Musings of a Dumb Ass

Musings of a Dumb Ass..........Shouldn't The President be a man of the people, and as President strive to be among his people? President Bush visited my town a couple of days ago and as near as I can tell was anything but among his people. He was the fourth sitting President to visit the capital city and the first to show up promoting a political agenda without seeing the people. The first aircraft to land was a cargo plane with limosines and other vehicles necessary to haul his accompanying entourage followed shortly by Air Force One. The numbers of Missouri highway patrol personel is unknown but easily numbered in the hundreds. The Presidents stay at the little airport that nothing ever happens at was brief. He handed his medal for community service to an 80 plus year old volunteer at a day care center and they posed together for a picture, total time expended, maybe two minutes, then got into his limo for the 20 minute ride to the capital city. It was reported there were 21 vehicles minus the highway patrol's vehicles that left the airport. An alternate route to depart the airport grounds was chosen so the President wouldn't see the protesters who had gathered to demonstrate as he drove by. U.S. hiway 63 was closed to traffic the entire route of travel into Jefferson City and the convoy moved at speeds above 80 mph. Once in town, the President stopped at a nursing home that had been effectively shut down to accomodate his visit and as near as I can tell spoke to about 15 people about the new drug program and medicaid. Then it was off to the Performing Arts Center (about 10 blocks away) where the President spent a short time on a shared stage with senior citizens, again talking about the prescription drug program. The Center couldn't hold more than 300 and you couldn't get in without an invitation, so the entire audience was chosen. The hotel across the street was effectively closed down and the bank across the street was occupied and guarded by secret service and FBI personel to watch for any suspicious hombre`s while the President was in the area. Didn't hear what the time at the center was but I would guess at 30 minutes, at which time the reverse order of travel was made back to the airport at the same speed by the same people on federal highways that were closed to regular traffic onto the airport grounds again avoiding the protesters and Air Force One hurried into the skies to its next destination, out of sight, out of mind, which is just about the way it was. Save the few local reporters who were spellbound by the hoopla and the one ( and only one) local reporter who was allowed to travel with the President's entourage, and expected to share his camera footage with other local television stations, no one else seemed to pay much attention to it. Even our Governor was noticably absent, and he's a Republican too! There are no cost figures officially available for this Presidential visit to our sleepy little capital city, but those locals who have time to figure it up say $3 million minimal, and that's about where I would have put it. All this, for contact with a handful of people, little press coverage, and in fact I heard no mention on the national news of the Presidents stop here. I think the entire episode is screaming proof of a President who not only has scared the nation out of its wits with behaviour reminicent of Senator Joseph McCarthy, but has scared himself too. What a tiresome and dangerous predicament for the common man...... and me and you too......................