Miles's blog

Everything these days, it seems, is the subject of partisan political fodder.  The President’s re-election campaign is trumpeting the killing of Osama Bin Laden as a triumph of Obama’s leadership and grounds to support his re-election.  They even call into question whether Mitt Romney would have supported the mission.  Romney fired back by insisting that of course he would have allowed the Navy Seals to do their duties, replying “Even Jimmy Carter would have done that.”

Aside from taking a cheap shot at old Jimmy who has done nothing for the past 30 years except build houses for poor people (and didn’t he try to rescue the hostages in Iran, just the mission failed?), Romney’s response and Obama’s assertions have taken one of the few events in the past decade that everyone supports (although, frankly, I find celebrating his death like it was Mardi Gras was a little over exuberant) and turning it into a political football.  Isn’t anything outside the purview of electoral politics anymore?  Since the scorched-Earth politics of New Gingrich has become de rigueur, the idea of statesmanship has gone the way of the slide rule (for those of you under 30 look up what that was).  Neither party can look beyond their own narrow partisanship to fully embrace something just because it is for the good of the country, but they have to try to spin everything with an eye on the next election.  Perhaps this characteristic is the single biggest reason the vast majority of Americans are sick and tired of politics, politicians, and by extension government as a whole.

Can you imagine is this had been present in the past we might have seen political campaigns something like this:

1972—Richard Nixon is taking credit for the success of the Apollo space program.  “I am the one who placed the longest long-distance phone call in history when I, as president, spoke to Neil Armstrong on the moon.  Without my leadership the Democrats would have stopped the space program, leaving the moon to be colonized by the communists.”  Senator George McGovern responded that the program was started by Democrat John Kennedy and implemented by Democrat Lyndon Johnson, and was too far along to have been stopped by Nixon.  “Even Herbert Hoover would have kept the space program going.”

1952—The Democrats have assailed Republican presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower for promoting his position as Supreme Allied Commander of the Armed Forces in World War II.  “Eisenhower was appointed by FDR who was a Democrat, and really his role was just to talk nicely to a lot of English people.  Adlai Stevenson would have been just as good a general if he had not been afraid of loud noises.”

1936—FDR has posted a picture of John Dillinger in his campaign headquarters as a sign of his leadership and his role in the killing of America’s Most Wanted Criminal.  “I told the FBI to get Dillinger and they did.  Without my leadership he would still be robbing banks, and J. Edgar Hoover would be writing traffic tickets.”  The Republicans have blamed FDR for Dillinger’s success in the first place.  “We would have given guns to all those bank tellers and one of them for sure would have killed him long ago.”

1864—Democratic candidate George McClellan has taken to task President Lincoln for his comments following the Battle of Gettysburg.  “Thousands of brave men gave their lives on that day, and all our president thinks of it is to give a tiny little talk of a few minutes?  Heck he doesn’t even talk like the rest of us. ‘Four score and seven years ago?’ Who talks that way?  The common man in America doesn’t know from scores.  Just say ‘eighty-seven.’  This president is out of touch.  A real leader like me would have spoken for hours to truly celebrate the great victory.”  President Lincoln declined to respond saying merely, “Didn’t I fire that guy?”

1800—President John Adams refused to acknowledge that his opponent, Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence.  “He, was one of the drafters,” Adams huffed, “but I was there too.  That red-headed beanpole wants to take credit for all the good stuff when many of us contributed.”  Jefferson responded by saying “One of our inalienable rights is to refuse to listen to pompous blowhards whose main claim to fame is that his cousin promoted the Revloution, while he defended the soldiers who committed the Boston Massacre.”

1788—Little-known candidate James Armstrong has launched a strident campaign against the presumed front-runner.  “George Washington,” Armstrong asked, “what has he ever done?”