Dear America,

My guess is, he never thought it would come to this; he imagined the whole thing going down a wee bit different; he jumped in front of a moving freight train, and thought his cape and crest would save him.

Not so much.

Here we are, a week into the melodrama on Capital Hill, and the political landscape continues to weave and turn.

What a gamble -- I mean compromise; doesn't he know how impossible it is to reap any kind of favorable reward via manipulation, arm twisting, letting the finger do the walkin,' the mouth do the talkin', giving free reign to his rootin' tootin' ego in leading the way?  He thought it was in the bag, so much so, he leaped when he should have taken a step back.  He zigged, when his party zagged. And by the end of the week, he was in such a pickle, he had to call for reinforcements.

The best part, was when he turned to Mr. Bill and said, "I gotta go to a party [as the Mrs. has already been kept waiting for a half hour]..." 

How strange was that -- the president leaving a past-president to clean up the mess he made, to smooth over the rough edges on the track, and to finally make way for the meeting of the minds in Congress to just do it already.

Really?  You called in Mr. 'I did not have sexual relations with that women' Clinton, recalling his fist with thumb protruding from the top, waving at us, as if that would be enough to stop a presidential size train wreck in our midst?  As we all know, it just got worse from there...

...ah yes, but in the liberal mind's eye, he is masterful and wonderful and perfect just the way he is.

I just love, how sometimes, just a girl can get it right; remember back a couple days, when I was wondering why things can't be settled on a handshake, with one thing at a time, only an up or down vote, keeping on the straight and narrow to legislate upon the issue at hand while comforting the community at large with simply a display of one's integrity, political convictions, and personal character? 

I found a little help articulating just that in this morning's "Morning Bell" from The Heritage Foundation...Liberals Leave the Reservation... What does it cry out for, pray tell?  Just a simple vote -- on the bare bones initiative to save the current tax rates for all -- while, if we must, they say, we can do the same in a simple yea or nay for the Unemployment Benefits Extension -- and then call it a day.  That's it. Done.  Then the little engine that could -- I think I can, I think I can -- could probably get over the hump, while more important, keeping the integrity of the engine still very much intact.

Getting back to our Compromiser-In-Chief, he blew it, from day one (that being about a week ago); he came out with both barrels blazing, backing his own party into a corner, and thinking they would just bend rounding the unexpected bend at locomotive speed, naturally and effortlessly, to his new found party line; not so much and not in the least bit.

But there he was, leaving it in the hands of an experienced engineer who has been there before, crafting perhaps his very own saving grace right out of thin air.  Will it be enough? The first round of votes begins about three o'clock, eastern time -- high noon, of course, out here in the wild, wild west.

The thing is, real altruism -- much like a ghost town spiriting a congress long past -- seems only to be found in the annals of history;  as the tumbleweeds come rolling in with the dust up, legislation of the 21st century seems only to come with a pearl of great price; that real price having nearly nothing to do with real money anymore. (ah who are we kidding, real money has a lot to do with it too...)

But these are the people we have elected into office, entrusted to be the caretakers of the public good -- when in fact, few are worth a lick of salt between them.

Somewhere along the line, the attributes we used to elevate in the process of progressing as a society -- our natural ability to persevere, our pioneering spirit to overcome diversity in order to take care of one's own, supporting the generations of both the young and the old in community with one another beginning with our own family -- are elements we no longer value; personally and collectively, society has turned our self-reliance into a thing of the past.

What used to be embedded into our DNA -- endowed by our Creator and reinforced by America's very own heritage over two hundred years -- has grown into waves of entitlement programs, one after the other, bequeathing to the public good a mountain of insurmountable deficits, creating a legacy of debt we can no longer afford, let alone have enough spare change to tinker with these unscrupulous details hidden in the fine print of any new legislation to come our way anymore.

Sure we can move mountains, we can survive the prairie, we can outlive blizzards, droughts, and hurricanes, some of us have been known to even leap tall buildings in a single bound -- but when we do, we expect to keep the money we make (just go with it...).  That's just the way we are made.  In no particular order, the DuPont's, the Vanderbuilt's, the Carnegie's, the Rockefeller's, the Ford's, the Kennedy's, the Gate's, the Buffett's, the Winfrey's, the Johnson & Johnson's, the P Diddy's, the Zuckerberg's... even in make believe, like the 'moving on up' Jefferson's -- this country used to value and applaud and congratulate success; we built this nation wanting the next generation to have more, be more, make more, than the generation who came before.(FYI, just notice when most of the big money's been made...with 375,000 millionaires, some billionaires, America is doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing)

Which is all the more poignant when we realize our self-reliant foundation -- the one we take for granted in this age of having everything and nothing simultaneously -- came from a body of men who never once said what's in it for me.

