Spoiler alert – don't read if you
haven't seen “House of Cards” yet, and get thee to a Netflix
account toot sweet! That, and don't read this just yet!
So...
Now in a totally hypothetical
situation... (SPOILER ALERT) if a Representative like the actual
Minority House Whip Steny Hoyer was “associated” with a morally
challenged democratic congressperson who ran for Senator of Delaware
had a downward spiral secretly encouraged by Hoyer, who then “killed
themselves.” Then Mr. Hoyer convinced Diamond Joe Biden to run for
Senator in Delaware cause he hated not being in the loop and would
rather be a big fish in a smaller pond. (Yeah, right.) If the
President THEN asked Mr. Hoyer (after a lot of behind the scenes
wrangling) to be VPOTUS therefore the next contender for POTUS).
Then it would be just like the show.
In reality, only Vice-President Biden
and his people seem to be holding out hope that he will be the next
contender for POTUS. I think most pragmatists in DC are only seeing
Hillary on the horizon. She will be rested, tanned and ready. I
have seen the above bumper stickers around town. Also, when was it
last that we had a successful VPOTUS to POTUS occurrence? There was
Pres. George H.W. Bush, and we had eight years of W because HW did
not win to Clinton. So in other words, the VPOTUS position can be a
road to the presidency, but not absolutely. Perhaps there should
always be some new blood on both sides? I know this makes the VPOTUS
position even less influential than it is now, but shouldn't we just
admit it for what it is? Dick Cheney certainly did, and then some.
I still really like this first season
of “House of Cards.” I am sure GOP loyalist will say, “See,
this show is an example of how the Democrats are soooo evil.”
Because the, and I use this word loosely, 'Protagonist' of the story
Rep. Francis Underwood (played brilliantly by Kevin Spacey)is a Democrat. I am also sure Democrat
loyalists will say, he is molded on Republican politicians. And the
beat goes on... I say he is an extreme version (at least I hope he
is a very extreme version) of what is already going on when congress
does its job. It does not matter which party you belong to, as I have
said before, politicians of all stripes, all parties, can and
possibly are corrupt. That is why I am an Independent. I had yet
another unfortunate Facebook fight with a true believer of the party
system a few weeks ago. The most hilarious part about it was that he
was not even an American citizen. Ignorance can be bliss. But don't
blame someone who does not want to be ignorant or a hypocrite so goes
with no party than to go with either which both have too many
problems. Sure in his country it could be black and white, but here
there are many shades of gray. It is trying to sift through all the
gray to get to the truth that is the hard part. Unless you like
being lied to, which I have a feeling some of us like it just fine.
So no, our situation is not like the
show, it is worse. This week the president and the congress need to
make an agreement
to prevent the Sequestration (across the board cuts for everything)
to happen. My guess is they love blaming each other so much for
the problems that this will not get fixed. Why fix it if it ain't
broken – for them? Why actually do your job? Never mind this was
supposed to be a last resort measure to get them off their butts to
do some work. You have got to think that someone out there in DC,
like the illustrious Mr. Underwood is trying to solve it and look the
hero, but is really backstabbing and making things that much worse.
So, it is not absolutely spot on to the script, but I think those
writers got the self-serving attitude of our congress just right. We
do need to cut the spending, but this way, with a hatchet, will hurt
the people more. As I have said before, spending cuts = job losses.
Now if they had put their own pay and benefits on the line, perhaps
they would have cut a deal with a little more relish. 15.6%
percent approval rate indeed. Lets see how that looks in a few
months.
Lastly, I have not started it yet. I
want a little distance from the American version before I give the
British version of “House of Cards” a go. Yep, as usual, one of
the best new American series is based upon the British version done
in the 1990's. And there below is Francis Urquhart, I think I like
that name better than Francis Underwood, although both names are apt.
From what I understand, that is his “catchphrase.” And like many
a great British show, it is on Netflix, of course. And this
catchphrase seems perfect for all the pols response to anything due
to the sequestration. Now comes the long wait to see any last minute
fixes (probably not), blame game (which seems to be the only game
left in DC), and season 2 of “House of Cards.”
