Chip's Blog

I have been anguishing over the Hillary Clinton victory now for a couple days.  I have been sitting in my living room, listening to my wife, who like her less than I do.  And I have been listening to, and reading here and other places, about the impact Hillary's tears had on her victory.

I have to be honest.  I was not swayed one iota by her tears.  But let me continue to be honest.  I wouldn't have been swayed by free Club Seats to the Patriots or a new Polaris Dragon (it's a fast snowmobile for the folks who do not share our love for driving fast on snow....).  In fact, I wouldn't have been swayed by eternal life, or a "never ending bag of mulligans"!!

But folks, you've convinced me.  Her tears swayed the New Hampshire Primary.  And I'm so frightened.  Are tears under pressure a valued qualification for our nations top office?  Let's rewind history a few times and inspect if based on this assumption:

1.  Pearl Harbor has just been bombed by the Japanese Navy.  Ships are smoldering in the water; dead US sailors are floating in the harbor.  Our President Franklin Roosevelt comes on TV (I know this is the use of a bit of "poetic license...) and says, with tears in his eyes, "This is personal to me...."  Do you feel safe in your home?  Will you rest well knowing that your children's future is safe?

2.  The Soviet Union has shipped nuclear missiles to Cuba.  The Communist dictator has assembled them and pointed them at the United States, a scant 40 miles away.  Our President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy comes on TV (closer to reality!!) and says, with tears in his eyes, "This is personal to me..."  Do you feel safe in your home?  Will you rest well knowing your children's future is safe?

3.  It's 9/11/2001.  Two jetliners, full of unsuspecting passengers, piloted by suicidal Al Quaeda extremists collide with each of two of the "Twin Towers" of the World Trade Center.  Three thousand American civilians die in an inferno of burning jet fuel and collapsing metal and cement.  Our President, George W. Bush comes on TV and says, with tears in his eyes, "This is personal to me...."  Do you feel safe in your home?  Will you rest well knowing your children's future is safe?

Are these three events less significant, or less"personal" than Hillary's concerns" for the future of our country"?  Not by a damned sight.  Had any of the three of these men behaved in even close to the fashion Hillary did the other day, our populace would have impeached them.

I ask you this: Why has crying become a qualification for President?  A whole mess of folks must have thought that if the pundits on the news are right that her tears swayed the vote count.

Here's my perspective:  Crying publically in a crisis is the sign of weakness.  Resolve, decisive action and visible strength are the qualification one needs to be the "Learder of the Free World".

You've convinced me.  Her tears were real.  And, under the circumstances that they were shed, and in the fashioin they were shed, and at the time they were shed, disqualifies her for the Presidency.