Achieving great personal wealth was not the goal, as building the framework of the best and the brightest natural laws known to man became paramount; laying the track and extending the tools for the public good, so that the public good as a whole -- individually and collectively -- could expand and prosper under free market principles, so that the people could better equip themselves for success, and in the end, provide for themselves; the key, of course, is found in the freedom in-between the small, limited government with limited power ...and the unlimited power unleashed in those who find ways to capitalize on their own skills, talents, education, hard work, tireless efforts, to the best of their ability, to create wealth.

The problem is not in the creation of wealth, but the overzealous control of it, along with the natural growing inclination to grow the government, to take from the rich to give to the poor, like robber barons on a speeding train over the proverbial cliff... a story line played over and over again since the beginning of time.

The good news, and in the spirit of yesteryear, we shall overcome one way or another.  We always have and we always will.

Make it a Good Day --
and you shall be rewarded for it, G

A box of Cracker Jacks gave me a pleasant surprise over the weekend; my prize was a booklet, inside we had to guess who the cryptic illustration was only by the following description:

"I was born in Boston, the youngest son of my father's 17 children.  As a candlemaker, my father earned enough money to send me to school until I was ten.  Despite my limited education, I loved to read and write.  At 12, I became an apprentice to my brother, James, who was a printer.  After several disagreements with James, I ran away to Philadelphia where I would eventually open my own print shop, publish a newspaper, and become involved in politics, foreign affairs, and science...who am I?"


On the back page, Cracker Jacks adds: 

"Described as the most multi-talented figure in American history, Benjamin Franklin's contributions to American society are as numerous as they are important.  The most famous American of his time, Franklin was also an inventor, (bifocals, swimfins are among his many inventions) a philosopher, politician, firefighter, soldier, cartoonist, ambassador and more.  The common thread among all of his endeavors, however, is his dedication to public service and the betterment of society."

then in bold letters, it reminds us: "FRANKLIN CAN ALSO BE FOUND ON THE $100 BILL."

A common thread today, is that our kids seem to be cheated out of a good education -- we aren't doing enough, they say; the argument seems to be we aren't throwing enough money at it, as we enter an age where we just aren't seeing the results we had hoped.  Maybe, we should just stop teaching kids at the age of ten, require them to use their own initiative to read and write on their own, and let them fall where they may fall -- with any luck, they could be the next Ben.

Now, I am being facetious, but think about it.  A limited early education somehow made many a great men...the Franklin's, the Lincoln's, the Carnegie's... hold up, I just might start sounding like a broken record. 

Last word, even a Harvard Education gives us no guarantees.

Dear America,

hey, remember when I said this is such a mess...speaking of the tax breaks for the rich and famous, the perverse attack by way of rich dad poor dad class warfare tactics, that which goes against our very foundation and this country's number one attribute, the cornerstone of all that is and ever will be, that being none other than our Self-Reliance...Here's a great piece from The Heritage Foundation, mocking the progress of the so called compromise under way... read all about it right here.

Besides Wheaties, a good day starts when real information gets disseminated amongst the masses in an easy to read, short and to the point, breakdown of the bottom line and the behind the scenes negotiations of our money every time.  can I get a thankya, Jesus.  amen.

The thing is, and I'm going to get right to it this morning, I am wondering if congress -- as one body -- has any clue as to how they are being perceived right now.

They are doing it again!

They are trying to justify more of the same all over again...recollecting the  "corn-husker kickback" and "Louisiana purchase" as we draw to a close yet another year with a rampant rush to legislation, having a total flashback on the health care bill fiasco.

I don't know about you, but I see this ending badly.

And to think, this is our money.

The taxation element, in running our government, is not the problem -- it is the spending; while this compromise in question, morphing into a really bad episode of let's make a deal, is hardly what the American people had in mind. We may have everything but the kitchen sink in our handbag, but that doesn't give you political license to empty it, right before our very eyes, and take of it whatever you want...as we don't see any semblance of a prize, windfall, or even so much as a handsome ransom, waiting in the wings.

