Notes of Concern…
…Jack Blair
Reflections on Leaders
Today I am remembering some people who were truly outstanding in their service to our nation due to their interest and commitment to their work and their refusal to be led in every way by personal ambition. You may remember some of them. Chances are you will not. Should you be interested in any or all might I suggest you research them a bit on your own? It will be a rewarding journey.
When Lyndon Johnson was Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate, as a Democrat from Texas, his counterpart in the U.S. House of Representatives was Speaker Sam Rayburn, a Congressman from Texas. While Lyndon always wanted to be president, Sam was happy as Speaker and saw opportunity to wield power and make things happen.
In the administration of President Eisenhower, those two Texas Democrats reigned over the legislative branch but working with Ike they were able to cobble out some pretty great legislation and become close friends in the process. It was a happy time. In fact, we call it a time of Peace, Prosperity & Progress. In my view, Sam Rayburn knew how our government needed to work and knew how to reach acceptable compromise.
Another Texan, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, was arguably the first black politician with a real shot at a national nomination. She was heavyset and not attractive but when she started to speak she had everyone’s attention. She was smart, sharp and admirable in every way. When she spoke, all present listened intently. Every time I heard her explain a position I was immensely proud to be an American. Unfortunately, a terminal illness cut short her career.
United States Senator Gale McGee of Wyoming was one of the best orators in the U.S, Senate. Prior to his election he had been a professor at The University of Wyoming. Eleanor Roosevelt encouraged him into public service. The Senator’s son was a close friend of my wife and me and I enjoyed the stories of his unlikely rise to the Senate. He told me he had almost no money for a campaign and had to sell the family television in order to run for office. His wife Larraine wrote small postcards after every campaign stop, by hand; to the people they had met.
Not long after his election to the U.S. Senate the Washington press corps named McGee and Massachusetts Senator John Kennedy as the most promising of the “freshmen class.” At the height of the Vietnam War McGee wrote a book, The Responsibilities of World Power, which our current leaders would do well to read today. A powerful legislator, McGee went on to be Ambassador to the Organization of American States.
My recollections have been heavily of Democrats. Republican United States Senator and Senate Majority Leader Hugh Scott will be the one member of the GOP who might balance the others out. Scott was a pipe smoking, down home type politician. He and his diminutive and shy wife Marion did not cut a wide social path in Washington. He was professorial and shrewd. I was fortunate to know them both when I was on the Republican Executive Committee in Pennsylvania.
He climbed to the top job in the U.S. Senate through hard work and dedication. He made his deals quietly. He rarely sought or received public attention. He did his best work behind the scenes. People remember that when it was time to convince President Nixon a resignation was necessary, three men went to The White House to deliver the bad news and to try to convince the President to do what was right for the country. Two of those three men were U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater and U.S. Senator Hugh Scott. They got it done. This man who held enormous power died quietly in a nursing home outside Washington DC with hardly a mention in the press. He would have liked that.
If your schedule permits, treat yourself to a wonderful adventure and find and read more about Hugh Scott, Gale McGee, Sam Rayburn and Barbara Jordan.
Quietly effective.
Largely unsung.
Patriots All.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
And the President is...John McCain!
Notes of Concern…
…Jack Blair
I feel like Rip Van Winkle. I must have been asleep for some time.
There was a campaign for President of the United States a while back in which Senator John McCain competed with Senator Barack Obama. While it is a bit hazy as I look at the administration’s current decisions, I really thought Obama had won that contest.
Obama said he would close Guantanamo Bay within twelve months of taking his oath of office. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He said some pretty awful things about the Patriot Act that had been put in place by President George Bush. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He said he would support the Defense of Marriage Act. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He said he would not engage in nation building around the world. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He said he would wind down the war in Iraq and get us out of the quagmire that was Afghanistan. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He announced that our enemies should be afforded the rights of American citizens and not be tried by military tribunals but rather in the regular court systems. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
Conversely, McCain seemed to think holding terrorists in a prison off U.S. soil was a pretty good idea. The majority of the people said “Boo”!
McCain supported the Patriot Act. The majority of the people said “Boo”!
McCain felt we needed to do a thorough job in Iraq and it would be some time before we could plan to depart. The majority of the people said “Boo”!
He also felt we needed to take a stronger position in Afghanistan. The majority of the people said “Boo”!
This list of campaign statements could be much more lengthy but I trust I have set the stage for my thinking on the current situation.
The American people liked what they heard from Senator Obama and they elected him President of the United States.
And then…
A little more than two years into his four-year term Obama has kept Guantanamo Bay open as an American prison for terrorists.
He has said he changed his mind about the Defense of Marriage Act.
