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www.lbknews.com Friday, August 31, 2012 Page 7 to assist the small entrepreneur.” Then he says some- thing like, “But, they didn’t do it all by themselves and now they must give some back to those who haven’t done anything at all.” (He really doesn’t put it quite that way, but that is what he means.) So, don’t bother to pay attention to what he’s saying until he says “but;” then, listen very carefully. Neil Armstrong and his compa- triots helped make America excep- tional. I believe Mr. Obama thinks it OK if we are less exceptional. Therefore, he directed NASA to end manned space flight and spend more time reaching out to the Muslim world so as to encourage scientific endeavor in that community. Whatever was our president thinking? We’ve all seen hundreds of masked jihadists brandishing AK47s, burning American flags and chanting “death to the great Satan.” Can anyone really bring themselves to believe inter galactic space travel is high on that group’s list of interests? Obamacare will be, or should be, a big issue in the campaign. I will limit my comments for fear of giving the erudite Ms. Hanson another excuse to further pummel me in print. Suffice to say, when that 2,700-page mon- strosity is fully implemented, we will all wonder why we just didn’t turn over the nation’s health care to Michael Jackson’s physician and have done with it. Mr. Obama does not seem to be overly concerned about a decline in American influence in the world. He seems to be content with turning everything over to the United Nations. Here again, I miss Bill Clinton. He didn’t give a damn about the so-called world community. He didn’t ask anyone, he just went. He went into Kosovo without even bothering to ask the United Nations. In 1998, Clinton bombed Iraq for four days to degrade We knew that the big time would come again to Tampa Bay, specifically to our city, Sarasota. There has been more Republican action in town this year; I sup- pose you can chalk that up to the primary activity in the GOP. The Republican Convention up in Tampa had to have some spill over to this area, if only for available hotel rooms. That’s good for us. It also had what was billed as a major event just before convention opening. The Republican Party of Sarasota County hosted its 2012 Statesman of the Year Dinner Sunday, Aug. 26 at the Ritz-Carlton. This event honored Donald Trump. You see we are in the big time, even if it was a fundraising special. I was fortunate to be invited to this event as Press; maybe even I have made it. Your reporter has been to a lot of these events. I’ve been in the K of C hall, the Sarasota Yacht Club (SYC) and in a tent in a citrus field. The Ritz is a new high for me. I read the preliminary attendee list of almost 400. As usual I didn’t see any clear LBK representation. I suspect that we’d do better at Democratic Party events. Charlotte isn’t so far. It’s further from the coastal storms too. Tropical Storm Isaac didn’t dampen this event. This gathering was billed by the Sarasota Republicans as the Convention-Kickoff Dinner with Donald Trump. Donald and Ms.Trump braved the Sunday afternoon pre-tropical storm weather to fly into SRQ. He faced the press before the main event. I was impressed by this friendly and gra- cious man. He seems at ease before the press, local and national. They were both here. I didn’t get a question in, but I did shake his hand. That’s hand number two; Mitt’s was number one at the SYC. A light rain started to fall as I drove over the bridge to the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota.The early arrivals were light, as I noticed the valets speeding cars to the ballroom garage. I parked my old Saab in the street. It was a tight squeeze, some skills just remain. As the weather finally deteriorates later Sunday afternoon, this event appears to indeed be the kickoff to the festivities of the Republican National Convention – now sched- uled to start Tuesday, a day later than planned. The early hype says there will be 1,000 people at the dinner, impres- sive. Trump is now reported to be flying to Sarasota from New York — returning to New York after this event and not going to Tampa. The press contingent is large, print and electronic journalists pres- ent. The TV Channels are well represented. I notice that Trump apparently travels without han- dlers, at least visible ones. Of course he is not a candi- date, eh? This is the grit of retail politics — follow the newsmaker, maybe he’ll say something. The man arrives. Joe Gruters, the local party chairman introduces the honoree. Trump knows Joe’s name. Gruters says, again, that we’re taking our country back.Trump opens by say- ing that we’ve raised a lot of money tonight. He notes that,“the country is in serious decline.” A reporter asks what advice Trump might have for Paul Ryan. Trump replies, “Ryan is doing a great job. He lives an exemplary life; is in the public spotlight; adds energy.” He adds, “Ryan will save Medicare” — the take- away line. Another asks about Trump’s convention role. Donald says he is going to New York after dinner.