Well, our Commander in Chief came to Great Falls, MT today, and damn near the entire city and base shut down because of it.
I don’t get it. It’s just a guy, and we all knew what he was going to talk about: Social Security. His whereabouts might be a tightly-held secret, but his agenda isn’t. So why is it that every Tom, Dick, and Harry has to go out of their way to see the guy? Granted, he’s the “Leader of the Free World” [sub]which I submit is open to interpretation[/sub] and all that shit, but c’mon. If you’re just there for a cheap thrill, then here’s a quarter and go to the porn store.
FWIW: I can understand losing Wednesday. Our boss’s boss, a three-star General was in town for the full day. A lot of people were busy.
Why do I bitch? Because I have an operational mission involving a construction project with 20 people, a half million dollars to spend, and over 2-million in equipment inventory.
We were supposed to leave Tuesday for New Mexico. On hearing some things this week, I put a screeching halt to everything, so I could consult with my boss on what he needs me to work around. . . but where is he? Drooling over some innane speech, that doesn’t apply to him, solely because he wants to “meet the President”. Jeezus, chances are you’ll get a glimpse of him from 500 feet back.
My bitch: There are some things that can wait. All I needed was to talk to you for fifteen minutes today, but you blow me off today because “Oooh, the POTUS is here! OooOOooOooOOOOooh . . .” Kind sir, please get a clue and remind yourself that there are other things going on than your personal agenda.
Tripler
It’s one fuckin’ dude in a suit. And he’s not even speaking about anything interesting.
If I had the chance to actually meet the President, I’d go. If it wasn’t too much trouble, and I didn’t get strip-searched, and I didn’t have to sign a loyalty oath, and I didn’t have to go downtown in rush hour, and … Come to think of it, maybe it would be easier if he just dropped by my place.
shrug
Some people find him inspiring. Tons of people went to see Martin Luther King Jr. speak, but they all knew he was just going to talk about how people of different races should get along.
If that analogy bothers you, just think of anybody who was popular but known to speak about a certain topic.
The prez is on a whirlwind tour to sell the public (in Democratic congressional districts) on his grand plan for percussive adjustment on the Social Security system. You may be shocked to learn that I think the idea of privatizing part of SS could be a good idea, if done right. The part I can’t figure out is why he thinks he has to lie to us about the “crisis.” His figures on when the SS system will “go bankrupt” are way off the figures from the Congressional Budget Office (controlled by his own party.) I saw his private-sector toady Dick Armey on Wall Street Week with Fortune the other day, talking about preserving the SS trust fund as if there were actually money in there.
That mythical lock box has only IOUs in there, folks. Congress’s prestidigitators took all the money long ago. In its place, there are government bonds. Guess who has to pay those bonds…it’s you. Now here’s the Catch-22 part. The POTUS wants to make his tax cuts permanent, so nobody can ever pay off those IOUs. We’ll be selling new bonds to pay off the old bonds.
Yeah, but you can’t call your mom and tell her you shook the hand of/got waved to by/gave the finger to a peep show TV screen.
Well, OK, you could, but ew.
That said, I feel your pain. President Clinton was here constantly. Whenever POTUS comes to town his helicoptors land downtown right around the corner from my office. There’s street closures, cops, a sudden increase in well-dressed “homeless” (Yeah, guys, you’re really fooling us – that wire’s to your homeless-guy walkman. Nice Dockers.) and just generally hassle. The current president, OTOH, hateshateshates New York. He’s here once a year to yell at the UN and for the Convention and of course following 9-11 and that’s about it. I wonder if I can get the moderators of the 2008 debates to ask “OK, guys (or ladies), straight up – which of you two promises to chopper into New York less often?”
It all sounds like a lot of fuss. I rather like living in a country where you can be out for an early morning stroll around the harbour and run into the Prime Minister who’s also having his morning exercise (accompanied by one rather inefficient looking policeman) and chat with him for a couple of minutes with no bother.
