Well, everybody is breathing just a little bit easier and so they should. For months and months we have heard endless debate on an agonizingly difficult financial situation where the Congress had locked itself into both forced cuts and increased taxes, a terrible combination which would have induced possibly a very severe recession. Since we are not completely out of the one that began in 2008, it would have been disastrous for a portion of the American people. In my opinion, the negotiators did not negotiate. They danced!
For the past several months, instead of hard, tough negotiation sessions, the two sides debated with each other through the evening news. I am no economist and certainly no prophet but I said in this space two months ago that we should not worry and although our representatives in Congress may not be all that bright, they are not insane. Now they have proven me correct on that score at least.
The decision arrived at between the president and the Republican controlled House is not perfect and not final but it has averted a temporary disaster and we can all be appreciative of that. Why did such a serious issue have to be handled by theatrics? Why is the word “bipartisan” become obscene and the word “compromise” despised as meaningless? Republicans never had the chance to win on this issue in any positive way. The president was elected after repeating countless times that the super rich had to pay a little more of their share of the cost of running the country. The position of the Tea Party was that rather than raising even $10 on the super rich, they would rather force a situation where taxes would increase sharply on the poor and middle class, ultimately an untenable position for them, but they stuck to that position until the last hour.
We squeaked by on this one. Let’s hope that the elected officials can deal with the debt ceiling in a little more reasonable manner.

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If there is anyone in the United States that did not know that American politics is a tough, difficult and expensive world, they do now. A two year struggle to choose a president for the next four years is now over. As I said last week, most of us are very thankful for that fact. Will anything be different now?

The last two years were extraordinarily bitter and hostile. It seemed like the government was at a complete impasse. The battle over the debt ceiling took us into a very dangerous situation and was temporarily solved only at the last minute.

I think that we are all happy to note that there are glimmering signs of rationality and a willingness to work together to solve our many and very serious problems. The president’s position is strong and Speaker Boehner has given some indication that he is going to try hard to develop a cooperative spirit in the Republican controlled House. If that works out, it will certainly be a wonderful blessing for the country. We must deal with our problems and continued stalemate, conflict and logjam points us to disaster.

Let’s pray that our leaders are open to responding to reality and that they put the overcoming of these obstacles ahead of their personal views and opinions.

We are reasonable people. Let us move forward and let us move forward together.

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As I have said before, most of us were very happy to get the election behind us. A major decision was made by the American people and with an agonizing process have chosen their leader for the next four years. We haven’t changed the extraordinarily high political content that appears day by day in our media. This election brings a new set of questions and working relationships. Various factors are speculating, jockeying, maneuvering to try and get themselves in the best possible position for this new chapter in American political life.

At this point, I am torn in two directions. I am a person of faith who believes that prayer influences the unfolding of the human story but I am also a fairly practical realistic and know the complex driving force that motivates the human condition. I have been praying for a few days that the leaders in our country will see that the last two years before November 6th were terribly counterproductive for the well-being of this nation. There are lots of names for it. Refusal to compromise, logjam, gridlock, Tea Party revolt, etc., etc. – regardless of the name used, it always meant the same thing. Congress of the United States was simply not able to function. When one realizes that the Congress is an essential component of the federal government, this means that a very important entity was more or less off on the side and that is a disastrous situation.

I am fervently praying that the leaders in Washington will see that theirs is a very special calling. They have to study, plan and decide important areas of life that will affect 300 million people and ultimately the entire world. I am praying that God will give them the wisdom to appreciate this, and when they move forward in good faith to make good plans and decisions that they will be open to God’s guidance. That is so reasonable that I cannot admit that I really being naïve. If, on the other hand, our leaders cannot put pettiness, selfishness and competitive destructiveness behind them, then I pray that the American people realize that they themselves must rise up with a sense of anger and frustration and make determined efforts to put into plan now that this impasse will not continue endlessly.

Onward to 2013.

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At last the election is over and even those who are disappointed in the outcome must breathe a sigh of relief that the endless verbal bombardment, the endless rushing about, rallying, endless, endless speeches, the vast majority of them saying essentially the same thing is now behind us. I have asked this question in this blog before and I have asked it many times – is this the right way to do it? Should it really take two years and more than a billion dollars in order to select the person for this all important office at the top of the United States government? I think not.

I have never heard a serious political figure say that we should take a good look at the system in Europe and discuss using it as a possibility. In Europe, whoever is the head of one of the powerful parties is but one step from being head of state, head of government. A few months ago, the dominant party in France lost the election. The premier stepped down and the head of the opposing party assumed the role of prime minister immediately. It may not sound like much preparation for the office but we must remember that this person was head of the shadow government possibly for years and was watching the unfolding development of events day by day. In my opinion, such a background would make a person much more capable of taking over the government quickly rather than someone who had spent the two preceding years running from primary to primary and any time they weren’t running would be out raising money. Much better to have the man in the shadows with his hand on the tiller ready to take over at a moment’s instance.