And besides, there just might be an emergency, a real crisis, down the road; we may need that bobby pin, that roll of floss, that mangled piece of gum attracting whatever extra fuzz it can find at the bottom of the bag -- we might need it.

But nooooooooooo, there they are again today, discussing all the ways and means possible -- and cleverly disguised, too, in quite the compromising but partisan fashion -- of every which way but loose in stuffing this tax bill with anything they can get their hands on; whatever deal needs to be made, whatever devil in the details needs to be done.  This is the way congress operates, day in and day out.

This is Lame Duck at it's worst; and this is about all we can expect from the people who stole our purse, in broad daylight, holding America's future in their hands -- and boy, are they ever running with it, all the way to the Treasury and back, a trillion times over.

If only it were just a movie, a game show, anything but the reality that it is.

Are we now in some kind of twisted plot, following along the lines of a pop culture phenomenon, like The Big Lebowski, failing terribly in making any real money, but in the end, the congressional cult following overrides the dueling realities, leaving us with the stupid scenes of a rolled up rug in mind, sitting on an empty purse, wondering what just happened; it would be real funny if all that mattered was a good laugh; if it were simply entertainment, no harm, no foul, only a belly full of popcorn and junior mints, life goes on.

"we have a system that increasingly taxes work and subsidizes non-work."

Milton Friedman

The way I see it, right now, we are subsidizing something that no longer works.

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment 

of freedom of the people 

by gradual and silent encroachments 

by those in power 

than by violent and sudden usurpations."

James Madison

Yes, first it's the safety pin, then it's the Tic Tac, and before you know it, they are grabbing for the lipstick -- and you know there will be trouble if you lay a hand on that...

"a wise and frugal government, 

which shall leave men free to regulate 

their own pursuits of industry and improvement, 

and shall not take from the mouth of labor 

the bread it has earned  -- 

this is the sum of good government."

Thomas Jefferson

G's motto for the day: "Good Government. Good People.  Grow the Good and all else shall be added."
thank you, thank you very much.(say it with an Elvis accent, if you will).

The framework of our political house is being held hostage by a bunch of buffoons.

The only thing we can hope for, is a tighter hold on the purse strings, a kicking and screaming if they dare so much as try to take one more thing, and a full on backlash if they continue this sid-vicious assault upon everything this country stands for.

For most of us, we don't play in a band where we do something stupid and the manager bails us out, we don't make loads of dough living large in the little town of Make Believe acting like somebody else, while still, only the lucky make it on a game show or even win the lottery.  And most of all, most of us don't hold positions of power spending other people's money, carelessly, recklessly, thinking the bottom of the purse is just an imaginary subjective line, decided by the guy holding her purse; no no, that good gig if you can get it comes from none other than our U.S. Government.

We are a republic, incorporating the rule of law into the fabric of our lives, encapsulating everything Self-Reliant, with liberty and justice for all; and everything would be just fine if we paid more attention to growing the good -- increasing the honorable, our gratitude, a conviction of faith and service, sheltering the everlasting freedom for all, equally and fairly under the rule of law -- as this nation was intended.

Remember the difference living in a budding republic makes -- and not a phony, made for TV republic, a real one, with real people using real money and everything, oh my gawd.  A mediocre democracy, with so-so principles, a corrupt congressional body, lousy values, and a growing irreverence to anything resembling our foundation, including every bit of their best intentions, is way different. Going to another original script of Jefferson:

"a democracy is nothing more than mob rule, 

where fifty-one percent of the people 

may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."

and then there is this:

"the Constitution only gives people the right 

to pursue happiness.  

You have to catch it yourself."

Benjamin Franklin

Beautiful.
Just beautiful.
Back to an image we can work with,  featuring a long awaited movie trailer of  the American Girl and the Bandit.  Earth to Washington, if 'said happiness' is holding a commoner's handbag, Gucci notwithstanding, you best let go and walk away.  just walk away and nobody will get hurt.

