Politicians and speech

One of my favorite topics. Why do politicians get themselves in trouble by saying stupid things. For the most part, I believe it is because they spend so much effort trying to convince us they don't believe the things they believe.

Recent examples include George Allen and the 'Maccaca' moment, John Kerry and his badly delivered 'Joke' and now Barak Obama and the wasted lives remark.

I don't think anyone can interpret the mind of John Kerry. He is getting toward the Al Gore range of insanity. He is a good case in point. He is a radical left wing politician. There is nothing wrong with being left wing. Just be willing to tell people that is you. He is safe to run that way in his home state. He is comfortable with this persona. When he has to step out onto the national sage though, he has to put on his moderate, mainstream face. Add to that the fact that he does not seem to think well on his feet, and we have a gaffe a minute.

Allen I don't know much about, so can't comment on his troubles except that he let himself into a bad situation that probably has killed his political career.

Obama is an interesting case. Here is a guy that has risen to rock star status based on a very short paper trail. His votes in the Senate are very far to the left, and is admittedly anti-war. Many of the anti war movement truly believe that the lost lives are wasted. Does he believe that. He says no in his apology. Until we see other evidence we cannot truly make a determination. I think Senator Obama needs to answer a simple question that no one has been able to answer to my satisfaction. How can you support the troops without supporting their mission? These are not draftees. They are there by choice. If he believes they are not, (despite the fact that surveys continue to show that they support the mission by wide margins) then he needs to explain why he thinks they are there. This could be a John Kerry-ish statement so expect his not to go there.

John Edwards. Another so-called mainstream, moderate Democrat. Much has been written about the two bloggers he hired with a very vulgar, anti Christian paper trail. Mr. Edwards says he does not share their views and believes they had no intention to impugn any ones faith. Sounds good. The question has to be, did he read their work and just not think it was offensive, or did he not read their work? Either way it doesn't make him look good. Do we want a President who hires people for important jobs without fully vetting them? If he did read their work and not think much of it what should we think about that? It comes down to language. Sound bytes and language are not the same.

Certainly Democrats are not the only people guilty of stupid actions. Former Ohio Governor Bob Taft had a gaffe a minute also. It is a politician disease. It comes down to honesty and authenticity. Why do they feel like they can hide the things they believe. I can only come down to something I have written often, we let them. As long as they get away with these lame answers and explanations, they will find no reason to change. We don't get the leaders we expect, we get the leaders we inspect. That is a paraphrase of something a boss told me years ago about managing employees, but it fits here. The press will give them a two year anal exam about whether they smoked pot in 1967, but they fact that they say different things at different times as to how they will govern doesn't seem to pique the interest of the average reporter. Sad!!