PAUL GORDON
In nearly 60 years of paying attention to politics and its variety of characters, little surprises me anymore. I can still get angry and pleased, but not really shocked.
Then Katie Britt hit my television screen and stunned me a little. I’m not talking about her looks, but rather her appearance. Her delivery. Her dramatics.
I have done a lot of community theater and have seldom seen a performance like that. And if I did, my first thought would be, “I think she’s overdoing it a bit.” If that was an audition for a play I was directing, I doubt she’d get the part.
Many have said that that was simply her heartfelt discussion of life as she knows it. Bull. Her kitchen alone shows her life isn’t as bad as what she made it sound like, and her background (available for viewing on Google) shows she doesn’t know how difficult life can be other than what she has been told.
Anyway, I’ve already used too much space on her appearance. Her message, though, is something else. Straight out of the GOP playbook when it has little or nothing specific to complain about. She trotted out the tired old line of “are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Anyone who says, “No,” is probably lying.
Four years ago today we were all hunkered down in our homes, frightened by what was coming next as COVID-19 ravaged the world. We watched horror unfold in large cities where refrigerator trucks were brought to hospitals to be used as temporary morgues for those who died from the illness that struck so quickly.
We implored our loved ones to stay home and stay masked while discovering on Facebook people we knew were among the victims. And all we could do was send emails or Facebook messages of condolences because there weren’t any funerals — or we didn’t feel safe going to them.
I could keep going but if you are reading this you know what I’m talking about. You remember watching as our then-president refused to concede to the experts and instead tried to tell us he would figure it out. How about ingesting bleach? Would that work?
The economy tanked, the jobs market plummeted and prices soared. And few blamed that on Trump because the rational among us knew it wasn’t really his fault. A president cannot control as much as some think he can, like prices at the gas pump or grocery store.
What a president can do, however, is instill in his constituents a sense of hope, a belief in our people and our ability to overcome problems to become strong again. He can work with others to solve problems with solutions that benefit everyone, not just himself.
In the last four years America has become great again and it wasn’t because of the people wearing the red hats or their leader. It’s because of time, of history, of belief in God and because of simple laws of supply and demand — needs expressed and needs met.
It is because of wise leadership that is overcoming a do-nothing, shortsighted Congress to somehow restore our economy with a stronger-than-ever jobs market and record-setting stock market. Our recovery from the ravages of COVID has been best among the world and that is because of the strength of our people.
There is still much to be done; I know that. I’m tired of paying $3.50-plus at the gas pump. The border crisis continues to drag, and will until the next election, at least. Some say that is a stain on our country. A real stain would be electing as our president a fraudster found guilty of sexual assault and still facing nearly a hundred more criminal charges.
“Same old, same old” some will say. A broken record. Remember, a broken record is cracked all the way through and will repeat whichever side is played. Educate yourself and decide which side resonates the most for you.
Election Day is not that far off.
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Speaking of “same old, same old”: Recently I watched a video of a meeting I was at on a cold Monday afternoon in early February, 2007. It was the day after that year’s Super Bowl and from the discussion I realized it has been 17 years since the Bears have played in the Big Game.
The meeting was at the Journal Star and it was the daily story budget meeting, where the various editors decided what stories would be the leading pieces in the next day’s edition. I was business editor and was one of about 10 around the conference table. There were more journalists in that room that day than there are total at 1 News Plaza today, which shows the sad state of local journalism now.
Anyway, the copy desk chief that day was the late, great Steve Olin and he was reading the top stories from around the world of that day. The topics included trouble along the Gaza Strip, Hamas and Israelis, tensions in Iran and how the White House was dealing with them. Even Rudy Giuliani was in the headlines.
Had I not known better I could’ve guessed it was from yesterday.