Make it a GOOD Day, G

your youtube feature on Dear America is a Sex Pistol, Sid Vicious, favorite...but it is a horrible version, bad sound, and everything...but the beauty of it, meeting up with the reality in the streets of London over the last 24 hours is brilliant, if I don't say so myself. Anarchy! yeah, yeah yeah!
Screw the queen, just grab her handbag... hey, throw a few eggs at the car... maybe break a few windows... punk the prince...and they say whatever happens in Europe doesn't stay in Europe, it all hops over the pond eventually...all in due time my pretty...might I suggest a few self-defense classes.

Dear America,

Don't you just love a movie montage capturing the umpteen moments when a certain presidential wanna-be said the words 'roll back.' Hannity has been playing it over and over and over...

Makes it all the more clearer just how tight the relationship between the White House and the makers of Walmart; oh the sweet heart deal they got with Humana, now amplified daily in sixty second commercials, appealing to the aged, senior citizens to walk this way; they will wait for you to make it up to the door, take your time.

Once again, I am overwhelmed with the idea that the full orchestration of the wheeling and dealing is sequestered securely under the main stage; what we see going on in Washington is never on the up and up, never what it seems.

How can we really trust anyone?

And these last few days, my goodness, what a joke; how can a president stand before the American people, proclaim a deal is all but done, and then have it morph into days of rhetoric, disgruntled feelings, barbs and jabs from both sides, making his so called "compromise" absolutely, entirely meaningless -- while in the process, diminish his very own credibility?

It was as if Washington, and essentially his own party, abashedly gave him the hook....just  send in the clowns already, don't bother, they're here...loosing my timing this late...in my career...well maybe, next year...

[Great song -- and thank you, Frank, couldn't have sung it better myself.]

Somebody, please, tell me, just why is it we can't agree on one thing at a time anyway?  Why isn't it possible for an easy 'yea' or 'nay' vote on one thing, and one thing only, one thing at a time in Washington?  Why can't we just get exactly where each and every one of you stand -- without collaborating for an inside piece of the action, without gerrymandering the votes on the floor, and keep to a semblance of order entirely based upon one's convictions; and simply make a decision solely based on it being the right thing to do, for the people, by the people, with the people ... of course, doing so in a manner that is totally, utterly grateful and respectable of the office you hold and the larger America of whom you serve, while getting paid handsomely to do it?

I recognize we have a two party system; I understand we very rarely see eye to eye; but what is with these 2000 page bills and the perversions of power doctoring up the details -- to the extent that we don't know what's in it until we pass it?

What's with throwing in as much pork we possibly can, counter-productively risking the passage of the one thing that is sorely requiring immediate attention?

And I hate to keep rolling back to the same old argument, but what's with the manufactured rush now?  How is it possible for all of you to wait all year before tackling these HUGE, catastrophic, controversial, divisive issues and opting to do it under the Lame Duck congress, with those who no longer hold the power by the people?

What kind of management is that?

Let's just say, if my Reebok Easy Tone feet were sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office, you could bet this would be the first thing I would change.

What a mess, these last few days; just imagine what the world leaders are thinking...here's the POTUS appealing to the public, proclaiming victory in reaching a compromise, when not one bit of it was even true -- and when in fact, rolling back on one of his chief, and tirelessly overused, campaign promises to "roll back" those evil Bush tax rates.

O    M    G

And don't  you just love how they define the group of over $250 K always as "millionaires and billionaires," especially coming from the 14 trillionaire sitting on capital hill.  unbelievable.

What is that?  As if there are so many billionaires running around with the rest of us slackers?  Seriously?  Really?  That's what you want to run with? Let's just expand that to make it sound even better, throwing in zillionaires next time and plastering our pinkie to the corner of our lips. Hold up a second while I get a good belly laugh and lose a half inch in my waist...

There are just about 310 million Americans living here -- probably up to 20 zillion of that are illegals, but let's put that in a little perspective, shall we?  Less than one percent of our population are considered to be in the  Richie Rich category, okay?  And dovetailing on yesterdays ideas, just who do you think create the jobs?


Most people are not in a position to create a company that can create a million zillion jobs (okay, really about 2 M) like a Sam Walmart, as in THE Wal-Mart, who low and behold, looky there, are one of the top contributors to democrats, a notable shift from dolling out their thousands of dollars to republicans over the last two years -- and currently, one of the few corporations embracing the employee mandate under the new health care law. hmmmm what is going on behind the scenes there?