He reversed course and now will try terrorists in military tribunals rather than the regular courts.
He ordered a surge of troops into Afghanistan.
He increased our involvement in Iraq and vowed to extend our stay.
As for nation building, or nation meddling, we are all over the Middle East and have our fingers in many pies! We have involved ourselves militarily in Libya, abandoned our long time ally in Egypt, and run both hot and cold, first offering support and withdrawing it from other nations in turmoil.
While we have attempted to pretend either the UN or NATO or France were heading up all these activities, it is the good old U.S. Treasury that is footing the bill, which now is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Clearly, I missed something during my long sleep.
Somehow, defying all odds, not to mention the popular vote and the Electoral College, it appears John McCain is in fact our president. Or at least Bush era policies are alive and healthy as they would have been under a President McCain.
Not since Lyndon Johnson told us in 1964 all the horrible things Senator Barry Goldwater would do if he were elected president and led us to hand him the largest electoral and popular victory recorded in history to that point have we experienced such a complete reversal in campaign promises as reflected in administrative actions.
You will recall that Johnson did, in fact, seriously step up American involvement in Vietnam and the American people made certain he served only one term, believing they had been bamboozled.
In their anger they completely discounted the tremendous policies Johnson was able to bring about with reference to the domestic agenda.
Some folks feel President Obama owes George Bush an apology.
Much of the Obama campaign against the Bush/Cheney administration focused on the subjects outlined earlier in this column. After entering The White House and being exposed to the daily security reports and the studies of situations throughout the world, actions taken by the previous administration seemed to look better to President Obama.
One can only surmise that he came to understand the importance Bush put on keeping the homeland safe from terrorist attack. By strengthening many of the Bush era policies Obama has extended America’s period free from terrorist attack from eight years to ten.
I am listening!
I do not hear the “cheers” or the “boos.”
One can extrapolate that Bush thought terrorists, essentially military combatants, should be tried by military tribunals, and that Obama came to appreciate the reasons.
If the American voters wanted the changes Barack Obama promised during his campaign for President, they must be experiencing a serious case of “buyer’s remorse” right now. The public opinion polls would indicate that is case. Just this week those polls showed the President losing ground with women and with blacks, two groups from which he received significant support in the election. Of course the voters who did not choose him before do not express any change of heart so the president is left to try to cobble together the old coalition that brought him to The White House. There are defections, in great numbers, from that coalition and it appears to be crumbling.
Even Oprah Winfrey was reported this week to have no plans to endorse the president for re-election. Earlier in March the actor Matt Damon expressed his dissatisfaction with the administration he helped win. I have never understood or appreciated why movie stars think they can impact any election but it would appear that a serious crack has developed in the “movie star support” category recently.
It would seem that Barack Obama is on the same popularity slide that smacked George Bush upside the head during his last term.
During the Lyndon Johnson times TV newsman Walter Cronkite abandoned the president on national television. Lyndon Johnson said that if he had lost Walter Cronkite he had lost the American people.
Maybe Barack Obama will feel if he has lost Oprah and Matt he, too, has lost the American people!
If the present trend continues, President Obama will join President Johnson, President Carter and a few others as a one-term occupant of the office. Of course, this prediction assumes the GOP can actually discover an attractive and capable candidate when, in many past contests, they have failed to do so.
The American people have a long memory.
It is not nice to fool the American people.
The American people do not appreciate presidents making U-Turns after the election.
The “hoorays” are beginning to be drowned out by the “boos.”
Someone told me the other day that George W. Bush emerged briefly from his secure hiding place in Texas, saw his shadow, and predicted only two more years of Obama.
The key for Barack Obama will be to use the remaining years in his presidency to successfully explain to those who did vote for him why he reversed himself on so many important policy issues, and to do so without seeming to saying the Bush administration may well have had it right on many of these controversial issues.
Welcome to the next Presidential Election cycle.
As you come out of your winter doldrums you will be confronted with the reality that the campaign begins in earnest very soon.
“Hooray?”
“Boo?”
…Jack Blair
I feel like Rip Van Winkle. I must have been asleep for some time.
There was a campaign for President of the United States a while back in which Senator John McCain competed with Senator Barack Obama. While it is a bit hazy as I look at the administration’s current decisions, I really thought Obama had won that contest.
Obama said he would close Guantanamo Bay within twelve months of taking his oath of office. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He said some pretty awful things about the Patriot Act that had been put in place by President George Bush. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He said he would support the Defense of Marriage Act. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He said he would not engage in nation building around the world. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He said he would wind down the war in Iraq and get us out of the quagmire that was Afghanistan. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
He announced that our enemies should be afforded the rights of American citizens and not be tried by military tribunals but rather in the regular court systems. The majority of the people said “Hooray!”
