Are You Sure You Want This Mess, John?

You know, if I was Mr. Kerry I'd be wondering if running for president is such a hot idea. Work with me for a minute here -- think what it would be like to walk into your predecessor's office knowing that things were seriously off the rails, but not knowing all the stuff that's been swept under the rug. Your job is to make it right. Why do I hear the Mission Impossible theme at this moment? The minute Kerry is sworn in, the Right will turn on him like a pit bull. We saw that with Clinton. Rush and buddies will foam at the mouth. So Kerry will have no one in his corner as he tries to fix a broken economy, an ill-equipped Army, a poorly managed Homeland Security Department and a quagmire of a war that sucks billions out of our empty coffers. Top that off, most everyone in the world hates us at this point and isn't going to be too keen to jump on the US bandwagon. Gee, that's my dream job if there ever was one.

On some level I wish Kerry won't win because I suspect four years of trying to put out the forest fires will suck the life out of the man. It's only fair this mess blow up on Bush's watch. On a more practical level, I'm not sure if the US (or the world, for that matter) can stand another four years of the guy from Texas. The Pentagon just reported they don't have enough troops to handle any other situations we might find ourselves in. Gee, now that's a surprise. Iran and Korea are making nukes as Mr. Bush assures us that all is kosher, that the world is safer from terrorists and that Iraq is far better off than they were. I don't know what he's smoking, but he'd better share some with the rest of us.

My deepest concern is for the soldiers, followed by the Iraqi citizens. No, they're not all the bad guys. They're mom, pop and kids just trying to stay alive in an environment where bombs kill indiscriminately. How you would feel if you trudged down to your local grocery store and had to worry someone was going to kill you before you bought your ration of bread for the day? Queue for a job in Iraq (especially as a cop) and you get blown up. I can only imagine the sort of hell those people live in -- damned if you do, damned if you don't. You support the crazies, you get dead. You support the Americans, you get dead. That's not the way to build a country. While we've lost over a thousand of our folks, 16,000 Iraqis have been killed. Unreal.

I sometimes wonder what the Supreme Being thinks of all this. Probably sincerely disappointed in His/Her/Their creation. I know I would be.

Anon...