Tag: Watergate

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6 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENT

Once you’ve turned 80, you realize how many presidents you’ve known (or endured) in your lifetime. There are times when I think the country might do better without a  president, because we’ve lasted through so many of their poor decisions and mistakes.  Thankfully, they’ve done a few things right, which is probably one reason we’re still standing.  Not sure if I’ll be around for the 2024 election,  so just in case I’m not, I have a few suggestions for the next President of the United States of America.

6 suggestions for next president: Don't throw ketchup on the wall
6 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENT: #6 Don’t throw plates against the wall. Someone will have to clean up the ketchup.

#1.  Don’t ride in an open convertible during a parade.  Presidents used to do that all the time.  I remember the thrill of looking into Dwight Eisenhower’s beautiful blue eyes on one of his visits to Chicago. However, it didn’t work out well for John F. Kennedy in Dallas. .

#2.  Bury the tapes.  If you’re going to do something so foolish as to break into the opposing party’s election headquarters, for heaven’s sake, hide the evidence. Nixon  thought he was preserving an important part of history by saving all of his conversations regarding Watergate.  But the tapes came back to bite him.  If the next president tries such a break-in, it will be much more complicated.  He’ would have to erase all the text messages, e mails, and records of cell phone calls.  Better yet, he should  conduct any  communication regarding such an activity  one-on-one, inside a big closet.  But make sure it’s debugged.

#3. If you’re feeling sick, don’t attend a state dinner with the Japanese Prime Minister.  You’re liable to vomit in his lap, and it will make international headlines.  George W. Bush later claimed it was just  a simple case of the flu.  Unfortunately, it was right around election time, and many people thought that  episode contributed to his defeat.

#4 . Don’t smoke cigars, and if you do, keep them out of the oval office.  Especially  while conducting a tryst with an intern.  And if things get out of hand, make sure you have a change of clothes available.  Unlike Bill Clinton,  don’t let her leave the room  with the evidence .  And once you have the blue dress, cut it up in little bitty pieces and flush it down the toilet.

#5. Speaking of toilets:  Don’t use the toilet while talking to reporters.  LBJ was known for sitting on the pot while conducting interviews.  He got away with such crude behavior for awhile, but in the end, he realized he couldn’t get re elected.

#6. Unlike Trump,  don’t throw plates against the wall when you get mad.  Somebody will have to clean up the ketchup, and eventually, they’re going to testify before some congressional committee about your poor anger management skills.  There are lots of apps now that help with that.  Subscribe to something like CALM, meditate once a day, and do some deep breathing exercise before meeting with your attorney general after the election  .

I don’t know about you, but I’m really hoping the next president won’t be an octogenarian like myself.   We need a younger candidate who has demonstrated some common sense. But why would any sensible person want to run for president?

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EACH IMPEACHMENT IS DIFFERENT

Tolstoy began his  great novel, Anna Karenina  with this famous line: “Happy families are all alike; unhappy families are all unhappy in their own way”.  My grandchildren don’t know or can’t remember what it was like to live through impeachment  proceedings.   But this will be my third rodeo, and I can tell you that each  impeachment hearing is different–and unhappy– in it’s own way.

The Nixon resignation in 1974 was the first impeachment proceeding I had seen in my lifetime
NIXON WAS ON THE VERGE OF IMPEACHMENT WHEN HE RESIGNED

The Nixon debacle came at a time when my  personal life was in turmoil.  My then husband lost his job in the recession.  I  returned to school to get my dietitian’s license, while raising three children under 7.  I was so tied up with financial worries, exhaustion, and stress,  that Nixon’s impeachment was the farthest thing from my mind.  As a university grad assistant, I heard college professors  discussing Watergate. . I didn’t see impeachment  as a major concern, or anything that would change my life for the better or worse. . Nixon’s resignation speech was painful to watch, but life went on pretty much the same.  I know I voted for Jimmy Carter in the next election.

Comic photo of Bill Clinton wearing Monica Lewinski's blue dress
EPSTEIN HAD THIS STRANGE PICTURE OF BILL CLINTON IN A BLUE DRESS

The Clinton impeachment hearings came at a time when my children were raised, and I was nearing retirement.  That winter, I came down with the flu, and spent hours on my computer with  the Drudge report.  It was like reading an enactment of the National Inquirer; sex, lies, and the famous blue dress. It was great entertainment and got me through a rough bout with the flu.  For Republicans, is was schadenfreude at it’s best.  Even liberals found the cigar wielding president a salacious distraction.  When the impeachment didn’t pass the Senate, I don’t remember being upset.  My life would go on pretty much the same, although  I would miss the presidential soap opera.

Now we have the Trump impeachment inquiries.  I’m probably not going to watch the hearings during the day.  They won’t have near the entertainment value that we had with Bill Clinton’s time on the hot seat. And of course, it will be all over the news, night and day, until the final vote is taken.  But from my standpoint, this impeachment would have much more impact on our nation.

If Trump goes down,  a liberal president is a foregone conclusion.  And most  everyone’s life will change.  Like it or not, we will have Medicare for all.  Since I’m already on Medicare, it won’t make much difference to me. But as we seniors know, Medicare A doesn’t cover everything.   I’m wondering what will happen to the cost of supplemental insurance and Medicare part B?  My husband and I currently pay over $10,000 a year for this coverage. .  Will the premiums go up even more than they have the past few years?   For sure, taxes will increase to pay for all the freebies.  Since my time on this earth is limited, it won’t change my life so very much. .  But the direction of my grandchildren’s future will take a sharp left turn.