Posted on 07/26/2008 3:10:14 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Big Freddy collapsed his oversized umbrella after coming through the door, shook himself like a St. Bernard and made his way to our booth.
"Don't drip on me," I said as he heaved into the bench seat.
"Making a weather statement," Freddy said. 'Enough already with the rain. This is July — not September."
"With another three months to go before we vote." I said.
"You noticed," Freddy said.
"How could I not?" I asked. "TV played Obama's whirlwind trip as though he had won all ready."
"And why not?" Freddy asked. "He's a fresh face. Great theater. Made for TV. They loved it."
"You're saying he's all show biz in an empty suit?" I asked.
"I am not saying that," Freddy said. "He's news. Big time. His time. Great speech in Berlin. Full of pizzazz. Not much else, but great lines. Shades of Jack Kennedy and Reagan. Berliners know great speech making, and they ate him up."
"I think you're building me up for something, so spit it out," I said.
"Great speech, but there was no THERE there for the movers and shakers watching on TV. Besides that, these were Berliners, and they can't vote," Freddy said.
"So you're saying his trip was all show biz" I asked.
"I'm saying it was a fly-by," Freddy said. "A hop here, a skip there, and a jump up on the podium in Berlin to cap it all off, with wall-to-wall coverage, is all I'm saying."
"Well, it certainly played well everywhere he went," I said. "Great TV back home. The troops in Iraq seemed happy to see him."
"A break is a break when you're in uniform," Freddy said. "Look. I'm not saying what he was up to was all show biz. For one thing, he had to go because he needed to be seen on the ground, and those on the ground needed to see him. Second, he needed to be seen talking to the movers and shakers over there as the probable next president. They're not stupid. He just may be the next president, so the stage is set both ways."
"So it was a week well spent for him," I said.
"And for them," Freddy said.
"So where's the downside?" I asked. "Great theater, meaningfully getting acquainted, finishing it off with a stirring speech while he's still leading McCain just about everywhere?"
"But by not as much as he was," Freddy said. "And all McCain is doing is being McCain — working the precincts with the media hounds waiting to pounce on the next time he misspeaks."
"While Obama's staff is pumping the Internet bloggers, with money rolling in like no one has ever seen," I said.
"Which you would think the polling spread would be growing so wide McCain would simply throw in the towel," Freddy said, "but he just keeps on squeezing the point spread."
"And your point is what?" I said.
"Candidates aren't making this election," Freddy said. "People feeling the hurt are making it. There's too much of it going on out there. November's not going to be about the crowning of a new Messiah, or who was right about Iraq. It's going to be about too many voters hurting from prices up the Bazoo for everything and not enough in their wallet at the end of the month to keep on doing what they've been doing for the past 10 years."
"The economy," I said.
"Jobs," Freddy said, "and not just jobs if you have one. Getting to it and back home every day without having to empty your wallet. It's getting it up for the bills at the end of the month for tuition bills payback, keeping the roof over your head with whatever has happened with your mortgage. Credit card penalties, and check out counters at supermarkets, all under the heading of Worries Big Time."
"And not the war," I said.
"That is the war," Freddy said, "and we're all in it."
I’d like to meet Freddie. He sounds like my kind of guy.
Freddy is fictional. Plante's columns run in my local paper too, and it's his way of expressing his opinion to the reader as if they were an observer of a conversation, rather than receiving a lecture.
Most of his columns are a little more humorous, but they're usually right on the mark!
"...money rolling in...." not sure there - the accounting reports have been slow to be made public, removing foreign contributions may not be part of the equation. It make for a good line in a story, but other reports say he is behind in contribution targets.
"...empty suit..." that's pretty accurate.
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