Promises, Promises

By G. E. Shuman

So, I understand we have elected a new president. It seems like it was only four years ago that we went through this whole national election thing. Now, here we are again, on the other side of the voting booth, and heading toward a January swearing in ceremony.

I would like to say that I wish president-elect Obama well. I truly do. He did not get my vote, but he surely got a lot of others. His policy stances are about as opposite of mine as they could be, and his view of our country may be as close to yours as it is distant from mine. I don’t know. But no matter. Senator Obama will be our next president, and I sincerely hope he accomplishes great things for our country.

For my part, I desire for our next president to be a man true to his word. Pre-election day politicians tend to make a lot of promises, as if you didn’t already know that. Senator Obama was no exception to this fact. He made more promises to the American people than I have room to list here. I hope all Americans watch closely to see if he fulfills those promises. I hope that those who voted for him are not disappointed. I hope that those of us who didn’t vote for him are pleasantly surprised. After all, Mr. Obama said he was different, and wanted change. I, for one, am anxious to have my income taxes reduced, as I make much less than $250,000 a year. I am also excited that he will solve the energy crisis, clean up the atmosphere, stop global warming, quickly find and kill Osama bin Laden, win the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, fix public education, give more scholarships to college kids, help the elderly pay for their prescription medicines, fix Medicare and social security, put Americans back to work, stop illegal immigration, and reduce crime in our cities, as I heard him say that he has plans to do those things. My prayers are with you, president-elect Obama. I would say the same, and list the many promises, if we now had a president-elect McCain. I only have one question. Why in the world do you guys and so many others want that job?

Yesterday my dear wife sensed my frustration in all the political stuff, and, as usual, had words to calm me down. She mentioned how great it is that we live in this wonderful country, and that we have free elections. (I could not argue with that.) We ‘change the guard’ without revolution and violence, unlike most of the world. We, as United States citizens can worship however we want, travel wherever we want, say what we want, (as these words prove,) bear arms, and do many other things unthinkable in much of the world. It is true that on November 4th the political pendulum swung to the left, in my opinion, about as far as it could swing. The good news in this, at least from my viewpoint, is that the pendulum must now, inevitably, begin to swing back.

When George Washington was elected president, the people wanted him to be their king. For this reason the father of our country chose to serve only one term. Did you know that? He knew the potential dangers of one man having limitless time in office. These days, we don’t have to worry about that. In fact, presidential administrations now last only about two years before the next bunch of wanna-be’s start jumping up and posturing to be noticed. Pick me! Pick me! If the executive branch isn’t performing up to expectations, those wanna-be’s will be more than happy to help us kick the bums out. I love that part of the system.

I once had a boss who said this: “To me, you are who you say you are, until I find out you’re not.” I think that was a very wise statement. President-elect Obama, I sure hope you are who you say you are.

What does it take to live a Great Life?