By Edwin Cooney
No, I’m not writing about that delicious piece of steak you
may soon slide from the grill onto your dinner plate right next to the
buttered, salted and sour creamed baked potato. I’m writing of that opportunity that only two men in this
nation of over 300 million Americans (including roughly 150 million males) now
have of being elected President of the United States of America.
Willard (Mitt) Romney and Barack Hussein Obama, both of whom
possess some of humankind’s assets (pride, generosity, and awareness) and
humanity’s liabilities (dogmatism, vanity and insensitivity) are on the brink
of becoming the single most powerful human being at the head of humanity’s most
powerful nation.
Although both men are considerably above average in
intelligence, good fortune (any way you want to define fortune), energy, and
ambition, it is likely that any two of us possesses a greater degree of all of
the above than either man.
Thus we come to the root of the matter: we “the people” will
decide which man it will be. There
are, of course, a bevy of political and social scientists as well as Phi Beta Kappa and hillbilly cynics who insist that
some evil corporation or international force invariably manipulates us to elect
a bought and paid for candidate. Nevertheless, until they come up with one
hundred percent airtight documentation of such an assertion, don’t you believe
it!
Since the sun rose over the east coast of the Continental
United States that bright Monday morning of January 1st, 1900, we’ve
only elected nineteen Americans to the presidency. They’ve ranged in age from forty-three years seven months
and twenty-two days (John Kennedy
in 1961) to sixty-nine years eleven months and fourteen days (Ronald Reagan in
1981 upon inauguration day). (Note
that Theodore Roosevelt was only 42 years 10 months and 18 days when he took
office, but he succeeded to the presidency on the assassination of William
McKinley and thus wasn’t elected to the presidency.)
As for education, all but Harry Truman had attended
college. All had been married with
Ronald Reagan being the only divorced president. (Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Warren Harding, John
Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Bill Clinton all had extra marital affairs which
means that the other thirteen presidents were faithful husbands.) Eight of the nineteen men we’ve elected
had no military service: William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding,
Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. All but William McKinley were fathers
of living children. All but John Kennedy were of Protestant faiths. Only one, Theodore Roosevelt, was born
in New York City. All except
Theodore Roosevelt, Taft, Kennedy and Obama were raised in rural America. Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, who
were fifth cousins (they shared a great, great, great, great grandfather),
probably were raised possessing the greatest financial and social advantages. Barack Obama was clearly raised with
the smallest number of advantages.
The question therefore is which of the two combinations of
personality, background and experience will we conclude is most likely to
achieve the greatest degree of security, prosperity and sense of well-being for
America until we elect another president in 2016. Governor Romney comes from a background of devoutly
religious principles and high expectations of ethical and practical
achievement. Professionally, his
bottom line continues to be monetary profit. President Obama’s religious and political principles, in
part, come from black America’s struggle for respectability as well as
achievement. The value of public
service rather than business acumen constitutes the president’s credentials
especially after four years of experience in the White House.
For the next fifty-six days the backgrounds, achievements
and personal integrity of both men will be under continuing attack. It’s possible that, well before
Election Day, large portions of the population will be convinced that one of
these two men ought to be in prison -- not the White House. This sad and degrading likelihood is
only slightly mollified when one realizes that every president going back to
George Washington has been so characterized. George Washington may have been the man largely responsible
for our independence from Great Britain, but he was also the first and only
president to send federal troops into a region of the country to collect a
federal tax (the infamous Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania in 1794).
Those who believe that government is ultimately a business
and ought to be run like one are likely to vote for Governor Romney and
Congressman Ryan. Those who
believe that government is a legitimate tool of the people and ought to be run
by and for them will probably vote to re-elect President Obama and Vice
President Biden.
If however, once this campaign is over, you happen to
realize that both Governor Romney and President Obama are men of high
achievement, possess stellar personal qualities and are equal in their patriotism,
then you possess a sentiment that is indeed VERY rare.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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