Pie in the Sky

I was sick in the gut the past couple of days and not overly enthused about blogging. But now I'm back, and I'm sure the four or five people who read this space will be glad.

McCain's "Victory in Iraq" speech was the silliest speech I never heard (but I read synopses).

Hillary Clinton said of it, ""It sounded a lot like 'Mission Accomplished,' only postponed into 2013. From my perspective, it's just more of the same. It's a continuation of the Bush policies that have been failures."

The famous blogger and pundit Josh Marshall adds, "I must say I had a similar feeling about this ad and speech. Your promises about what you're going to accomplish in four years are implicit, and often explicit, in every presidential campaign. But taking a victory lap over your list of accomplishments that you haven't even accomplished yet does come off a little silly."

Just a couple days ago I quit a band in which the leader kept telling us about all the wonderful things that were happening. Unfortunately, they were all happening in the future tense.

During the Depression, the cynical unemployed had a song about empty promises: "You'll get pie in the sky when you die."

Asking people to participate in a fantasy about the wonderful outcomes that are sure to materialize if we just continue with the same discredited policies that got us lost in the woods is worse than wrong. It's pathetic. And one of the definitions of insantiy (this is A.A. gospel) is "continuing to do what didn't work previously in the hope that it will turn out differently this time."

McCain's sad, little speech is typical of the sad behavior of people unable to admit that they screwed up. It's deep remorse mixed with unbearable arrogance.

On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't be so tough on poor old John McC. He's probably just doing what nearly all politicians habitually do -- making extravagant promises he can't possible keep in order to try to get elected.