Pre-Ramble:  There’s no denying it – even over a full year out, election season is clearly underway.

And, Minnesota politics has quickly turned into national politics with Tim Pawlenty and Michelle Bachman shuckin’ corn and tradin’ barbs in Iowa over the weekend at the Straw Poll event, and President Obama kickin’ off a Midwest meet-n-greet in the Mississippi River Valley.

The Straw Poll is a “seriously-it’s-just-for-fun” pre-season photo-op where voters pay $30 to put a kernel of corn in a jar with a picture of their favorite candidate taped on the front of it. (New democracies take note.)  This time around, Michelle Bachman got the most kernels in her jar and Ron Paul got the next largest amount.  Somewhat surprisingly, former Minnesota Governor Pawlenty got the third largest number of corn kernels in his jar and dropped out of the race after that.

Minnesota continues to enjoy political attention as President Obama winds his way through the heartland not campaigning. His first whistle-stop was Cannon Falls, Minnesota. I’ve never actually been to Cannon Falls, but I suspect it’s like a lot of small Minnesota towns … simple, earnest and showing a little bit of wear.

The President, showing a little bit of wear himself, rolled up in a brand-spankin’ new Presidential Bus (not it at right).  Commissioned by the Secret Service, the vehicle – a cross between James Bond and the Partridge Family – cost just over $1 million and is equipped with 5-inch thick armored panels, black-out windows, advanced communications technology, flashing red and blue lights, and lots of other top-secret stuff.  It isn’t easy for a president to be both accessible and bulletproof.

Extra pickles?  President Obama spent a better part of the day hanging with “the people” and talking about issues in folksy terms. The Orator-in-Chief was droppin’ “g”s all over the place … talkin’ about “gettin’ stuff done,” … “doin’ this and that,” … and “makin’ the hard choices.”  I think I even heard him say “betcha” a couple of times (which is soooo Minnesooootan, doooon’t ya knooooww … ).  At one point, caught up in the moment, the President made the down-home suggestion that someone get the grills going … like a backyard barbecue.

The Take-Away:  Mr. President, if given a choice between brats or, for instance, jobs, I’m thinking that American people would pay $30 to put their kernel of corn in the “gainful employment” jar.

Pre-Ramble:  Election returns are so festive … and, even amidst all of the drama around who will be elected in this precinct or that, so predictable … (particularly in Minnesota where the decision between Tweedledum and Tweedledee isn’t complete without a massively expensive and time-consuming recount).

Such a patriotic scene … the huge furling American flag backdrop; … tidy color-by-number map to designate states that voted red and states that voted blue; …  goofy mascots; … the big scoreboard with a running tally of percentage of votes in; … and, the requisite quasi-diverse panel of  “experts” wearing red and blue striped ties and offering up continuous color-commentary.

Pass the Cheetos - What a fun game this is!  … ”Shellacked” Democrats, heads hanging, make barely-audible conciliatory sounds about faulty listening skills and aggressive agendas … Emboldened Republicans point told-you-so fingers and exchange high-fives, using words like ”The American people have sent a message!” … Referendum … and, Two more years, succa!!! … The only thing missing here are dread-locks hanging over a couple of collars, scantily-clad dance teams, and fans in face-paint.  Go Red!!! Go White!!! Go Blue!!! My team wins, your team loses!!! We are so going to bury you!!! Nah-nah-na-boo-boo!!!

Except, this isn’t a game.

We don’t get to just dust ourselves off, pack up the pom-poms and fire the coach when it’s over. This entrenched political exercise has some very real consequences in the lives of ”ordinary Americans” — those people that candidates keep pandering to, but really don’t know how to define or reach. While the victor du jour is busy printing up new calling cards and changing the name plates on the revolving door, who is doing any meaningful work for the American people?  The fall-out from of this volley of fist-pumping and hand-wringing is that neither team actually has the time or traction, nor, I fear, intention, to move the ball forward in any meaningful way.

The Take-Away: BOTH PARTIES are “misunderstanding the message” of this election. The dynamics of this repetitive, binary, zero-sum-game have become exhausting and dysfunctional. The last thing we need in our precarious economic recovery period is another round of trash talk and celebration in the end-zone. We need some important stuff done around here. 

