Posted by
The Fabulous Boyce Brothers on Wednesday, February 06, 2008 6:23:37 AM
If there's one thing I can find hope in, it's the transient nature of politics. I remember when Reagan reached out and embraced his bitter rival, George H.W. Bush as his running mate. The two had been going after each other hammer and tong for so long that to see each other on the same stage holding hands in unity seemed to me as disingenuous a political ploy as has ever been witnessed.
Yet, they pulled it off and did great things together. First and foremost, their coming together was able to help bring about the downfall of America's greatest threat at the time. The transient nature of politics being what it is, I've seen more than a few liberal pundits claim that Reagan had no real substantive role in bringing down the Soviet Union. But the only problem is that I was there and witnessed it.
I was working at Lawrence Livermore Laboratories when the Star Wars Laser Program was in full swing. I wasn't a scientist. I was one of the thousands of people who supported those scientists. I watched the news and the papers. There was no dearth of naysayers willing to weigh in on the viability of Star Wars. Thier objections seemed plausible and so I asked one of the main scientists what his thoughts were about the viability of the program...if it would really work.
"Doesn't have to work", he said.
"Come again?", I asked.
The wise old scientist saw that I was out of my element and so he described the situation to me in terms that I was apt to understand, cartoons.
"You've seen the Roadrunner cartoons?"
"yes"
"There's always a segment in those cartoons where the roadrunner is running down the road and the coyote is running behind him, knife and fork in hand, running for all he's worth. Eventually the roadrunner looks behind him, sees the coyote, goes 'beep beep' and kicks on the after-burners leaving the coyote in the dust. You know which segment I'm talking about?"
"of course"
"What does the coyote do ater that?"
"He gives up"
"That's what is happening here. You're watching America going 'beep beep' and kicking on the after burner. The Soviet Union won't be able to keep up. They're already almost bankrupt trying to keep up now. They'll have to fold their tent and go home. Star Wars doesn't have to work. The Soviet Union only has to think it might work"
I never did find out if Star Wars was actually a viable missle defense, but my poker game improved after that lesson.
Which brings me back to a quarter century later and John McCain. There was no blogosphere 25 years ago, but the messages still got out. There were Reagan people and there were Bush people and never the twain would meet. But they did, they came together and pulled off something vitally important to America.
Now there's McCain people and there's Romney people. They're just as divided and bitter enemies as Reagan and Bush were. Yet each has a needed ingrediant to pull off something magic and wonderful. Romney's belief that he was going to be able to turn Washington around by demanding everyone sing a different tune was naive. It was a wonderful thought and worthy of dreaming about but the reality is you're not going to change Washington without some knowledge of how Washington actually works. Mcain, for all his faults, knows how Washington works. The question is, does he want to change how it works?
I don''t think he has a choice. Enough people have spoken for the candidates of change on both sides of the aisle that a candidate who seriously wanted to win had better pay heed. Romney knows how to turn things around and McCain knows how to drive the ship. If there has ever been two more suitable candidates to bring about change in Washington, these two are.
Between the two they have real and viable experience in both Washington and the private sector. Experience that points to a lifetime of success.
John McCain is the unquestioned front-runner right now but he can be steam-rolled very easily by either candidate from the other side of the aisle...unless he is able to convince the conservative base of his party that he really does take them seriously. Th best way to do that is to reach out the olive branch to Romney?
Will it happen? I won't hold my breath. But if it did....watch the afterburners kick in and the republican party leave the democrats in the dust this November,