Interesting to note, a certain Hillary Clinton sat on the Board of Directors from the mid eighties and into the early nineties; but that little tidbit becomes all the more more fascinating given the company's history of being beholden to the free market system -- being decidedly against unionization -- with it's companies leaders regularly topping the list of the nations "millionaires and billionaires" for decades now. something must have changed...

And boy does this company make bank -- I didn't know how much until today, talk about billions, but equally grabbing my attention was the fact that nearly 100 million Americans shop at Wal-Mart each year, a third of the population; and what may come as no surprise, given their market advertising, might be the reality that the average Wal-Mart customer falls below the national income average -- but did you know that nearly one-fifth of it's base don't even have a personal bank account!

They also say, the people who gain the most from discount super stores, the Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target shoppers of this world -- are those who fall below a middle class income; the filling of this particular economic niche contributes to the harsh reality many Americans live in every day; these super stores make a difference from not only bring a value added benefit to millions of customers, they could very well be the difference of their survival.

So our president is in trouble for rolling back on a promise; he's been here before, I'm sure he will find a way to smooth over the rough spots, maybe throw in an executive order, furnish a pardon, make a special allowance for, exempting his favorite players; or maybe...

he'll simply just look the other way, ignore the controversy, ridicule the opposition, divide and conquer the base, his base, your base, nothing is sacred, we all scream for ice cream, anything can happen in a storm; or maybe...

nothing really matters at this point going forward -- the damage has been done, the trillions in health care legislation, and stimulus, and bailouts, and uncontrollable government spending, and the growth of
government faster than the growth of private industry, and the borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, will all amount to the same predicament for each and every one of us -- that even a Wal-Mart won't be able to help us now, as the inevitable bankruptcy looms larger than life itself.


America's total destruction will put us on the map, equally and fairly, next to the rest of the misfits and failures of a budding republic, that which provides for the safe keeping and healthy practice centering upon the sweet liberties and freedoms of the individual -- as everything this administration ever wanted would be made and procurred whether right under our noses or behind closed doors, stage left  -- creating the brand new, global community at large, yeah cloud, leaving free market capitalism falling to it's knees.  And oh thank God we believe in God.

Make it a Good Day, G

and to the Dems, the party now holding the gun and keeping the tax cuts "hostage" until something better can be worked out in a real compromise...to you I say, since when have you been concerned with deficits, the national debt, and not spending the people's money?  just when did that start?

Dear America,

President Obama
yesterday

(in part)

"So, sympathetic as I am to those who prefer a fight over compromise, as much as the political wisdom may dictate fighting [must be the Chicago south-side speaking out] over solving problems, it would be the wrong thing to do.  The American people didn’t send us here to wage symbolic battles or win symbolic victories.  They would much rather have the comfort of knowing that when they open their first paycheck on January of 2011, it won’t be smaller than it was before, all because Washington decided they preferred to have a fight and failed to act." [right on, we sent you there believing you were the best chance to end all this nonsense, thinking you really were a centrist, acting on behalf of all Americans, wanting the same things we wanted, and campaigning chiefly upon the idea of bringing the partisanship to a reasonable end in Washington for the betterment of the entire country...]

"Make no mistake:  Allowing taxes to go up on all Americans would have raised taxes by $3,000 for a typical American family. And that could cost our economy well over a million jobs." oh, so tax cuts DO stimulate the economy...

"At the same time, I’m not about to add $700 billion to our deficit by allowing a permanent extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. [with pursed lips and terse spits and starts all the way through] And I won’t allow any extension of these tax cuts for the wealthy, even a temporary one, without also extending unemployment insurance for Americans who’ve lost their jobs or additional tax cuts for working families and small businesses -- because if Republicans truly believe we shouldn’t raise taxes on anyone while our economy is still recovering from the recession, then surely we shouldn’t cut taxes for wealthy people while letting them rise on parents and students and small businesses."  say what? now that last bit doesn't even make sense...

 Oh he was annoyed, wasn't he.

How the extension of reasonable tax rates can bring on so much tension upon the man in charge of everything; if I were in his shoes, I would have at least handled this moment coming from a place of happiness, for goodness sakes (fake it til you make it, right).  We were on the verge of making a grave error, as the body of delegates in Washington were dickering over details of raising taxes at a time when no one should even be thinking about such an action.

