on a dime in a manner that I think would have made Dale Earnhardt, Jr. proud. And…off that majestic bird went.

And, at the risk of sounding not totally objective, it was quite an experience. Wish you could’ve been there.