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Julia Gorin
The America Show
Episode 4
Jesus and Mordy
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Conservatives Are From Mars, Liberals Are From San Francisco
by Burt Prelutsky
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America Alone
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Laura Bush is a very charming first lady. I like her more than most of the Presidential wives since I have been following politics in 1960. Yes, Jackie Kennedy made Camelot come alive. I never really got into Lady Bird Johnson or Pat Nixon. Not a whole lot to work with there. Betty Ford was too, uh…much. She seemed to love feminism more than she loved her husband. Rosalynn Carter was a steel magnolia. Behind that honey-coated southern accent lurked a tigress. I shuddered as I watched her on inauguration day as Ronald Reagan took over HER Presidency. She was one tough lady. So was Nancy Reagan. Very few people “just said no” to her. Barbara Bush was, well to be honest, old-looking. Remember, Jackie spoiled all of us baby boomers. She set a high standard. Then, Hillary came along. If you thought Rosalynn put the fear of God into you…

So, when Laura breezed into the White House and our consciousness back in 2001, no one knew much about her. We knew she was a former librarian and she wanted to make literacy her main agenda as the First Lady. It wasn’t until she went on television with Jay Leno that America saw how savvy and graciously charming she is when given the opportunity. It is too bad we all didn’t get to know her better because she has a twinkle in her eye and can be downright feisty with that smile of hers. She reminds me of my seventh grade teacher, Sister Laura. You didn’t get away with anything in her class because you WANTED to please her. She was like your mom, only prettier. (Is my eternal destiny in jeopardy if I write that nuns are PRETTY?)

Up until this week, Laura Bush stayed behind the curtain. The Wizards of the Bush administration kept her tightly wrapped. She was not allowed to verbally waltz on the floor of the nation’s political dance floor. We knew more about her two daughters than her. Unfortunately.

Until now.

“I don’t really believe those polls. (showing President Bush at an embarrassingly low approval rating of 31% or lower) I travel around the country. I see people. I see their responses to my husband. I see their responses to me.” The problem here, my dear Marian, may be WHO do you see when you visit those places that supposedly support your husband? When the President goes on the stump, his audiences are heavily weighted in favor of Republicans who believe every word he says. He is preaching to the choir, not the country. Do you really believe Karl Rove and his staff are going to let, gasp, liberals IN to the auditoriums? If Laura is looking out at THAT crowd, it is no wonder she sees friendly responses. I would bet if President Bush spoke at his family barbecue, he would get a big THUMBS UP for his policies in Iraq and elsewhere!

Still, Marian is standing by her Music Man. She thinks he is playing the right tune for the rest of the country, “I see a lot of appreciation for him. A lot of people come up to me and say, ‘Stay the course!’” Maybe she is referring to the President’s father, George Bush, his mom, Barbara, his brother Jeb and Dick Cheney. Perhaps even Colin Powell or Donald Rumsfield. After that, it gets dicey…

Clearly, the President of the United States is hitting some all-time lows in popularity and it is not the liberal media that is producing these numbers. He has done this to himself. The decision to attack Iraq was supported early on until 2/3 of America REALIZED that Saddam Hussein was not one of the terrorists on the planes. The failure to catch Osama Bin Laden, the perception that Iraq was NOT hording weapons of mass destruction, the inability to move quickly and efficiently following Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, the Dubai Port fiasco, his indecision concerning the illegal immigration issue, the gas prices exploding out of control and the way the Bush White House seems to arrogantly deny or rationalize every single decision they make even when they are obviously wrong, has crunched these numbers to Nixonian depths. The President has achieved all this without doing anything illegal, just callously and in a way that makes more and more of us wonder who we voted for in 2000. There is NOTHING more maddening to the potential of a nation than, “Ignorance in Action.” George W. Bush is coming across as a man who is overwhelmed and out of his league. History will judge him in the long run. But, the pollsters are out there getting a whiff of the winds that will ultimately determine his greatness or goofiness.

The real scary part here is that his WIFE is out there trying to make him look good. I have followed a lot of Presidents and in the past 46 years I do not remember, with the exception of Rosalynn Carter, a first lady having to step up to the microphone and try to convince the citizens of her country that her spouse is a great guy. (Hillary doesn’t count because it was actually Bill who was the First Lady) When the the nation’s Marian declares the polls as illiterate and uneducated, there IS trouble in River City. George W. Bush and his party has two years to get their act together and start making some great decisions or there is going to be a lot of blood flowing in Meredith Wilson’s fictional town.

Two years to make the band play like professionals. If Harold Hill cannot deliver, even his lovely librarian cannot save him or his legacy. We are all waiting Mr. President, for you to act on what you promised you would do when we made you our leader. Please don’t keep telling us you are going to, “Stay the course.” Tell us what your course actually IS and implement it. We want some historically great decisions, courage, humility, inspiration, effectiveness and the kind of changes that will bring our troops home as victors, make immigration work and…for God’s sake, LOWER those gas prices. You are not just the President of Big Oil, you are the leader of all of us regular folks at the pumps on Monday morning, too. Make your librarian and all of us proud of you!

The band is ready to play. It is TIME for you to lead them in, “76 Trombones” and beyond…

Because as we write, Bill Clinton is polishing off his saxaphone to prepare the way for HIS first lady to march into the White House in a little less than a thousand days from now.

Believe it. CRO

copyright 2006 Patrick Hurley

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