GAME OVER--THE NOT-SO-(AL)MIGHTY MR. OBAMA STRIKES OUT

GAME OVER--THE NOT-SO-(AL)MIGHTY MR. OBAMA STRIKES OUT
By Andy Weddington
Friday, 16 September 2011

"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?" Will Rogers



For today, a little history, literature, current events, politics, and sports delivered with a touch of staccato...


In 1888 Ernest Thayer penned a poem about baseball titled, "Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in 1888". The closing stanza about the hometown hero as follows...

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville -- mighty Casey has struck out.

No question the one some believe a sultan, and hometown hero, will go down swinging, wildly, but Mr. Obama is a one-term wonder. He, like mighty Casey, has struck out.

That hardly original observation and prediction confidently supported with five letters forming two words: "talk" (and) "walk"--too much "t" and too little, if any, "w." Look around, signs abound--unemployed family, friends, and neighbors; tight money; empty residential real estate; empty commercial real estate; businesses out of business; struggling businesses; businesses that need to expand and cannot; businesses wanting to start and cannot; wobbly markets; wasteful stimulus spending; inane debt; self-serving bandaid jobs plans; hindering policies; etc. And then there's Solyndra--an Obama "green" fiasco, looking kind of criminal, that just might prove one among more. There's always more. Fact or fiction, it's as if every act possible to wreck our country's economy purposeful. Outcomes--they matter not how intended nor realized. A mess is a mess.

Losers make excuses and blame others. So the president's last address to congress and our nation no surprise and right in line with Charles Krauthammer's early-in-the-term narcissist diagnosis--finger pointing; air of royal impatience; smug scowling under hooded eyes; pleas of 'help me' and 'pass this act now;' and void of reference to personal failure. At least there's consistency. Though a personal crisis is not, necessarily, a national emergency the line is blurry. But, in other words and as has appeared previously in this forum...

"Don't Confuse Effort With Results."

Mr. Obama's tired explanations and rationalizations, though more polished, sound a lot like Yogi Berra isms, "Slump? I ain't in no slump...I just ain't hitting."

Another year+ of talk is a certainty. Screwballs. Spitballs. Curves. Sliders. Sinkers. And fastballs. We're close enough to three years of him and them--steeeeeerike three! More like steeeeeerike twenty-three. Whiffs all. Another year will not make any difference. Besides, there are no mulligans in America's favorite pastime.

As the comedic master of dry wit, Stephen Wright, astutely and correctly observed, "Anywhere is walking distance, if you've got the time."

But time's run out, to walk anywhere.

And our disillusioned, ever-growing and angry impatient public will not balk. Nor wait for a 7th inning stretch (in the 3rd year of a second term). They'll be running--sprinting--to the polls. The dopey results of 2008 not to be repeated. Nope. It will not happen.

It's the swing voters who'll ensure a new game. Count on it--fully.

Next batter--player to be named later--up.

And whomever it may be has had ample time to bear witness success will not come easy. And as there are parallels between baseball and politics, all the players would be wise to read "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game" by Michael Lewis. Who will have the smarts to do so and figure it out? Who will be in a league of their own?

In the end, it takes a bat and ball(s) to play the game. Mitt optional.

Hence forward, pro incumbent media will configure all sorts of rally caps. Of course. Mere distractors. And the closer to Election Day the sillier, and nastier, they will be--making for good entertainment. Nothing more.

The not-so-(al)mighty Mr. Obama--charismatic, competent orator, good guy, likeable or not--simply can't hit. Like the mighty Casey, he's struck out. Game over.

A few decades ago the executive officer--the XO, a Harvard man and economist, of a rifle company in 6th Marines energetically said in reference to just about everything going right, "That's what I'm talking about." Looks like 'Bullet' will be able to reprise that line come next November. And, as back in the day, I'll laugh in agreement.

Come the January following the next November there'll be a new game in Mudville--a fitting moniker for Washington. The ump--our Chief Justice--by administering the oath,  bellows, "Play ball!" And soon thereafter we'll see whether we hired a hitter, or a Casey; again.

Rough game, politics. Sometimes, baseball. In both arenas, you'd best bring game and not just talk one. The big lesson for players in both sports--whether president, congressman, pitcher, or shortstop--is playing is a privilege not a right nor entitlement. And when the parties to whom you are under contract start boo'ing, hissing, and heckling you'd damn well better listen, and listen closely, because change is in the air. That's the way the games are played.

How ironically hilarious some think the current administration is, well, bush-league. And that is a pretty good deduction on opposing fronts. The good and to his credit, Mr. Obama has carried on, actually dramatically stepped up, the Bush practice of ruthlessly hunting down and killing terrorists thereby protecting our country. The big one is no more. The president seemingly grasps national defense. To the contrary and likewise to his credit, practically all things economic touched meets the understood definition (of bush-league). Whether his attitude toward that which fuels America--capitalism and all faults therein--is definance or ignorance or indifference matters not.  Today's polls (credible ones), though always subject to change, make that point crystal clear--an overwhelming percentage do not agree with Mr. Obama's handling of the economy.

Baseball. Politics. Why is Mr. Obama striking out? Simple. He's a manager. And nothing more than average. Presidents are supposed to lead. He's not. He's out. Maybe there will be opportunity in some community to organize a baseball team. But neither manage nor lead that team must he.

And that's what I'm talking about.

Post Script

They play hardball--politics and baseball and everything else--in New York. Tough crowds. A GOP victory, Tuesday, filling disgraced Weiner's seat in the House sent a message from fed up New Yorkers: You're off to the showers, Obama. A free agent you soon shall be.