Sunday, January 20, 2008

Tempus Fugit

Time really does fly...it's hard to believe it's Sunday again already and work is looming tomorrow.

This has been a busy week and I haven't had as much time to visit blogs or to post myself. Before we know it, it will be Baxter's turn to write tomorrow and I haven't written anything substantive since his last post!

I looked at the headlines this morning and realized that yesterday was the South Carolina primary for the Republicans - but not the Democrats. And McCain won it. This makes Romney's win in the Nevada caucuses a non-event, to me. I think McCain may be on the road to win the Republican nomination - which is probably bad news for the Democrats since I think he's the only Republican with a snowball's chance to win the Presidency.

In the meantime, Hillary beat Obama in the Nevada caucuses, 51% to 45%; but apparently, after some dispute, it has been confirmed that Obama has won more delegates (13 to 12).

And of course, we still don't know if Bloomberg is going to run, and he's out in California still giving speeches that have nothing to do with New York City. If he jumps in, all bets are off.

Today's date is January 20, and that date reminds me of the fact that it was 47 years ago today that John F. Kennedy was sworn in as President and gave his famous "Ask not what your country can do for you" inaugural address.

In two parts, here are the links to the video of his address:

First link
Second link

DH remembers watching this live on the old black-and-white Westinghouse television set on that cold January day when he was 8 years old. It made an indelible impression. On that day he held in his hand a letter dated December 9th, 1960, from President-Elect Kennedy, that said:

"I want to thank you for the very friendly message that you sent me after my election to the Presidency.

I am most heartened by the many expressions of good will which I have received. I'm sure that they reflect a broad unity of purpose in our nation. I hope that my record during the next four years will sustain your generous confidence.

With every good wish, I am,

Sincerely,

John F. Kennedy."

The letter had come in response to the letter of congratulations he had sent to Senator Kennedy after his election.

The letter from Kennedy, and the autographed picture that accompanied it, are framed and hang on his office wall to this day.

Looking back on that letter today, he reflects that the words were sadly ironic, in that there were no four years of the Presidency for Kennedy. And the criminals in office today have stolen the promise of that Presidency.

Let's hope we can get back that hope and promise in November.

5 comments:

Freida Bee said...

This is a great post. I didn't know yet how the delegates were going to be split between Hillary and Obama. I agree with you about McCain. I think he is the only "viable" candidate in the field, even if I disagree with him on nearly every political issue.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting this all together! I was just listening to Joe Scarborough (I know, I know) and he was prattling on about his theory that the national media loves McCain and hates Romney. In his soliloquy, he made the point that McCain was winning with Independents, but not declared Republicans. Interesting.....

Without any heir apparent on either side, this has got to be one of the most interesting campaign seasons of my lifetime!

pissed off patricia said...

I think the repubs would like to vote for Ronald Reagan or the baby jesus, but since neither are running, they don't know what to do.

Mauigirl said...

Freida, I too disagree with McCain but I do think he's a better person overall than Romney who personifies hypocrisy in everything he says - McCain may have bent his "straight talk" to placate the religious right but Romney just twists his beliefs into pretzels!

DCup, the Republicans just don't like McCain because he's stood up to them a few too many times, such as with the McCain/Feingold legislation, etc. But Romney has to be a big risk for them as well, since he has flip-flopped on his stands so thoroughly and - horrors - is a Mormon. It sure is getting interesting, I agree! I love it!

PoP, well said! They are certainly in a quandary!

TomCat said...

Yesterday was also the one year reverse anniversary of flushing Bush and Cheney.