TheBanyanTree: The Pursuit of Happiness **Warning Political Commentary**

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I’m so glad I’m part Danish, because Denmark is considered one of the
happiest places on Earth according to a report on 20/20 last night.  They
did point out that Denmark has a homogeneous population, which helps as
Denmark taxes about 60% of people’s incomes.  But they have cradle to grave
healthcare and educational benefits.  A garbage person has just as much
respect as a doctor.  Sounds good to me.  I’ll brush up on my Danish and get
ready to move.

Ray and I watched the New Hampshire primary with interest.  It’s so exciting
to have good candidates running for President in both parties.  When has
that ever happened during my lifetime?  Americans actually have a choice on
who to vote for and won’t necessarily have to vote for someone in order to
avoid having someone else win.  This might be the one year that I won’t have
to vote for Ralph Nader because the DFL or GOP candidates are so bad.

So here is my sizing up of the candidates based on no logic whatsoever:

First, I would vote for John Edwards because he is gorgeous.  I’m so old now
that I’m usually immune from male testosterone, but my hot flashes stop and
I revert back to teenage giddiness whenever I see a picture of him.  Even
though I’m incapable of having children anymore, I would gladly bear his
love child.

But aside from his beauty, he is an intelligent man.  I was more impressed
with him during the last election than that sorry John Kerry.  However, I
believe that the former Senator Edwards doesn’t have the seasoning needed to
be President.  His one term in the Senate doesn’t cut it for me.

This is personal, but his wife is dying and he needs to be with her, so
maybe this isn’t the right time for him to be President.  I notice that she
hasn’t shown up much during his campaign and when she has, she doesn’t look
very well.  Elizabeth Edwards was all over the place during the last
election.  She’s a very cool lady and I feel so bad about her health
situation.

I like Barack Obama (I love his name, it rolls off of my tongue in such a
poetic way) and he’s getting endorsements right and left.  He has Oprah on
his side.  That’s almost better than having God on his side.  Again, as with
Edwards, I feel Obama needs a bit more seasoning.  But that’s OK.  Because .
. .

A lot of our former Presidents did not have a lot of seasoning either.
Bush, two terms as governor of Texas, and plus, he has Daddy (a Washington
insider prior to his own presidency) as an adviser.  Clinton, two terms as
Arkansas governor, Reagan, two terms as California governor, Carter, Georgia
governor.  Not much seasoning for any of these men when I think about it.
So maybe experience doesn’t matter much.

Of course, Hillary Clinton, is the most seasoned.  I want a president who
can tell people to go to hell and I think she can do that and she’s not
afraid to do that.  She’s extremely intelligent and that would be a breath
of fresh air after suffering through eight years with a president who is
barely above border line retarded.  Our country needs someone who can think
fast on their feet and not have to churn through 50 advisers in order to
make a decision.

I like John McCain on the GOP side.  He’s definitely seasoned, no question
about it.  I get the feeling that the GOP is shifting every so slightly
towards the center.  I think some people in the party are finally realizing
that our country is more diverse than just white right wing Christians.  If
the Republican Party continues to cling to the far right, it will lose its
power, because America is marching on with loads of dark skin, Muslims,
Buddhists, Hindus, and all sorts of other people.  The GOP will start
looking like Muslim fundamentalists, kind of out there in extremist land, if
it keeps kissing up to the conservatives.

So, we actually have a chance to have a real president after spending eight
years wandering the wilderness with a president who was not duly elected in
either election anyway.  Daddy called in some favors from the Supreme Court
for the first election and I would bet Karl Rove ordered some ballot
tampering for the second election.

And what did we get after having Bush as president?  We’re mired in a war
that has no basis.  Our economy is spiraling into a recession.  I can’ think
of one good thing he has done for the United States.  The best thing he can
do is leave office and stay on his ranch in Texas.

Then maybe I won’t have to move to Denmark in order to find happiness.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net
margaret.kramer at polarispublications.com

I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's.
~Henry Moore