“A big role had been planned for me at the convention. We’ll see what BURGUM TOM BURGUM Contributing Columnist [email protected] Politics — more big time O’CONNOR Hunter S. Thompson in his classic, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” wrote, “History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even without being sure of ‘history’ it seems entirely reasonable to think that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands at the time — and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually happened.” Thompson wrote his classic in 1971 but he could have written it today without changing much of any- thing. In 1971, the baby boomers were taking over; now they’re on their way out and the new wave is coming in. It makes for interesting politics, that is if you can cut through the hired bull.Whether the new wave breaks to the left or to the right remains to be seen. President Obama wants to push us toward a European model economy; at least it seems that is the case. That is, more central control, more social welfare benefits, and, in some cases, punitive taxation.Why Obama thinks this is a good idea is confusing at best. Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy are basket cases, and the Euro is stressed. Last year thousands of young folks tied up Paris and other French cities because they were upset the government had raised the early retirement age from 60 to 62. When college students and the young unem- ployed demonstrate for retirement benefits, you have a national structural problem. We miss Bill Clinton. When he talked about the European model, he really meant real European models. He wasn’t much interested in Europe’s economic vision. Have you ever noticed Mr. Obama expresses his thoughts in two parts? The first is for the moderates. For instance, “We all know that small business is the backbone of our economy and we must do all we can Iraq’s ability to manufacture and use those elusive weap- ons of mass destruction. He didn’t much care whether or not the Russians or Chinese approved. I have no idea how the Republican convention will play out, as I have to write this before it takes place. But, I suspect it will be quite dull. Republicans have always had a rather tidy approach to this busi- ness. Unfortunately, the Democratic convention doesn’t promise anything more. This was not always the case. The Democratic Party of Roosevelt, Truman and Kennedy was kind of a joy- ous operation and the conventions were great fun. At some point a sufficient number of delegates would sober up enough so they could belt out a few rendi- tions of “Happy Days are Here Again.” Speakers like the great cold warrior Sen. Scoop Jackson or President John Kennedy would stir up the delegates with roaring trib- utes to American’s greatness. Bill Clinton was fun. We could never quite remember what he said, but we liked the way he said it. Who can forget the moment in 1968 when Mayor Daly of Chicago rose to his feet and gave the convention speaker the middle-finger salute while suggesting he do something that is anatomically impossible? Not tidy, but great fun. Today’s Democratic Party convention will likely fea- ture a series of speakers, most of who will look like they are perpetually witnessing the docking of the Hindenburg. And, the speeches will have that whin- ing quality my wife finds so attractive on public radio. Friends, it is not hard to conclude we’ve lost something important. I think this election is the kind Thompson was talking about in 1971. It does feel like the energy of a whole country is coming to a head for reasons that nobody really understands and that will have implications far, far beyond this year. ‘Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail’ ‘People want to hear the truth. So being a statesman means talking this truth.’ —Donald Trump PETER O’CONNOR Contributing Columnist [email protected] Key Opinion It does feel like the energy of a whole country is coming to a head for reasons that nobody really understands and that will have implications far, far beyond this year. develops.” In answer to another question Trump says that the Obama campaign is the most negative. McCain chose to be nice — that didn’t work out. Trump says, “Four more years and we may not have a country left. Mistake (for Romney) would be to be too politically correct.” In reply to a question about Romney’s comment on Obama’s birth records, Trump says, “What I say about Obama’s birth doesn’t matter. I’m still with Romney.” Question: “Is Obama’s birth certificate an issue you will be pushing?”Trump replies,“We’ll see.” Reporter from the Washington Times asks about Trump’s relation with Romney. Trump says, “I have a good relationship with the Romney campaign. Mitt’s visions on many issues are mine.” Trump brings up cur- rent rise in gasoline prices. He says that “OPEC can’t wait to raise oil prices.” The Miami Public TV station asks what does Statesman of the Year mean. Trump replies, “People like what I say. The country is in serious decline. China rips us, also OPEC. People want to hear the truth. So being a states- man means talking this truth.” Another asks what messages need to be sent to voters. Trump says that late polls show Romney-Ryan up. “Mitt had to win Florida in primary.”“Mitt did well in winning Florida primary,” Donald says,“I love Florida.” I enjoyed my exposure to the give and take of a press conference. Trump gave us 20 minutes, before moving on to the heavy donors. Addendum This piece was a tale of politics — big time in a small city. We learned of a bigger bit of news, if not of politics, of O’Connor, page 16
