Endorsing too early? Don’t back the wrong horse now…

On Wednesday our governor, Martin O’Malley, endorsed the candidacy of Hillary Clinton for president in 2008. While it’s not necessarily surprising for the Democrat to endorse one of his own, with O’Malley being just the second governor in the country to do so (after Jon Corzine of New Jersey) it makes me wonder – what if Hillary commits a faux pas or the Barack Obama presidential bid proves to be too much of an allure for the rank-and-file Democrats and he wins the nomination? There is a segment of the country that simply is not appetized by the possibility of our presidency being controlled by two families for what could be 28 years (1989 into 2017.)

On my side, I know that there’s ten Republicans in the mix for the 2008 Presidential bid but it’s far too early for me to make a decision on who I support. Obviously there are some I like better than others but, to be honest, one I’d like to see run hasn’t officially announced that he’s in the race. It’s going to be a couple months yet until I take the time to study all of the candidates and where they stand on the issues, and I think they’ll all still be in it (or at least on the ballot) by February when I have to make my choice in the primary. I just hope it’s not a situation like 2000, where I really supported Steve Forbes but he dropped out about the time of the Ohio primary and I had to vote for Bush because I didn’t want McCain to win. Hate it when I have to vote against someone instead of voting my conscience.

I started pondering this when I recalled that Salisbury mayor Barrie Tilghman was an early supporter of Doug Duncan’s campaign for governor last year. (It’s noted as a throwaway line in this Gazette article about O’Malley picking up union endorsements.) While I’m sure she straightened up and flew right (as far as a Democrat can fly right I suppose), becoming an O’Malley supporter in the end, it makes me wonder if that wasn’t a reason Salisbury was shortchanged by the state? I know Tilghman seems to cast some of the blame for her budget wants not being sated by the available funds on the state as well as fellow Democrat County Executive Rick Pollitt.

But she’s a rare breed of Democrat that finds any sort of fault with her fellow Democrats. Now Republicans are always fair game for blame by the Democrats. Who can forget New Orleans Mayor Ray “Schoolbus” Nagin and his complaints about how the Bush administration handled the aftermath of Katrina, meanwhile sparing a great deal of criticism for his fellow Democrat, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco. And this week Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius made sure to find fault with Bush for supposedly taking all of her National Guard assets to fight in Iraq instead of having them available to assist with the aftermath of the Greensburg tornado.

I’m going to segue here into one comment I have on the Greensburg situation. The fact is that, even with diminished resources available from the state of Kansas, we’re only talking about a town roughly the size of Delmar, MD populationwise. It’s a significant number of people displaced but nowhere near the scope of natural disasters like Katrina or man-made ones like the destruction of the World Trade Center.

And this brings me to another point. At times I think we on the Republican side are far too nice, and that’s probably why I’m not a politician any more than to the extent that I am. Sometimes I’m a little bit on the vindictive side and it would be very tempting for me to say, ok governor, you don’t like how we respond, see how you do without any help. And why are you whining to me anyway – it’s not like Kansas has never been hit by a tornado! You did see the Wizard of Oz, right? Sheesh.

Instead of being ungrateful because some of her National Guard is off – gasp! – fighting to defend our nation, Sebelius ought to be damn happy that the American taxpayers continue to support disaster relief despite all of the fraud and waste it entails and has for decades. It seems to me that, whether the government hands them checks or not, the people of Greensburg will get through this and if they’re anything like the Americans I know they will rebuild the city in an even better fashion than it was before.

And the reason I believe this is because I don’t think they’re going to point the finger of blame at the federal government for causing the tornado as a plot to decimate the minority population or dither and bicker about what sort of building should go on the Ground Zero site – the people of Greensburg, typical small town red-state America, will take some time to mourn those who died, then roll up their sleeves and get to work as generations of Americans have when faced with a natural disaster. It’s only in the last few years (say, six or so) that the blamemongers have become the norm. Let’s see if Greensburg can show us the way back to what it should be.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

2 thoughts on “Endorsing too early? Don’t back the wrong horse now…”

  1. I think you are right that there is an important segment of Americans that would not be happy that the Bush/Clinton families could dominate the presidency for 28 years, if Hillary Clinton is elected and serves 2 terms. In a nation of 300 million, it would be hard to believe that just a Clinton and a Bush are the most qualified for president.

  2. I’m also having a tough time looking for the candidate that I want to sit in the White House. I was just wondering the other day if Forbes will make another run.

    I’m not committed to a single party either, so the choices are many, liking them is another story.

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