ORLANDO -- America! Land of the free, and home of the brave -- arid lands thirsting for the twilight of individual liberty, vibrantly ambitious of fertile, national loins, begging, reaching -- grasping for change. The election is Tuesday. Tuesday!
Is it a wave? That monsoon the Nixon beasts used to always scream about back in the 1970s before the humiliation of Watergate -- of Watergate! A corrupting, unmitigated disaster, perhaps, for one of the greatest intellectual minds ever to mind the shop of the presidency.
Nixon was Undone! Undone, because of a third rate burglary every other political animal -- Democratic ones, especially -- would’ve gotten away with.
No Matter, the wave! There it is, appearing azure, a foamy wall of propulsive water over the horizon line, under an umbrella of sun, spumes of fulguration -- distant, but coming. Whoooooooosh! Crrrrrrrrrrrrrassssh!
Could this distant whooshing, this aft crashing, be the wave of the silent majority? On Tuesday, Nov. 6, America will know. Could be a short night. Could be a long one. But people will know.
If President Barack Obama has upset anybody, the silent majority would be it. They have become poorer and oppressively embittered; their ability to make ends meet and rise further on the economic ladder has been diminished -- assaulted by enough regulatory madness to kill a racing horse. Dependency is way up -- food stamps, welfare, EBT cards, disability -- the rich are richer, the poor are poorer.
No matter. Barack Obama wasted four years -- years! -- handing out give-me’s to campaign bunglers and bureaucratic clowns. The ruling class has been enriched. More and more men and women -- packs and packs of males and females -- have become mere plebeians at the tender mercy of the federal beast. But the wave! Indications are, the polls appear close.
But in 1980 and 1992 the wave intercepted the wisdom and the cool attitudes of the punditry class. Reagan was swept in. Polls were close there, too. Clinton in 1992. Why? Because the everyday fortunes of the average American were impoverished under the incumbent. The wave carried the incumbent off in rapids of failure… and humiliation.
If the Republicans made a mistake, back in 1992, it was to assume the wave was a faithful lover to particular political parties. She was not -- not then, not now. She is not the gorgeous lady with miles of lubricious legs devoted to the political class. She is devoted to the people -- that silent majority. Those everyday people who vote according to their personal livelihoods. People who have waited with baited breath for this president to fight for their everyday concerns.
People who get up, wash their face, throw on glasses, and drive to work -- people who own businesses. They got hung out to dry by this president.
People who get up, wash their face, throw on glasses, and drive to work -- people who own businesses. They got hung out to dry by this president.
President Obama pounded former President George W. Bush on profligate spending, but spent more. Trillions more. Gas is more expensive, food too. It costs more to live now, and it is harder to make money. Small business owners, bill payers, customers, moms and dads, are hanging on by their fingernails.
They are stretched. The average man and woman is worse off then they were four years ago. Congress, that bastion of honor and integrity, is a divisive playboy’s club. But President Obama said he could not do anything about the congressional miasma. And College students? Lucky to find work. Lucky, in America!
President Obama pounded former President George W. Bush on profligate spending, but spent more. Trillions more. Gas is more expensive, food too. It costs more to live now, and it is harder to make money. Small business owners, bill payers, customers, moms and dads, are hanging on by their fingernails. They are stretched. The average man and woman is worse off then they were four years ago. Congress, that bastion of honor and integrity, is a divisive playboy’s club. But President Obama said he could not do anything about the congressional miasma. And College students? Lucky to find work. Lucky, in America!
And so, the wave -- closer now, much closer, rollicking forward. And President Obama is the incumbent. He is on the beach, seated under an umbrella, sipping a mojito, lounging in the sun. But off in the distance -- the wave!
On Tuesday, America will be able to see if that wave -- that mercurial electoral wave -- the silent majority, is fact or fiction. If it is not, President Obama will lose. He will be a one-term president. And Republican challenger Mitt Romney, business owner, accomplished political figure of this tabescent era, will be the next president of these United States.
Headline Surfer is the 24/7 Internet newspaper in New Smyrna Beach covering Volusia County and beyond via HeadlineSurfer.com, NSBNews.net and VolusiaNews.net. It is published by Henry Frederick, winner of four awards in the 2012 Florida Press Club for general news writing, public safety reporting, blog writing and best oline presence with social media.