(This is the final in a series of ten.)
During the period when I was working from Washington, D.C., I picked up on the local lingo for the difference between the House of Representatives (which yesterday shot down the Paulsen bailout plan, sending the stock market to historic losses) and the Senate.
Suffice it to say that the Senators were known simply as the "Grown-ups." This was during the absurd impeachment drama that precluded any kind of meaningful government policies from being achieved during the second Clinton administration.
The House impeached. The Senate acquitted. The whole drama was political, from start to finish. Americans may have been mesmerized, but the outcome was never in doubt, thanks to the adults in the Senate.
Fast forward to today's news. The Senate has quietly but effectively stepped into the leadership void created by yesterday's fiasco by launching a new initiative that will provide the Treasury will the authority and the funds to manage the financial and credit crises effectively by adding a series of tax cuts that will provide the necessary political cover for enough House Republicans to switch sides and add their support to a bill they should have voted for in the first place.
House leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are angry. The adults have trumped them. Pelosi, in particular, failed miserably in the most important political moment of her career by delivering a partisan speech when bipartisanship was what was needed. She squandered her opportunity to emerge as a true leader. Therefore, she will not receive my vote this November.
By contrast, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., appear to be poised to emerge as the kinds of leaders hard times demand.
None of this has much to do with Presidential politics, except for one important footnote. Sen. Barack Obama was the first to call for what is now a consensus upgrade, increasing the FDIC insured limit on any one bank account from $100,000 to $250,000. This is a long overdue reform, reflecting the inflationary change in dollar values from when the old guarantee was created.
As with many economic issues, Obama continues to be quietly but creatively effective. Maybe enough Americans are beginning to catch on? McCain is the kind of guy who always tries to exploit a crisis by "suspending" his campaign, convention, debate, or any other form of business as usual.
The effect is to raise anxiety, create a false sense of drama, and expose all of us to danger, rather like the rash actions of a fighter pilot in war. My own Dad qualified as a fighter pilot in WW2, but he flunked out on the psychological test of whether he was crazy enough to die without concern for his family back home.
He cared too much for my Mother and my big sister to pass that test. So he didn't fly warplanes into Germany or Japan. He was every bit as loyal an American as those who did, but he was not as rash, stupid, or young.
John McCain passed the psychological rashness test. He didn't care about anybody back home. He just wanted to be a hero. His behavior during the Presidential campaign confirms that he is, at heart, still a fighter pilot.
Thanks, but no thanks, I don't want that kind of person as my President. The contrast between the candidates has become so stark that I have to question the motive of any voter who would choose McCain over Obama. Are you asleep? Drugged? Stupid? Or racist? I am very sorry to say I see no other explanation for anybody who would vote for a crazed ex-warrior who needs the help of V.A. psychiatrists over a soft-spoken, steady, intelligent man who knows math, science, economics, and what it means to consider the future before making gut-wrenching decisions.
Luckily, the polls give me hope. Obama is now 5-6 points ahead in the popular vote, and appears poised to win somewhere between 301-331 electoral votes. One fact that gives me great joy is that Obama has pulled way ahead in my native Michigan.
Another is that he will win Iowa, the state that saw all of the candidates up close in a way most of us will never experience.
As goes Michigan and Iowa will go our nation. President Barack Obama!
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