What 'Is' Is

What constitutes ‘mob’ these days? How do they teach it in college? Is it bribery, extortion, theft, protection, drug running, brass knuckles, cement shoes, severed horse heads, stuffing ballot boxes, vote buying, ‘kiss of death”? Excuse me, I no longer quite know what ‘is’ is. Isn’t this essentially how our government works these days?

Congress has been up to its neck in shady dealings. They’re not even embarrassed. It’s been all out in the open. Republicans shut out of negotiations, negotiations behind closed doors, bills passed in the dead of night, pay-offs, vote-buying – whatever it takes. The ends justify the means.

The American people are simply sick of it. They can see when something is wrong. They enjoyed watching ‘The Sopranos’ on TV. But they don’t want their government operating that way. Which is it that Americans distrust more: the Mob or third-world totalitarian dictators? If a vote were held today, it could well be a tie.

Will Obama stump for Giannoullias? He’ll be tempted to. There are those who would advise against it, thinking that a presidential endorsement would amount to ‘the kiss of death’ at this point. I’m sure they wouldn’t put it quite like that. Obama, tone-deaf as he is, would take it as a yes. He still believes that Massachusetts had nothing to do with him.

The Republican will win – even in Chicago. Unless, of course, Lazarus is able to raise enough dead. The people of Chicago have been held hostage for far too long. It took Oscar Tulio Lizcano eight years for the opportunity to escape his FARC captors. Chicagoans know that their time is at hand.

Say what you will about Republicans but, compared to the Dems, they’re clean as the driven snow. They may not be quite as smart, but they won’t need smart this time around. All they’ll have to do is show up. There’ll still be plenty of time to blow it after they’re in office.