Monday, January 9, 2012

Five Flakes

Last week I was excited to see five flakes roaming around. No two were alike, although all wanted to get to the same place. All were white. All were untouchable. We've had no snow yet this winter, so the appearance of the flakes was out of character.

Wait a minute. Did you think I was writing about the Republication candidates? Well, if the metaphor fits, so be it.

We are without much cold weather where I live in southwestern Virginia. We've only had the fireplace burning a couple of nights. The furnace itself doesn't run much either. Keeps the heating bills under control, but I miss some of the nicer aspects of cold weather. Is this part of global warming? No, it can't be. Republications don't believe in global warming.

Let's look at global warming in light of the campaign in New Hampshire. The candidates threw heated missles at each other in two debates. Some hit their marks. Others missed. Some candidates haven't figured out that the Granite state isn't soft and squishy with its questions like Iowa was. Voters lobbed tough questions and too often received talking points in return.

While no two snowflakes are alike, they have several things in common. They are cold. They melt on contact with the ground. While no two candidates are alike, they have several things in common. They want to be president. They tell us they will be very different from President Obama. They don't tell us how they will be different. They don't tell us what they will do to bring jobs to the unemployed. They don't tell us how they will balance the budget, but it will be better. Just trust us.

I trust snowflakes to be cold. The last Republican who asked us to trust him was Richard Nixon just before Watergate. We all know the end of THAT story.