Maybe It Was The Hair, Senator

From the standpoint “hairline is destiny,” the Presidential election was over before it even started. Senator John McCain does not have great hair. While he is not bald, he is, um, folicly challenged. Obama on the other hand has a great head of hair. He has presidential hair.

Our last bald President was Eisenhower. Since then, Kennedy had great hair. So did Carter. Reagan too. Clinton and George W. had presidential hair also.

Johnson and Ford had lousy hair but they assumed the office of President. Maybe they should’ve been in Russia. The Russians alternate between bald guys and hirsute guys. Really. You can look it up.

Some of the also-rans for President had great hair too. Mondale, Dukakis, Hart, Quayle, and Kerry all had presidential locks. Maybe that’s all they had. It just wasn’t enough to get them elected. Joe Biden is the first Veep to have visited the HairClub for Men. That doesn’t not bode well for you, sir.

Look at the President’s from the 19th and early part of the 20th century. Most of them had facial hair. Since Teddy or Taft none have had as much as long sideburns. Fashion changes. Maybe we are due for a change soon. Maybe we can look forward to bald-headed guys with beards. Like G. Gordon Liddy or Dog the Bounty Hunter. On second thought....

The Secret Victory

Have you read about the Coalition handoff of control of provinces in Iraq? Probably not. And why not? Because the news media has buried it. I read a while ago about the turnover of Anbar province. Wow. One my employees, who served in the reserves in Iraq and has an interest in keeping up with the news more than the average American, was shocked. He had no idea. The Iraqi military is dominated by Shiites. Anbar is the first Sunni province to be handed over—peacefully.

Then last week, I clipped an article from some back page of the Wall Street Journal that mentioned that the Coalition turned over the twelfth of eighteen provinces. The brief article said this province contained the “triangle of death.” Is there any question now that the search worked? The U.S. is now down to pre surge troop levels in Iraq.

Clearly, the war has not gone the way the Bush administration planned. And it obviously has not gone the way the media wanted it to go. But, this is big news and the media has missed it. Doesn’t anybody want to say anything nice about George Bush? This shows that our troops are getting the job done. They’re accomplishing the mission. The commander in Anbar said we are on the 10 yard line, “the goal is very near.” The Iraqis are learning how to take charge of their police, military, and political democracies.

After the financial crisis and the presidential election, this is the biggest news story of the year.

Election Results Are In

You would think I’d be used to it by now. Most of my candidates didn’t win. I converted the Republican Party as a young adult. I was the son of Democratic parents, in a Democratic neighborhood, in a Democratic city, in a Democratic state, during a Democratic administration. Chicago was and is a one-party town. People looked at me as if I were an alien. Maybe I just like an underdog.

I traveled an odd road for a Republican. I listened to my parents and their friends talk about union politics constantly when I was a kid. My dad ran for firefighters union office a couple of times. I volunteered in the campaign in a mayoral election. I have attended strike rally’s and walked a union picket line. And I have even walked in a protest march with Reverend Jesse Jackson.

But my capitalist tendencies and the Reagan Revolution won me over. And I think I eventually won my parents over to the Republican side—mostly.