We need to get this house in order so we can have jobs to do and actual houses to come home to. (Never mind clean air and water, decent healthcare, and a competitive edge in the global marketplace.)  We need the politicians who have been granted the honor of public service to buckle down, roll up their sleeves, and GET THEIR WORK DONE. As far as I can see, the only way they are going to do that is to stop playing partisan games (are you listening, Representative Boehner?) and work t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r. 

Seriously. The American people aren’t some arm-chair quarterback — WE ARE THE COACH. And, unless I am mistaken, the coach gets to call the plays. It’s TEAM AMERICA we’re working for, so damn it, … get out there … one … two … three … break!

Pre-Ramble:  So, I guess Sarah Palin had a tea party last week.  I wasn’t invited.  As a registered Independent for the last 25 years, I’m not invited to vote in the primaries either.

Well, so, in our perennially polarized political system, the majority is either swinging way over to the right … or they’re swung way over to the left … and the folks in the middle pretty much get knocked out of the way.  The outcome of this ”pendulum politics” is that nothing of substance ever seems to get done.

Just the ticket – If candidates who want to get elected camp out in the middle (you know who you are) because there are so many votes there, why don’t we formalize that group?  Maybe there’s room in the system for a third party?  … Ya think?

The Take-Away:  I have a great idea … rather than just taking our  lumps, let’s set up a couple rows of folding chairs in the center of The Aisle?  ( … Independent Party on the Aisle!!  Woot!! ) … I’m not sure how many we’ll need …  I want one … and we probably need one for Senator Bayh … and a couple of seats for my neighbors …

Let me know if you want a spot and I’ll toss my coat over it until you get there.

Pre-Ramble:  I’m sure there has been way more written about this incident than is necessary or desirable, but when has that ever stopped me?  By now, we’ve all seen the photo-op of what has been flippantly referred to as “The White House Beer Garden” (WSJ); “Foaming Diplomacy” (St. Paul Pioneer Press); ”Red, Lite and Blue Summit” (MSNBC); and my personal favorite, “The Keggar” (David Letterman).

I’m talking about the carefully choreographed shot of President Obama, professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and police Sgt. James Crowley ”hoisting a conciliatory beer around a picnic table next to the White House ‘s new swing set,” following an unfortunate altercation on Prof. Gates doorstep earlier in the week. Vice President Biden was also included at the last minute, even though he had committed no gaffe related to the incident (give him time).

In case you’ve been sequestered in some kind of isolation tank for the past two weeks, Sgt. Crowley responded to a call on a possible break-in at a Cambridge home and ended up arresting Prof. Gates for disorderly conduct, even after becoming aware that Gates was, in fact, the home’s owner. A week later, President Obama exacerbated matters when commenting off-handedly (at a news conference) that the Cambridge police had “acted stupidly” in arresting Gates — a word choice that he later qualified as regrettable.

So, Harvard scholar Gates, … weary having just returned from a trip to China, becomes agitated when he can’t open his own front door.  And Sgt. Crowley, … police officer doing his job, follows up on a call from a neighbor who had spotted a disgruntled man rattling around on Gate’s porch in the middle of the night.

Vigilant officer meets thwarted homeowner — soon, the situation has escalated into an event. Gates is throwing around emphatic exclamatories, and Crowley, tweaked by the tirade, carries out his duty to the very letter of the law. We weren’t there, we don’t know. And, thankfully, that isn’t even the point.

As a kid growing up in a Detroit suburb during the 60′s, I can remember hearing the distant sounds of riots in the middle of the night. And, remember Rodney King? … Fast forward a couple decades — we all know that this whole thing could have gone so much worse.

If we’re smart, we also recognize that the behavior of either Gates or Crowley could have been any one of us, responding inappropriately to a situation that gets the better of us. While President Obama probably should have declined to respond publically to the incident (doesn’t he have other important stuff going on?), the planets couldn’t have been lined up any better for the swift diffusion of this potentially explosive ”teachable moment.”  Stating the obvious, as a black man with a bi-racial heritage, President Obama is in the unique position to bring a deeper and more immediate understanding to the elusive dynamics of race relations in America. 

The Take-Away:  While hot spots of racial tension and its sad effects still smolder under the surface, the acceptance and respect demonstrated in the disarming tone of the Beer Summit models a new way to address our differences and handle the inevitable bumps that pop up. Whether we’re sitting on the White House lawn or in our own backyards, it shows that we can simmer down, sit around a table, look each other in the eye, and talk about things. We can find a common ground and choose to move forward to higher ground together.