"sorry to keep you waiting" he said...how Freudian is that...go ahead and read it for yourself, the entire transcript of the presidential moment is in the flesh and linked expressly for your liking...he was apologetic that his address to the press came a wee bit late, but oh how amusing when put in the context of just how long he has had to take care of this little administrative task; he has had two years, knowing these tax breaks would be expiring decisively upon 12/31/10 -- what took you so long, Mr. President?


In the realm of the politics of dancing around the best time to meet up with controversial legislation, and the extinguishing thereof, there never is a good time to address it, is there?

Couldn't do it immediately, as you were busy "closing Gitmo" and being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Couldn't do it in the first couple of months, as you were busy drafting a highly combustible stimulus bill (and wasting away 865 billion dollars).

Couldn't do it that first summer vacation, as you were preoccupied with what to do about Afghanistan, and that ran right smack into a nightmare of townhall meetings over health care; reconvening, you sat down for five minutes on the tarmac with General McCrystal -- for the first time ever -- you single-handedly lost the bid for Chicago in the Olympics melodrama, only to resurface in Washington having your people meet behind closed doors...conveniently from September through December. 

Couldn't address the tax extensions whatsoever...

Once the health care legislation was passed on the eve of Christmas day, the sense of accomplishment and success fueled your every move right up until the catastrophe hit -- the BP oil spill -- and that was enough to kill any prospect of talking about anything else for months on end aside from blasting oil drilling... Tony Hayward... allowing government regulation to stand in the way of the clean up... along with government stepping in to salvage the economic devastation to the Gulf region overnight, placing yourself "IN CHARGE since DAY ONE"  (and to this day, has turned the gulf region economy on it's ear with moratoriums on oil drilling and the like).

The Bush era tax rates were the furthest thing from anybody's mind.

As time went on, however, it then became perilously close to the mid-term elections -- "the people" were already not very happy with the last eighteen months, why stir the pot; couldn't do anything about the tax extensions until after the potential "shellacking" -- and how.

600 Billion dollars later, as the most recent action under your very own Treasury department recklessly administered, throwing an ungodly amount of money into the economy just because Ben Bernanke, et al, are hard-pressed figuring out how to beat the market at it's own game...you start whining about the need to protect ALL taxpayers, all entrepreneurs, all business (large and small), in order to stimulate our economy, grow investment, and promote expansion in order to create jobs and opportunities for all.

Confirmation received:  it is so against your DNA to fight for the wealthy, American made, and perhaps self made man; to give voice and special allowances for such a man (or woman) just makes you ill; and the sad thing, in this day after like so many other day afters that have come before, is that you let it show.

In your biting, pithy remarks about the state of affairs, lambasting the republicans, and groveling to your left to understand that they know not what you do -- you let the American people see you throw a highly unpresidential tantrum in front of all the world to see; who needs Wikileaks when we've got you.

As someone (we thought) with the most prospects of returning Washington to a state of decorum and constructive dialogue, Americans are continually reminded of your own internal demons -- that of knowingly walking into a position of which you were fully unprepared for, that of knowingly coming from a legacy that questioned the American way and all that she stands for, and that of knowingly and arrogantly marching into the office of the POTUS with the chief purpose of fundamentally transforming everything.

On the outside you may have 'sounded like', and 'acted like', a typical American running for the highest office in the land, at a time that begged for a meeting of the minds and a coming to the center administration, in no uncertain terms --  but you never intended on truly 'being like' that through and through.

THAT you simply can't fake.

The thing is, if all you were going to do is give us the 'framework' of what would come next, all that was really required of you, in that moment, was a sense of enthusiasm!  Something that would bring a sense of accomplishment, a reassurance that Washington really can work together; marking the happy moment in time where we bridged the gap! we came together! similar to any other time when both sides win some and lose some but more important come to a compromise will do...

...in those ten minutes you gave to America, you should have been busy creating a shining moment, saying something like this:

this one's for you, America!

[maybe with a beer in hand

or popping a bottle of champagne,

you brokered a deal, no less..]. 

And be genuinely happy about it!

For any other normal, everyday person in the same position, THAT would be the way compromise works, and how a true meeting of the minds feels -- if I were in your shoes, I would have been at the very least smiling for "there’s no doubt that the differences between the parties are real and they are profound."  (And I have no doubt that you knew this going in.)

Whatever that was, yesterday, surely it gives pause for all Americans to continue the debate within themselves as to who deserves this fine opportunity, this pretty little position, next.

Make it a Good Day, G