Friday, September 26, 2008

Who Needs More Mavericks?

I keep asking myself why the country would want another set of mavericks in the White House. What is a maverick but someone who makes gut-based, go-it-alone, seat-of-the-pants decisions while shooting from the hip and asking questions later?

In the last eight years, this is what mavericks have gotten us:

  • We spent more money than ever in history to finance a war that a maverick administration took on…
  • while at the same time Osama bin Laden runs loose, and the Taliban threatens security in Afghanistan.
  • We have a maverick president who decided that eavesdropping laws in the United States do not really apply to his administration...
  • while skirting the law so that all sorts of illegal tortures can occur.
  • While taking the view—orchestrated by the vice president—that checks and balances between the three governmental branches do not exist, and that this maverick president is nearly King…
  • his administration has allowed the economy to overheat and nearly shut down…
  • and then he asks that his treasury secretary be allowed to run the whole $700 billion bailout with no oversight or inclusion from the other branches. That is logic only a maverick would use.

  • Who needs more of this?

    John McCain has called himself and been known as a maverick for years. He likes the moniker because it is supposed to make him look as though he thinks for himself and is tied to no special interest.

    But a maverick’s gut-based decisions are not what the country needs now.

    One of his first decisions as a Maverick Presidential Candidate was the choice of the “Alaskan Maverick” Sarah Palin. Her reaction to being asked was, of course, a thoughtless, gut-based, “I’m Ready!”

    When asked in a town-hall-style meeting how she would handle foreign affairs if she were suddenly thrust into the presidency, the vice presidential candidate, who recently got her first passport, said, “I’m ready.” This was even before her chats with heads-of-state at the UN last week.

    She could have said that she planned on surrounding herself with the best minds out there. She could have said that she was already setting up a foreign affairs task force to bring her up to speed. She could have said any number of things that would have made her sound thoughtful. Instead, she—like all mavericks—has replaced thoughtful decision making with ego and hubris.

    Next, Maverick John McCain suspended his campaign and called off the presidential debate to run to Washington to “fix” the economy, which he had never really paid much attention to, only to arrive in Washington, do little, and ultimately fail to bring his OWN party together behind their own economic plan.

    Shoot-from-the-hip decisions miss the target too often. Give us a president who will take aim before pulling the trigger.

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    Comments:
    Plus one
     
    I don't need another maverick, but I sure missed my neighborhood blogger. Welcome back, and congrats on your new place!
     

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