Gates and Crowley had like sentiments following the reconsiliatory gathering:

[The day became an opportunity to] move not just the City of Cambridge or two individuals past this event, but the whole country beyond this and toward some meaningful discussion in the future … we didn’t spend too much time dwelling on the past … we spent a lot of time discussing the future.”  — Sgt. Crowley

It is incumbent upon Mr. Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.” — Prof. Gates

Post-Note:  As a strong proponent of civic responsibility and long time fan of Gladys Kravitz (the Steven’s nosy neighbor on the 1970′s television series, Bewitched), I applaud Lucia Whalen, the individual who made the 911 call to Cambridge police, and welcome her to watch my back anytime.

Pre-Ramble: An article in yesterday’s New York Times describes former vice president, Dick Cheney’s daily routine thusly:

On the mornings he is in town, Dick Cheney wakes up at 6, climbs into his black sport utility vehicle and drives himself to a Starbucks near his McLean, VA, home. He returns with a pair of grande skim lattes — decaf for him, regular for his wife, Lynn — and settles back into work in the sun-drenched office above his garage, penning his memoir in longhand on yellow legal pads.

Apparently, in between drafts, he trots over to Fox News to defend his legacy and fan the smoldering embers of the conservative agenda. Okay, this is fair. Any guy who played a key role in what is being characterized as one of the least successful administrations in recent history, has been linked to some questionable military contracts, and accidently shot someone in the face, has some personal damage control to attend to. And clearly, the Republican Party could use a tourniquet … shot in the arm … some leadership as well.

In his interviews, Cheney continues to reprimand the new administration’s actions, wife Lynn explains, in an effort to remind us that, “particularly related to national security issues, it is important that we don’t abandon [established] policies and that we remember that we are at war.”

The thing is, while national security is a really important thing (I want to be secure and I want our country to be a safe place), I don’t want to be at war. I have to think that there are other ways to address the challenges we face. I have to think that there is room in our arsenal for diplomatic strategies and room at the table for new voices. Far from “telegraphing weakness,” a president who is out there mixing it up with foreign leaders – of all ilk – is a sign of strength, integrity, and bold leadership, actually.

The Take-Away: I don’t know Mr. Cheney personally, but I can see that he is having a hard time grasping the concept that the American people (at least 51% of them) are not interested in maintaining the hawkish stance of the last eight years. In his defense, as a career military guy, Dick Cheney and his buddies at Halliburton see the world through a set of cross-hairs. It’s their default mode. Hopefully, it is an outdated mode.

In an effort to be a fair and balanced citizen, I’m looking forward to reading Mr. Cheney’s memoir and getting a better understanding of his perspective. In the meanwhile, all health conditions aside, he might want to dump out that decaf and move into the next eight years with something with a little more zip.

Pre-Ramble: As U.S. Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner walks a tight-rope over the global economic crisis, critics on the other side of the aisle rush (unfortunate pun) to judgment on his plan and challenge his credentials. Despite repeated attempts to build confidence, manage expectations and signal much needed regulatory reform in his Plan for Bad Bank Assets (opinion piece in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, p. A15), Geithner still faces a swarm of criticism from the antagonistic crowd over at Fox News. 

Commentators Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and go-from-the-gut-doughboy, Glenn Beck are still dancing around on the us-vs.-them warpath,  justifying their sorry, partisan pot-shots as vital “checks and balances” on an administration that is solidly weighted to the left and attempting to operate above the fray.

Sure, the value of discussion and opposition is still an important part of the democratic process, but at this particular point in time, the last thing the President and his advisors, (or any of us who want to see meaningful progress) need is a pack of self-serving detractors with stop-watches heckling from the cheap seats.

I guess they don’t understand that it’s going to take longer than 57 days to turn this around and that the part where “we as a nation must work together“ means them too. 

The Take-Away:  Under these critical and complex circumstances, it is going to take more than fifteen seconds, a paper clip and some chewing gum to address the ticking national and international challenges that we face. In the words of civil rights activist, Eldridge Cleaver, “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”

Pre-Ramble: As the squabbling over at the significantly diminished and rudderless GOP continues, party leaders are left holding a flaming bag of do-do in the wake of conservative talk show host, Rush Limbaugh’s latest proclamation made in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference where he stated that he wants “Barack Obama to fail.”

I wonder if Rush has stopped talking long enough to consider the fall-out of a Barack Obama failure?  The way I see it, if he fails, we fail. Big time.

