You know who doesn't get President's Day off -- in addition to those of us with real jobs, I mean? Presidents. Even when Congress is off catching some slack, he's stuck with it.
I'm trying to picture it. Scene: The roof of the White House, where our Chief Executive has just bummed a Marlboro from a Secret Service agent, out of sight of the roof hatch so maybe Mrs. Chief Executive* won't find him, perhaps musing aloud about how bitter clingers like me are so darned bitter and clingy....
A cellphone rings, just a few bars of Hail To The Chief. "Aw, fertheluv'a-"
It rings again.
SSa: "Hadn't you better get that, sir?"
"Hmpf. It's President's Day, you know." Another ring. "Oh-- Hello? Yes, speaking, what? What? No, they burned--? Aw, crap. Look, call Biden. Yes, Joe. It's President's Day. I don't have to deal with this today."
Click.
Ah, but he can't do that. At the very least, he's got to be on-call wherever he goes. So, sure, I had to work today; but at least I'm not having to live over the shop and be available at all hours of the day and night.
There's a lot of things to take issue with this President about -- or with any sitting President, for that matter -- but it's still a pretty lousy job, even with fancy vacations to exotic and/or picturesque locations; there's always the guy with the launch-code "football" and the guy with the red phone and the guy with the other secure phones and there's no Executive-Ordering them away. It's something of a consolation to me to see that he's stuck with it, like a car-chasing dog that finally catches one.
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* Also, what's with all the buzz over her hairdo? C'mon, people, isn't there more important news? First ladies have been kind of annoying at least ever since Eleanor Roosevelt crowned herself National Den Mother but the wonderful thing about First Ladies is we don't vote for 'em, they don't hold office and the only power they have is the power to persuade. If they're not nice (or can't fake it), even a sympathetic press tends to get restive. If she's busy hectoring kids about eating right and getting exercise, well, that might do 'em some good and there's a long, long list of worse stuff she could be doing.
ON A CLASS TRIP TO THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART I MET MRS ROOSEVELT SHE SAID HELLO TO THE ENTIRE 4TH GRADE CLASS
ReplyDeleteHAD QUITE A CONVERSATION WITH HER SHE WAS QUITE A GRACIOUS LADY LONG AFTER SHE LEFT THE WHITE HOUSE SHE WAS REAL
Ms. Bobbi:
ReplyDeleteLike he was stuck the night of September 11, 2012?
Leatherneck
Yep. --Even when the rat beneath the White House floorboards passes the buck, he's still stuck. If nothing else, history hands Presidents the bill for what was done on their watch.
ReplyDelete"Ah, but he can't do that. At the very least, he's got to be on-call wherever he goes. So, sure, I had to work today; but at least I'm not having to live over the shop and be available at all hours of the day and night."
ReplyDeleteSorry, there's too much information coming out about the disgraceful, negligent manner in which he handled the violation of sovereign United States territory to do much more than think what a very nice, fair person you must be.
Would you ask this guy to take care of your cats if you had to be gone for a couple of weeks? Would you feel confident he was feeding them the way he said he would, every day? I know, wildly hypothetical.
Mike James
No, hell no -- but no matter how poorly he handles the job, he can't get away from it. His phone still rings, 34/7/365.
ReplyDelete(Fox is saying the President was "MIA" over Benghazi. Evidence is he took the call, said, "Handle it," and went to bed...and woke to the consequences. Bad management or bad managers? Either way, things were already pear-shaped by the first call and in the morning, a festival of dissembling followed. Historians will have to winkle out the truth from the spin long after the fact.)
ReplyDeleteContained in your 7:33 am comment are pretty much all the reasons why, if I am to act all misty-eyed and reverential about the lazy negligent choomhead's tenure in the worry seat, it will be necessary to hold a stick in one's hand while reminding me to pause and consider.
ReplyDeleteHere, you can have the one I'm using to beat this dead horse. :)
Mike James