“Is it too late to make
peace with England?” 

By: Michael Kevin Murphy*

12 10 07

For years Gore Vidal has been arguing that the U.S. ought to adopt a parliamentary system of government along the lines of the United Kingdom's, and as each year passes for me I have come closer to seeing the wisdom of having such a system in the U.S.  Maybe the Queen would take us back --- if we asked nicely that is.

It seems to me that some Democrat and Republican partisans have lost their practical bearings and moral compasses as each side lurches toward someone, anyone, to "save us" from the many messes in which we now find ourselves.

The Republicans held fire for awhile waiting on Fred Thompson to make his grand appearance on the campaign trail but when he finally arrived he seemed lucky to stay awake at stump speeches let alone have any positions that he was able to express or the discernible vigor to advance if he ever got around to forming a few.

Giuliani is, in my judgment, far a more dangerous neocon than Bush "The Younger" because Giuliani actually has his own brain to serve him and the stump speaking skills to make him sound competent but not appear too much the idealogue, and if he the becomes the presumptive Republican nominee I also fully expect a daily crisis to erupt until election day as he will be forced to explain and defend all of the back room deals, Mafia connections, payoff scandals, and yada, yada, yada that either propelled him into office as Mayor of New York in the first place or kept him there; and I'm sure every Democratic candidate's strategist has a filing cabinet full of that stuff just waiting for the right moment to let fly. 

Romney?  Something tells me he might not make a bad President --- more the chief executive office of a large corporation, the U.S., but too many people simply cannot get past the fact that he's a Mormon. 

McCain is I believe a man with the character to stand by his positions, but it's a shame too many of us don't happen to agree with some of his more important ones.  Anyway, I think McCain's hold on hope will be entirely dependent on World events at nomination time if he's not effectively out of the race before then.  

Huckabee?  He's a great salesman but I would not even listen to him after he expressed considered doubts about Darwin's "theory" on evolution.  

On the Dem side, Obama is just too young in my opinion to handle the job, but there is much to like and admire about the man. 

Edwards, I rather like but is liable to be swallowed up whole by a Congress that's far closer to the center than he is.  Kucinich, Richardson, and those at the bottom of the statistical heep are just unelectible at this stage and show no prospect for advancing quickly like Huckabee has.  And then there is Hilary.  I ditto all Len has said about her in previous commentaries  and would not even try to gild his lilly.

I think in the final analysis we would all be better off --- as would our children ---- if we had a chief executive who is as non ideological as Roosevelt was said to be, who seems determined to govern from the center, and who has considerable administrative ability and an inquisitive and open mind.  I hate to say this but Mitt Romney seems to me to fit this bill better than anyone in the game.

I believe this upcoming election will turn on the state of the economy and "the war", and while a lot of water has yet to go over those dams, people will, I think, end up by choosing between the lesser of two evils.

Mike

12 10 07

*Mr. Michael Kevin Murphy is an attorney in Virginia, and a B.E.A. correspondent  of long standing. Mike served in  the U.S. army and is a decorated Viet Nam veteran.