As I said, no one suggests that but shouldn’t we at least think about it during these quiet days after the election when we are all so tired of the issue.

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Yes, my friends, it is finally over. If you suffered as I did from the unending flow of repetitious ads and speeches as two major segments of American life fought to either retain or regain the Presidency of our nation, you must be relieved that it is over. THANKS BE TO GOD, IT’S OVER!
We wont know until late tonight or maybe even tomorrow what the actual outcome is, but we do know that this battered, bleeding country will continue to stumble forward into its future buoyed up by the magnificent framework of the Constitution and carried forward by our natural optimism of our people.
The election is over, but the Northeast coast is in absolute agony, and the ramifications of Sandy will stretch our ability to be a loving, cooperative, supportive people.
Let’s put the tv ads back in the can. Throw away those God-awful placards. Pull down the bunting. Let’s help the fifty million of us who have been terribly hurt and are in agony as you and I read this blog. Let’s not just regret it- let’s help in a meaningful way.

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Plans are currently underway to develop a proposed memorial to Dwight Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States and the victorious general of the Second World War. He was elected in 1952. I voted for Adlai Stevenson!

Erecting new memorials almost always generates conflict, hostility and winners and losers. The proposed Eisenhower Memorial is no exception and George Will, whose opinions I always respect but do not always agree with, has entered the fray blistering the proposed four acre memorial to be erected on Independence Avenue across the street from the National Mall. Will says that it is much more of a memorial to the designer than to the general. I have no right to an opinion on that subject but I do agree with Will that Eisenhower ended up being an extraordinarily effective president. Many thought that his skill as a general would not translate easily into the political decisions of the White House.

Will has reminded us of many of Eisenhower’s accomplishments including ending the Korean War, twice resisting the pressure to enter into the Vietnamese conflict, and tough and meaningful elections on racial issues in the early 1950’s. For me, one of the most important accomplishments of this president was that during his eight years in office no American serviceman died in combat! What an accomplishment given the agonizing suffering that our country has endured since he left office.

Sorry Adlai but I don’t think you could have done as well.

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Recently, Anita Perry, speaking in behalf of her husband, she revealed that she heard God’s voice telling her to urge her husband, the Governor of Texas, to run for the presidency of the United States of America. She relayed this message to her husband but he was somewhat hesitant. Finally, however, he did enter the fray. Mrs. Perry then expressed her sadness that her husband had been “brutalized” by other contenders for the same office. She seemed somewhat surprised and disappointed. I am surprised that she was surprised. Attention for the top political office in the world does not necessarily gather a club of first communicants.

Only God and Mrs. Perry know the facts of that conversation but if it occurs again, I would hope that God would urge the governor to be more concerned about the health of the poor children in Texas. That Texas has the highest percentage of un-insured children is a cold, objective fact.

Come on governor – listen up!

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Recognize any of these faces?

Public holidays are expensive for our government, and there is a natural resistance against multiplying them, and actually a tendency in the other direction, to cut back when possible. This is the reality that cut George Washington out of his own special day, and the same is true for Honest Abe Lincoln. I regret this because I think that their contributions to the reality that is the United States of America is so massive, so important, so permanently transformative as to forever have given them their own special day.

Every little child in the country heard the George Washington stories, several of which are actually true! Remember the cherry tree? Every struggling young adult has had the example of Abe Lincoln’s determination in the face of adversity placed before him many times. Now, our kids are told “rejoice and be glad, because today is President’s day!” Do you think that will excite a ten year old, or encourage a discouraged law student? I doubt it.

Despite this sad merger, each of us is free to continue to spotlight the influence that these two national heroes have had in our own individual lives. George Washington is still touching each one of us, and Abraham Lincoln continues to give an example of faithfulness and integrity that is desperately needed in our country today.

The presidency is probably the single most difficult job in our society. We should be thankful that there are men and women willing to seek it, and thankful that when and if they achieve it, they make every effort to give it their best.

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Last week Clinton’s daughter was married in a small town in New York State.  She wanted to have a quiet, private affair but that is rather difficult for a presidential daughter to accomplish.  With all the arrangements that had to be made for security and communications, it was awesomely expensive.  You hear high numbers but nobody really knows the cost of the wedding.

I think that the pricetag is completely unimportant.  What is important is that we all wish her well and pray that she has a happy and blessed marriage.  She is thirty years old and a professional in the world of public health, a field that really needs a tremendous amount of work and she has the temperament to accomplish it.  We must realize that Chelsea’s life has not been all that easy.  She has been in the limelight since she was a child even though her parents tried hard to protect her from that glare.

Two generations ago, presidential children often failed to achieve success in their own lives.  FDR’s five children had a total of 19 marriages!  The Johnson girls, Amy Carter, the Bush twins are manifesting the fact that you can grow up in the difficult world of the spotlight and still develop the skills, temperament and interests to work to improve the quality of life in this country and on the planet.

May God bless them all.

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