{"id":7141,"date":"2018-04-19T16:01:40","date_gmt":"2018-04-19T16:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=7141"},"modified":"2018-05-03T20:31:11","modified_gmt":"2018-05-03T20:31:11","slug":"oh-but-for-an-hour-of-almost-anybody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/?p=7141","title":{"rendered":"“Oh, but for an hour” … of ALMOST ANYBODY!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Oh, but for an hour<\/a>\u201d \u2026 of a\u00a0president<\/a>\u00a0who doesn\u2019t just \u201ccurse the stupid\u00a0darkness<\/a>!<\/strong>\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

<\/h1>\n

Two years ago \u2013 on April 4, 2016 \u2013 I posted\u00a0On Reagan, Kennedy \u2013 and \u201cDick the Butcher<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 The post had over 2,000 words, while the \u201cideal\u201d word-count for a blog post is half that.\u00a0\u00a0(1,000 words or less.*)\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0That post in turn was a review of June 2015\u2019s\u00a0\u201cGreat politicians sell hope<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0post came in just under 1,800 words.<\/p>\n

Since then I\u2019ve tried to shorten my posts.\u00a0 That’s under the theory that the average blog-reader has the “attention span of a\u00a0gerbil<\/a>.”\u00a0 So here\u2019s a short-and-sweet version of those longer, long-ago posts.<\/p>\n

To begin with,\u00a0Dick the Butcher<\/a>\u00a0was a character in\u00a0William Shakespeare<\/a>\u2018s play,\u00a0Henry The Sixth, Part 2<\/a>.\u00a0 (Who was in turn \u201ca killer as\u00a0evil as his name implies.”)\u00a0 <\/cite>He’s the guy who famously said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0first thing we do<\/b>, let\u2019s\u00a0kill all the lawyers\u2026<\/b>\u201c<\/a><\/em><\/h3>\n

To that I responded:\u00a0 The\u00a0real reason<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Americans don\u2019t like lawyers \u2013 or politicians for that matter \u2013 is that they \u201caccurately reflect our own\u00a0dark side<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 Thus my thought was that the better rule would be:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe first thing we do is<\/em>\u00a0kill all the clients!<\/em><\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem with lawyers is \u2013 after all \u2013 that they\u2019re only doing what their clients\u00a0want<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>them to do\u2026\u00a0\u00a0Which seems pretty much true of politicians as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the general tenor of both \u201cDick the Butcher<\/a>\u201d and \u201cGreat politicians<\/a>\u201d was more positive.<\/p>\n

Or at least it was to the point of\u00a0reminiscing<\/a>, back to\u00a0a time when\u00a0political\u00a0arch-enemies<\/a>\u00a0-like\u00a0Ronald Reagan<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tip O\u2019Neill<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 could and did\u00a0sup<\/a>\u00a0with each other.\u00a0 And this was true\u00a0even though they\u00a0were<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>political\u00a0arch-enemies<\/a>, but not when the day\u2019s work was done.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

(In other words, we didn\u2019t have all the political hostility so prevalent these days.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"030618Which led to this thought:\u00a0 Donald Trump has done\u00a0one<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0thing positive.\u00a0 He\u2019s made\u00a0\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>politicians look better and\u00a0 better.\u00a0\u00a0(See\u00a0George W.\u00a0Bush\u00a0Reportedly Sounds Off\u00a0On Trump: \u2018Sorta Makes Me Look Pretty Good<\/a>.\u2019)\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Which was pretty much the point of\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGreat politicians<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

That post noted that our\u00a0best presidents \u2013 including JFK and Ronald Reagan \u2013 were able to \u201csell themselves\u201d by giving Americans some\u00a0hope for the future<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 It also noted that maybe\u00a0today\u2019s current crop of nasty, negative politicians simply reflect the nasty, negative voters who make up way<\/strong> <\/em>too large a part of our population.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

(\u201cThe first thing we do is<\/em>\u00a0kill all the voters!<\/em><\/strong>\u201d)<\/p>\n

Which brings us to the idea that it’s\u00a0better to light a single candle\u00a0than curse\u00a0the\u00a0darkness<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0(See also\u00a0Better to Light a Candle\u00a0Than to Curse the Darkness<\/a>.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The quote itself is \u201coften misattributed,\u201d generally to Eleanor Roosevelt or \u201cclaimed to be an ancient Chinese proverb.\u201d\u00a0 But in 1960 John F. Kennedy alluded<\/a>\u00a0to the quote in his acceptance speech, after receiving the Presidential nomination of the Democratic Party:<\/p>\n

We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle<\/strong>\u00a0that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(“Oh, for a safe and sane future…”)\u00a0<\/em> Which brings up the sentiment alluded to in the post-title.<\/p>\n

It was first noted in\u00a0\u201cOh, for an hour of Truman<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 (From April 2015.)\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0That post pointed out that the first \u201cOh, for an hour\u201d harkened back<\/a>\u00a0to Andrew Jackson.\u00a0 \u00a0And<\/em> <\/strong>that sentiment was said between the time Abraham Lincoln was elected and when he actually took office.\u00a0 (On March 4, 1861, not the January 20th swearing-in day of today.\u00a0 I.e., some 118 days after the election.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

So anyway, that sentiment was expressed by Democrats, members of the incumbent president’s own party.\u00a0 (That incumbent president was James Buchanan<\/a>.\u00a0 And, “Do you see the irony?)\u00a0 <\/em>So here’s the quote on the quote, from \u201cOh, for an hour of Truman<\/a>:”<\/p>\n