Conversely, McCain seemed to think holding terrorists in a prison off U.S. soil was a pretty good idea. The majority of the people said “Boo”!
McCain supported the Patriot Act. The majority of the people said “Boo”!
McCain felt we needed to do a thorough job in Iraq and it would be some time before we could plan to depart. The majority of the people said “Boo”!
He also felt we needed to take a stronger position in Afghanistan. The majority of the people said “Boo”!
This list of campaign statements could be much more lengthy but I trust I have set the stage for my thinking on the current situation.
The American people liked what they heard from Senator Obama and they elected him President of the United States.
And then…
A little more than two years into his four-year term Obama has kept Guantanamo Bay open as an American prison for terrorists.
He has said he changed his mind about the Defense of Marriage Act.
He reversed course and now will try terrorists in military tribunals rather than the regular courts.
He ordered a surge of troops into Afghanistan.
He increased our involvement in Iraq and vowed to extend our stay.
As for nation building, or nation meddling, we are all over the Middle East and have our fingers in many pies! We have involved ourselves militarily in Libya, abandoned our long time ally in Egypt, and run both hot and cold, first offering support and withdrawing it from other nations in turmoil.
While we have attempted to pretend either the UN or NATO or France were heading up all these activities, it is the good old U.S. Treasury that is footing the bill, which now is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Clearly, I missed something during my long sleep.
Somehow, defying all odds, not to mention the popular vote and the Electoral College, it appears John McCain is in fact our president. Or at least Bush era policies are alive and healthy as they would have been under a President McCain.
Not since Lyndon Johnson told us in 1964 all the horrible things Senator Barry Goldwater would do if he were elected president and led us to hand him the largest electoral and popular victory recorded in history to that point have we experienced such a complete reversal in campaign promises as reflected in administrative actions.
You will recall that Johnson did, in fact, seriously step up American involvement in Vietnam and the American people made certain he served only one term, believing they had been bamboozled.
In their anger they completely discounted the tremendous policies Johnson was able to bring about with reference to the domestic agenda.
Some folks feel President Obama owes George Bush an apology.
Much of the Obama campaign against the Bush/Cheney administration focused on the subjects outlined earlier in this column. After entering The White House and being exposed to the daily security reports and the studies of situations throughout the world, actions taken by the previous administration seemed to look better to President Obama.
One can only surmise that he came to understand the importance Bush put on keeping the homeland safe from terrorist attack. By strengthening many of the Bush era policies Obama has extended America’s period free from terrorist attack from eight years to ten.
I am listening!
I do not hear the “cheers” or the “boos.”
One can extrapolate that Bush thought terrorists, essentially military combatants, should be tried by military tribunals, and that Obama came to appreciate the reasons.
If the American voters wanted the changes Barack Obama promised during his campaign for President, they must be experiencing a serious case of “buyer’s remorse” right now. The public opinion polls would indicate that is case. Just this week those polls showed the President losing ground with women and with blacks, two groups from which he received significant support in the election. Of course the voters who did not choose him before do not express any change of heart so the president is left to try to cobble together the old coalition that brought him to The White House. There are defections, in great numbers, from that coalition and it appears to be crumbling.
Even Oprah Winfrey was reported this week to have no plans to endorse the president for re-election. Earlier in March the actor Matt Damon expressed his dissatisfaction with the administration he helped win. I have never understood or appreciated why movie stars think they can impact any election but it would appear that a serious crack has developed in the “movie star support” category recently.
It would seem that Barack Obama is on the same popularity slide that smacked George Bush upside the head during his last term.
During the Lyndon Johnson times TV newsman Walter Cronkite abandoned the president on national television. Lyndon Johnson said that if he had lost Walter Cronkite he had lost the American people.
Maybe Barack Obama will feel if he has lost Oprah and Matt he, too, has lost the American people!
If the present trend continues, President Obama will join President Johnson, President Carter and a few others as a one-term occupant of the office. Of course, this prediction assumes the GOP can actually discover an attractive and capable candidate when, in many past contests, they have failed to do so.
The American people have a long memory.
It is not nice to fool the American people.
The American people do not appreciate presidents making U-Turns after the election.
The “hoorays” are beginning to be drowned out by the “boos.”
Someone told me the other day that George W. Bush emerged briefly from his secure hiding place in Texas, saw his shadow, and predicted only two more years of Obama.
The key for Barack Obama will be to use the remaining years in his presidency to successfully explain to those who did vote for him why he reversed himself on so many important policy issues, and to do so without seeming to saying the Bush administration may well have had it right on many of these controversial issues.
