Turning Pages - Or Where I Have Been Lately

You may have wondered where I have been for the last couple of weeks.  As I have gotten older, I have become more and more involved in things I wanted to do when I was younger but I didn't have the time, or I didn't have the skills, or I didn't have the money, or family got in the way.  All of that is gone…well…I still don’t have any money…but I do have the time and the inclination.  What I don’t have is the strength.  Like I say…none of us is 20 anymore.  And I get tired!!!!

Those who know me know I tend to overcompensate.  It’s okay most of the time, but from time to time all the work convergences and then I am kaput.  Add to the mix my normal business routine, I am overwrought!!!  But at age 63, I am holding my own.  It’s all about turning pages.  Turning the page from what you have to do to what you want to do.

Much of my practice is in elder law.  I don’t do the complicated stuff, but I know the basics.  You learn real fast what happens as you get older.  Some…a very few…live well into their nineties.  My uncle will turn 100 this August and he didn't turn his pages until his wife and daughter passed away.  He made the most of the few years he had left.  He recently entered into a nursing home.  But up until last November he wanted his scotch and his steak.  He loved to shop.  He loved to go to dinner. 

Others aren't as lucky as my uncle.  Some people say death is the great equalizer.  They are wrong; it’s nursing homes.  You can have $300 million or $30.00.  You will be treated the same.

So, the lesson is do what you want now.  I have always liked arts and culture so I have chosen to become heavily involved.  It’s a fascinating world of beautiful venues and beautiful music and wonderful plays and art…tempered by money, politics, and interesting people who run these organizations.  All of them are originals, some more than others. They are all a breed unto themselves.  And all of them are great and I have been privileged to know and to work with them.  Many of them are my age filling the gaps in their lives, selflessly serving the public good by offering beauty in an often times ugly world.  Some are like me finding areas where they can excel.  "Arts and culture" is an area where my legal and political and business abilities are propelling me to do things I could only dream of when I was younger…fearlessly hiring lobbyists…charging to Columbus to meet with high ranking politicos….meeting the crème de la crème in a world of culture I had only read about…meeting LIBERALS and finding we have much more in common than an old conservative like me would care to admit. 

I actually got to sit in on a meeting of one of the most liberal foundations in the state.  Here’s what I found out.  Just as in the private sector, the folks who run the foundations expect results.  Maybe they measure the results in something different than profit or business success, but they have their goals and ways to measure if they are attained.  Each of these organizations compete for money, then compete for success.  Fascinating. 

Turning pages means change.  It is a humbling experience starting a new life in a new area.  But at my age, the secret is not to care about what others think, or the mistakes you might make.  Who gives a damn  if people think you are nuts.  You probably are!!!  And any mistake can be fixed.  200 years from now it won’t make any difference.  You will be lucky if there is someone to cut the grass on your grave.

I have spent the last several weeks turning pages.  Hopefully things will start to slow down again.  Then I can write and reflect…and I don’t care what anybody thinks!!!       

Obama Descending Fast

There are two great commandments for those of us in politics.  When you don't know what to do, do nothing.  When you are in trouble, lay low.  We are now privileged to witness Rule #2.  Whence Obama?  The most visible President in history has disappeared.  Up until the election, Barack Obama was everywhere.  He campaigned non-stop for his first four years.  Name a function, there he was, pontificating to beat the band.   Now...not so much.  In fact, he has fallen off the face of the earth.  Where is he?  Well....he is off hiding as his insulated world begins to fall around him.

 And for good cause.  The Obamacare debacle is picking up steam as America slowly wakes up to the reality he has foisted upon us.  When Max Baucus, the author in chief of Obamacare says it is going to be a train wreck as he retires from office at the end of this year...run for cover.   When Harry Reid says it's going to be a train wreck because not enough money to implement properly, run for cover.  When Barack Obama says there will be glitches and bumps in the road, run for cover.  That's politic speech for train wreck.

Even more ominous is the pending Benghazi revelations.  The big lie is about to popped.  The new investigation based on the heretofore blocked testimony of those who were on the scene has, according to CBS, can "bring down the Obama administration."  The testimony will show willful negligence at best, or intentional and deliberate decision making based on political expediency resulting in the deaths of four Americans, including the United States ambassador to Libya.  Then came the cover up with Obama's political operatives deliberately changing the talking points originally issued by the CIA in order to protect the political narrative. 

The media is beginning to pick up the story.  What was originally only reported on Fox News is now being examined in a major way by CBS which is being surprisingly aggressive.  Sooner or later the role of the press in the cover up will be exposed, and hopefully the likes of Candy Crowley who openly gave Obama cover in the debates will be brought to task.

Obama's appearances have been few and far between.  He gave a "love government" speech at Ohio State's graduation.  He gave a lame press conference which was embarrassing.  He gave a speech to Planned Parenthood...his core constituency.  It's clear he doesn't know what to do.  He is in trouble.  He knows it.  He is laying low.

Obama's biggest asset was the American public trust.  Now he has Benghazi.  He has the Boston bombing which shows the total ineptitude of his Department of Homeland Security (except if it is buying bulletts), and problems within the CIA and FBI chilled by a President who values political correctness over good results.  Lost in the discussion of the Boston bombings was the re-raising of barriers between the CIA and FBI at Obama's impetus.  That is a story that has yet to be told.

This is what we know.  The Dems will one by one start to run for cover as we approach the 2014 midterm election.  Then there are the folks who want Hillary to be the next President and will run from Obama like a rabbit from headlights in an effort to put distance between her and the President.  Then there is Joe Biden who has lots of friends in the Senate.  He wants to be President too, and under the current circumstances would have difficulty getting nominated let alone get elected.  Lord knows what he is doing behind the scenes.

 I have written before that the President that most resembles Barack Obama is not Jimmy Carter, who was at least an honest man, but Richard Nixon.  Dare I hope a similar outcome?