The Take-Away: It’s pretty clear that, at this point, the Republican Party has no leadership, no message, and no hope. The last thing they need is some self-serving blowhard spewing outrageous, inflammatory nonsense.

Post Note: Al Franken may not be the right about a lot of things, but he may have been right about one thing.

Pre-Ramble:  According to my MSNBC homepage, the East Coast is “bracing for a potent March snow storm,” and “a rare snow blanketed the South, prompting over 200 churches in the central part of the Bible Belt to cancel morning services.”  As I look out over our freshly shoveled driveway, I am given pause to consider the relative aspects of these reports. This kind of challenging weather is an everyday occurence here in Minnesota… In fact, the Twin Cities just bounced back from a doozy of a storm that introduced eight inches of  the fresh white fluffy stuff into the evening commute. No big deal. We can handle it. True Minnesotans actually get crabby if a winter season doesn’t have its share of noteworthy weather. Our poor kids never get a snow day.

One thing I’ve noticed is that weather reports definitely have their share of blowing and drifting verbiage … not unlike news reports that throw around unnecessarily inflammatory words to describe current economic conditions (a topic I have discussed in a couple of recent blogs; 2/17 and 2/4).

By the way: A few more additions to the ongoing list of Unnecessarily Inflammatory Words… hobbled, soured, trepidation, turmoil, pervasive, pernicious, faltering, rescue, negative, contenders, beleaguered, buffeted, Buffetted*(* I just made that one up), brink, failure, hit (as in “take a major”), difficult, uncharted, teeter, free-fall, and the week’s top characterization expressed by Christina Romer, chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisors, “Obama administration officials have been watching ‘in horror’ what’s been going on around the world.”

Apparently, major economic indexes have tumbled to their lowest levels in twelve years and for the sixth straight month, the Dow Jones industrial average has fallen — and is now teetering — at less than half of its all-time record worth of 14,165. That’s gotta be bad news – unless you’re on a playground, teetering is never good.

The Take-Away: Sure, the economic climate is looking a little rough. It’s probably going to take a while to dig out from this one. But, like a big snow storm, it doesn’t really do any good to panic. Heck — we’re tough — we don’t need no stinkin’ snow days!  Buckle down, bundle up, and look on the bright side – the economy might not be warming up as quickly as we might have hoped, but there’s still a good chance that we could get another few nasty weather events before the fishing opener!

Pre-Ramble: When we last visited the situation, we were on a cupcake break following a rousting round of musical chairs (see post from 1/6/09). And so, the Great Race to the U.S. Congressional Seat after-party continues as both candidates and their attorneys threaten to hold their breath until the other side relents.

Coleman continues to press for a grudge-match of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and was last seen constructing a blanket fort under the plaintiff’s desk at the recount trial. It is reported that Franken’s team is amassing juice boxes in preparation for a series of sleepovers on Capitol Hill.  

The Take-Away: Party on! Clearly, the kids are getting tired, but nobody is willing to walk away from this thing yet.

Post-Note: I found a couple absentee ballots under the nerf ball and Twizzlers in my party bag – what should I do with them?

Pre-Ramble: In the interest of aiding the ailing economy, President Obama should supersede the First Amendment and ban the media from using the following words unless they are covering submarine maneuvers, roller-coasters, or souffles:

Ailing, fall, crash, drop, plunge, plummet, nose-dive, decline, downturn, sinking, slide, slump, spasm, outflow, dip, dent, recession, depression, hopeless, despair, gloom, doom, misery, woes, intensified, large-scale, cut-backs, lower-than-expected, sharp-drop, blackened, dark, evaporated, cratered, tanking, slashing, frenzy, collapse, stoppage, quagmire, topsy-turvy, crisis, struggle, battered, disgruntled, barrage, mangy, flagging, weakness, suffer, staggering, losses, dismal, unnerving, reckless, trauma, loser, bust, tumble, stumble, wallow, bottomed-out, hemorrhaging, critical, not-so-good, worse, suck, clench, jolt, shudder, yank, twitching, default, implode, undermine, fanning-the-flames, massive, destruction, troubled, vast, unsustainable, alarming, magnitude, fearful, scared, scarred, anxious, jobless, yipes, nervous, thrashing, trouncing, failure, demise, closure, deflated, epic, stupor and grim.

The Take-Away: The constant barrage use of Chicken Little language will only make things worse less good. Please suggest any other words that need to be added to the master list.