By Carol Lucas
When I sat down to write my article this week, I admitted to being baffled about a topic. That’s never the place to be if you expect to accomplish anything, and if you have a deadline to meet. I had so many topics rattling around in my brain that achieving focus looked to be almost impossible.
You see, my first thoughts had settled on what I had seen during the Robert Kennedy, Jr. hearings. Talk about a study in Psychology 101!
With that, my mind wandered back to 1960 and the swearing in of JFK as President. This was my first year of college, and I was completely taken with his looks, his politics, his Boston accent.
Truth be known, it was probably in that order, because I know when I learned much later of his trysts with Marilyn Monroe, I was appalled. That was my first lesson regarding the illusions one can have regarding famous figures.
RFK, chosen by the current President to head up the department of Health and Human Services grabbed my attention. What a joke! This is the man who tells of a brain worm, who was on heroin for 14 years, whose cousin Caroline delivered a scathing letter/video, telling how Bobby was responsible for providing drugs to his siblings, his cousins, and God knows how many others. She added that his father, as well as hers, would have been disgusted.
All you had to do was look at his face and listen to his voice to know that brain worm is still at work. So enough about RFK. What emerged from my dilemma over what to write about was not just RFK’s apparent incompetence, but that same lack of ability on the part of the President’s other choices to facilitate and lead our governmental agencies.
Ah, as usual, dear reader, I have digressed!
One would think our country’s leader would want the best possible people, those with education and experience in the area for which they are proposed. One would also think that by choosing those whose competence is outstanding, said decision maker (the president) would realize the positive reflection on himself and go for the best, those with stellar backgrounds.
So why is No. 47 choosing some of the most inept, incapable, inefficient persons he could possibly pick? Now there is the $64 question as far as I am concerned. Eureka! I have my topic for this week.
I would think that very thorough vetting must take place in order to fill these positions. One does not choose a 14-year heroin addict whose pastime was putting small chicks and mice into a blender. Nor does he put forth the name of a man whose background includes alcoholism and abuse of women who sadly was approved to head up the Department of Defense.
And he should not consider a person to head the FBI whose goal is to dismantle that organization at the same time he published a hit-list of people, a man caught in so many lies during his hearing that he looked like a deer in the headlights. And decidedly, the present occupant of the White House should not give the nod to a woman who has spent private time with known enemies of our country, a woman who refuses to acknowledge Edwin Snowden as a traitor. After all, her position would be that of guarding our nation’s secrets.
This entire debacle began with Matt Gaetz who seems to have quietly exited the scene. The Florida representative was accused of sex trafficking, rape (sex with a minor) and drug use. He eventually bowed out of the “Let’s Make a Deal” sham, so maybe he was smarter than the rest. Time and future history will determine that.
All of these individuals are fodder for separate articles, but I have neither the energy nor the inclination to go down that path.
The better path takes me to this question: is this what a smart business mind does? Does he actively seek incompetence? Are those who are advising him failing to do proper vetting? What can possibly motivate someone to put forward individuals with such questionable backgrounds, knowing the entire circus will be televised for the world to see?
Or is there a deeper motive on the part of the advisors as well as the president? The use of legerdemain comes to mind, that skillful use of one’s hands when performing tricks. You know, watch this hand closely while my other hand is deftly accomplishing what I really want to do.
Lately I have read several articles that stress the ability to focus only on one or two issues that have deep meaning for a person. One consistent theme emerged from all of these: do not let yourself be bombarded with so many issues that you become overwhelmed and scattered, ultimately shutting down on all of it. This is what they want! Let me repeat,“This is what they want.”
Don’t take your eye off the wobbling plate and run to the next that is wobbling even more. Recall that old circus trick?
It was Thomas Payne who said, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” The rest of that quote is “the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country …”
I feel confident that there are enough of us who are not “summer soldiers” but rather those resilient fighters of Valley Forge fame.
Let’s be those soldiers of winter whose goal is to never lose focus.
Carol Lucas is a retired high school teacher and a Lady’s Island resident. She is the author of the recently published “A Breath Away: One Woman’s Journey Through Widowhood.”