Lincoln found himself armed with nothing but words to stop the South from seceding before he could even take office\u2026\u00a0\u00a0 President James Buchanan<\/a><\/em>, nearing 70 \u2026 looked at the Constitution and saw his hands being tied by a lack of specific instruction. \u00a0The cry went up from frustrated members of his own party: \u201cOh, but for an hour of Jackson!<\/strong>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is a sentiment I find myself\u00a0alluding<\/a>\u00a0to myself, more and more these days.\u00a0 But now I’m up to about 1,300 words for this post, so it’s time to wrap things up.\u00a0 (Keeping in mind the average blog-reader’s \u201cattention span of a\u00a0gerbil<\/a>.”\u00a0 And I wonder if Moses had a similar problem?) <\/em><\/p>\n

One point of\u00a0\u201cAn hour of Truman<\/a>\u201d was that Harry was open-minded.\u00a0 (“Willing to listen to ‘what the other fella has to say.’\u201d)\u00a0<\/em> Another was that he was an avid student of history.\u00a0 As he said:<\/p>\n

There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know\u2026 \u00a0 [G]o back to old Hammurabi<\/a>, the Babyonian emperor…\u00a0 \u00a0Why, he had laws that covered everything, adultery and murder and divorce, everything\u2026\u00a0 Those people had the same problems as we have now.\u00a0 Men don\u2019t change.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is probably true.\u00a0 (Sometimes unfortunately so.)\u00a0<\/em> And Harry also<\/em> used to say, “The buck stops here.”\u00a0 But it seems we now have a president better known for\u00a0passing the buck<\/a>.\u00a0 (Attributing to “another person or group one’s own responsibility.”)\u00a0 <\/em>Which leads us back to:<\/p>\n

Oh, but for an hour of Truman<\/a>\u00a0(or almost<\/span> anybody else)…<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

President Harry Truman<\/a>, and the sign he made famous\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

* \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 *<\/p>\n

For the upper image I Googled \u201cpeanuts cartoon you stupid darkness.\u201d\u00a0 I found the featured image under\u00a0Peanuts Cartoon You Stupid Darkness\u00a0\u2013 Image Results<\/a>, and specifically at and courtesy of\u00a0Beings Akin.wordpress.com<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>See also\u00a0\u201cYou\u00a0stupid\u00a0darkness!\u201d and 29 other\u00a0Peanuts\u00a0quotes for everyday use<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 It shows the \u201cstupid darkness\u201d cartoon in strip form, rather than \u201ctwo-tiered.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Re: Ideal length of blog posts.\u00a0 See\u00a0How long should a\u00a0post\u00a0be \u2026 Yoast<\/a>,\u00a0What is the\u00a0Ideal\u00a0Word Count for the Perfect Blog\u00a0Post?<\/a>, and\/or\u00a0Blog Post Word Count: Is There a Magical\u00a0Number<\/a>?<\/em><\/p>\n

The Reagan-Kennedy image<\/em>\u00a0is courtesy of\u00a0www.boston.com\/bigpicture\/2009\/08\/senator_ted_kennedy<\/a><\/em>. The caption: \u00a0\u201cSenator Edward Kennedy talks with President Ronald Reagan, left, on June 24, 1985, as they look over an American Eagle that graced President John F. Kennedy\u2019s desk during a fund raising event for the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at McLean, Virginia. \u00a0(AP Photo\/Charles Tasnadi).\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The “W … real politicians<\/strong>” image is courtesy of the Washington Examiner\u2019s April 11, 2018 article:\u00a0\u00a0George W.\u00a0<\/a><\/em>Bush:<\/a><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Trump\u00a0<\/a><\/em>\u2018makes\u00a0me\u00a0look\u00a0pretty\u00a0good<\/a>.’<\/em><\/p>\n

Re\u00a0\u00a0Passing the buck<\/a>.\u00a0 One theory says the term came from poker.\u00a0 Or consider this:<\/em><\/p>\n

Another less common but arguably less fanciful attribution is to the French expression\u00a0bouc \u00e9missaire<\/a><\/i>, meaning “scapegoat,” whereby passing the\u00a0bouc<\/i>\u00a0is equivalent to passing the blame or onus.\u00a0 The terms\u00a0bouc \u00e9missaire<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0scapegoat<\/a><\/i>\u00a0both originate from an\u00a0Old Testament<\/a>\u00a0(Lev. 16:6\u201310<\/a>) reference to an animal that was ritually made to carry the burden of sins, after which the “buck” was sent or “passed”\u00a0into the wilderness to expiate them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which sound more like our current “president…”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The lower image is courtesy of\u00a0Everyone Is Butchering \u2018the Buck Stops Here<\/a>,\u2019 which said the phrase did\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0mean a president can be blamed for everything bad that happens on his watch, as used today.\u00a0 Instead it was aimed at \u201cMonday morning quarterbacking\u201d (also known as \u201cwhining<\/strong>\u201c):\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, it\u2019s easy for the Monday morning quarterback to say what the coach should have done, after the game is over.\u00a0 But when the decision is up before you \u2013 and on my desk I have a motto which says The Buck Stops Here\u2019 \u2013 the decision has to be made.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oh, but for an hour\u201d \u2026 of a\u00a0president\u00a0who doesn\u2019t just \u201ccurse the stupid\u00a0darkness!\u201c * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * \u00a0 * Two years ago \u2013 on April 4, 2016 \u2013 I posted\u00a0On Reagan, Kennedy \u2013 and \u201cDick the Butcher.\u201d\u00a0 The post had over 2,000 words, while the \u201cideal\u201d word-count for a blog post is half that.\u00a0\u00a0(1,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7141"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7233,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7141\/revisions\/7233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiawasp.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}