Obama and Blago-whassisname: History Repeats Itself Yet Again? Not So Much.

I don't know why this old movie came to mind while I was listening to news reports on the arrest of the Governor of Illinois this morning, but the 1995 HBO movie "Truman" has been in my thoughts today. It's not good enough to run out and spend money on a copy of this movie, but if you're a history buff, consider putting it in your Netflix queue.

Essentially, it was a biopic of President Harry Truman. What was unusual about this movie for me was it's focus on his pre-Washington ties to the political machine back in Independence, Missouri. In one scene, Gary Sinise (who did a pretty good job as Truman, IMHO) goes back to Missouri to visit his old political patron, played by character actor extrordinaire Pat Hingle. The old man is under fire for corruption, but he understands that Truman can't help him out of his jam without putting the kibosh on his own career. The old man gives Truman his blessing and allows "Give 'Em Hell Harry" to toss him under the bus for the good of the country. It makes you think: Will Governor Blawhassisname be as gracious to The One True Lightworker when the wolves are breathing down his neck? No, I don't think so either. Neither party is exactly the heir to Truman's Democratic legacy.

I'm not a huge Truman fan, but I believe he was a decent man who tried to do the right thing the whole time he served his country. Henry Wallace, FDR's prior vice-president, grew up near Orient, Iowa which is only about 20 miles from where I grew up near Winterset. Instead of feeling that a fellow good ol' Iowa boy got cheated out of being president after FDR died in office, I thank God that one of Stalin's "Useful Idiots" was replaced on the Presidential ticket by a decent man who had the testicular fortitude to use The Bomb and avoid millions of casualties among both American Servicemen AND Japanese Civilians.

Harry Truman was a Democrat, but the Pelosis, Reeds and Schumers of today's Democratic Party would abso-freakin-lutely give him the Lieberman treatment if he were running for office today. And Governor "shake down the children's hospital....for the children"? Not only couldn't he carry Harry Truman's jockstrap, but he's not even worthy to scrub the toilets at the Harry Truman Presidential Library. The present state of the Democratic Party makes me think of what another American President once said about the political party that will soon control two of our three branches of government:

"I didn't leave the Democratic Party. They left me."

posted by Russ from Winterset at 07:31 PM

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