Welcome to the next Presidential Election cycle.
As you come out of your winter doldrums you will be confronted with the reality that the campaign begins in earnest very soon.
“Hooray?”
“Boo?”
Saturday, April 2, 2011
SEASONAL DISSATISFACTION
Notes of Concern…
…Jack Blair
SEASONAL DISSATISFACTION
My wife and I had a pleasurable trip to Virginia last week to visit with two of our sons and our grandsons. After the winter we have experienced in Massachusetts it was delightful to see flowers beginning to bloom and the trees to be awakening. Even nicer were the occasional days with high 70’s and low 80’s in temperature.
Of course, we returned to another snowstorm in New England. As I listened to the weather reports I must admit that even a snow lover like me realized it was time for winter to end.
My wife reminded me that we had in the past gotten snow in late April. She can quickly bring me back to reality when she wishes!
When the snow did come it was as beautiful as always while falling from the sky but this time it brought an unexpected dividend. Although we received a good quantity, it was almost all gone within the day. This is a sure sign that Spring is just around the corner.
Winter is a season when friends and relatives travel to warm places to be reminded that it is possible to escape winter. Some people actually leave New England and head to Florida or another warm spot for the entire winter. They are referred to as “snow birds” by full time southerners who see their influx each winter as overcrowding but good for the economy.
For years, before air conditioning, it was not uncommon for people from northern cities like New York and Boston to seek a cool refuge in the mountains from the summer heat. They migrated to places like Cape Cod, the Poconos, the Berkshires and many other noted havens from the sweltering heat.
So man has a history of settling where work is plentiful regardless of the climate and then treating himself to escapes either from time to time or for whole seasons.
Historians study times when an “escape” was to the local tavern, a sporting contest, a bike ride or even a quiet fishing trip on the local pond. In the age in which we live, and in the abundance that flows our way, many “escape” to exotic places like Bali, Hawaii, Bermuda, or far away countries. For those who cannot afford those kinds of “escapes” television and movies continue to provide an “escape” as do computers and computer games.
When winter gets you down, you can fly to Miami, the Caribbean, Mexico or another warm and cozy place. Or you can sit in your favorite chair with a nice libation and let television or a movie transport you.
Whatever your choice may be, you can be certain that the changing seasons will also bring you relief from the cold in the form of heat and humidity. This then will provide you the chance to escape to a cooler place on the water or in the country.
Is it possible that we are never satisfied?
…Jack Blair
SEASONAL DISSATISFACTION
My wife and I had a pleasurable trip to Virginia last week to visit with two of our sons and our grandsons. After the winter we have experienced in Massachusetts it was delightful to see flowers beginning to bloom and the trees to be awakening. Even nicer were the occasional days with high 70’s and low 80’s in temperature.
Of course, we returned to another snowstorm in New England. As I listened to the weather reports I must admit that even a snow lover like me realized it was time for winter to end.
My wife reminded me that we had in the past gotten snow in late April. She can quickly bring me back to reality when she wishes!
When the snow did come it was as beautiful as always while falling from the sky but this time it brought an unexpected dividend. Although we received a good quantity, it was almost all gone within the day. This is a sure sign that Spring is just around the corner.
Winter is a season when friends and relatives travel to warm places to be reminded that it is possible to escape winter. Some people actually leave New England and head to Florida or another warm spot for the entire winter. They are referred to as “snow birds” by full time southerners who see their influx each winter as overcrowding but good for the economy.
For years, before air conditioning, it was not uncommon for people from northern cities like New York and Boston to seek a cool refuge in the mountains from the summer heat. They migrated to places like Cape Cod, the Poconos, the Berkshires and many other noted havens from the sweltering heat.
So man has a history of settling where work is plentiful regardless of the climate and then treating himself to escapes either from time to time or for whole seasons.
Historians study times when an “escape” was to the local tavern, a sporting contest, a bike ride or even a quiet fishing trip on the local pond. In the age in which we live, and in the abundance that flows our way, many “escape” to exotic places like Bali, Hawaii, Bermuda, or far away countries. For those who cannot afford those kinds of “escapes” television and movies continue to provide an “escape” as do computers and computer games.
When winter gets you down, you can fly to Miami, the Caribbean, Mexico or another warm and cozy place. Or you can sit in your favorite chair with a nice libation and let television or a movie transport you.
Whatever your choice may be, you can be certain that the changing seasons will also bring you relief from the cold in the form of heat and humidity. This then will provide you the chance to escape to a cooler place on the water or in the country.
Is it possible that we are never satisfied?
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