Like in one of those old "B" movies, the drums beat in the distance, but only from time to time. They appear closer, then farther away, but they always return. The financial disaster of epic proportions is what we are hearing. Thump, thump, thump. Then it misses a few thumps, but always comes back. The hair on our collective neck does not rise and we are not truly afraid. But those damn drums. Why are they still beating out there? What is coming and when is it going to arrive? Or are the drums simply going to stop beating one day, as we fervently pray they do.
The stock market was down again today, after a hefty drop yesterday. Both days together creating a drop larger than anything since 1987. Thump thump. Just two beats, but big ones. Obama is the elect. The one. Yet, those damn drums are not appeased. Bailout funds are distributed, but still those damn drums. What is lurking out there? Can Obama stave this off? Can he, with his new team, hold back the night? Today he appointed a Chief of Staff. A mean-spirited man, which surprised me, but should not have. Somebody very intelligent and funny said that the new Chief of Staff conducted himself, in the House of Representatives, somewhere between a hemorrhoid and a toothache. Building a coalition to quiet those thumping drums is not going to be advanced by bringing Dobermans into the White House. And the new Chief of Staff is another of those chicken hawks we have become so accustomed to watching lead our country. Rahm Emanuel. Much more Israeli than American. All of his time since graduating from Northwestern has been spent working as a political aide or a politician. Just why is it that we are inundated with people who have no life experience at all outside of leading us around by the nose. Oh, I am sorry, he does have experience outside that box. He went and enlisted with the Israeli Defense Force in 1981 to back the war there by rebuilding truck brakes. I find not a single note of his service, or offering of service, for Desert Shield or Desert Storm. No service in the CIA or NSA. No service anywhere, except as a politician. He has never rebuilt any brakes at all for the U.S. Army or the United States Marine Corps.
But, what the hell, David Axelrod, Obama's campaign director just took over the position as Presidential Advisor, and he has the same track record as Rahm. No service whatever, not even for the Israeli Defense Force (he is Jewish, as well), in his case. Again, in politics all of his life. But nothing else. Nothing? How can we expect these guys to know anything at all about the real world. They are like players of the board game named RISK. Once they have played the board game long enough they know how to handle other countries and even win wars.
Unfortunately, once they get welcomed to the real world, they find that RISK has a few drawbacks, as an educational instrument. The result of the prior RISK players has landed us mired in Iraq and Afghanistan, while all the time we are considering going against Iran with seven armies to their one. We can win that with our advantages (we get three dice and they only get one).
What is 'The One' doing? I have not a clue. I am afraid to write my letter volunteering how we can go out there and get Osama Bin Laden simply because I do not want to end up on the no-fly list or maybe get a free cot at Guantanimo for awhile (I mean, if they have cots, which i doubt). And I hear the drums again. The Asian market is opening right now and the markets there are diving into oblivion. I can hear the drums all the way from the far East. Thump, thump, thump. Quiet. It is a long way away. Way in the distance. But the drums continue to beat.
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