Shoutin' Joe Wilson

It’s getting more and more embarassing to even talk about politics lately since the politicians are behaving worse than grade school children, but there’s no avoiding Joe Wilson’s remarks toward President Obama at the lunch or dinner table today.  If you didn’t watch the speech last night and haven’t read any headlines yet, Joe Wilson (Republican Representative from South Carolina) shouted “You lie!” during the presidential address while Obama told the public that illegal immigrants will NOT be eligible for any kind of proposed universal health care.  There are two main issues at stake here worth talking about.

The first issue is the total lack of respect by adults we have elected to represent us.  Regardless of the political party, politicians are elected to hold a higher standard but have often sunk lower than our worst citizens.  Yesterday it was the Republicans acting like children, but tomorrow it might be the Democrats.  What I found far worse than Wilson’s shout out¹ was the premeditated decision by some members of Congress to bring in signs or purposely feign interest in the message.  It’s not a baseball game, it’s a speech by the President of the United States.  Questioning an authority figure is acceptable – in fact, it is our RIGHT – but knowing when to do it separates adults from children.

The next issue is the semantics of the statement in question.  Despite the childish behavior from the audience, it would be nice for a little clarification or detail on any statement by a politician, President included.  Stating that illegal immigrants will not receive healthcare benefits may be true, but one of Obama’s major priorities since accepting the office has been to quickly legalize millions of illegal immigrants² with little paperwork, so his comment last night needed some qualification.  It’s the same as refusing a man named Peter into the Men Named Frank Club only to officially change Peter’s name to Frank and let him in.

The sooner both sides stop trying to fool the public, the sooner trust can be regained.

Read on:

WSJ.com – President Makes His Pitch

NYTimes.com – Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority (from 4/8/09)

FDR = Democrat

It may seem elementary for the middle aged sect, but for those in their 20s or 30s who don’t recall a time in the United States before Ronald Reagan, knowing who was a Democrat or a Republican is anything but a slam dunk for the historically challenged.

While the definition of the party lines have changed over the past century, it is still important to know who was what.  If you are reading this, you probably already know that the Bushes and Reagan were Republicans and Clinton was a Democrat.  As for the decades before Reagan: Nixon and Eisenhower were Republicans, and Carter, Johnson (LBJ), Kennedy (JFK), Truman, and Franklin Roosevelt (FDR) were Democrats. 

One way to remember the important Democratic presidents of the past few generations are those catchy initials – they all belong to Democrats.  No one calls Nixon “RMN” or Eisenhower “DDE,” so when you hear a 3-letter initial for a recent president, chances are he was a Democrat.  It’s also a good way to separate your Roosevelts.  FDR?  Democrat.  “Teddy” Roosevelt, devoid of a catchy 3-letter nickname?  Republican.

Read on:

InfoPlease.com – Presidential Elections