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Murphy Martin Commentary
February 1, 2007
"All Kinds of Smiles!"
Real, sincere, unforced,
from- the- heart smiles are growing fewer in number these days in a
world inhabited by power-grabbers who find it easier to
frown---unless they are trying to sell you something!
A new way of life is
trying to be sold in the Middle East by America in Iraq. Iran and
Syria, among others, are smiling and saying wait a minute we want to
control that area.
Iran and North Korea are
also smiling as they try to downplay their reach for nuclear
capability. Israel is a bit more open with their dismay with Arabs,
showing less smiles and more "our way or the highway" expressions.
Iran and Syria are probably not smiling much behind the scenes when
they watch Israel who undoubtedly is keeping a stern eye on who is
really behind Hezbollah and Lebanon action of recent months!
Against that troubled backdrop of world situations, there seems
little to smile about but the political pot in America will change a
lot of that and will bring back forced, phony, facetious, and maybe
even a few sincere smiles.
Last weekend seemed to be the beginning....earlier than usual...for
a presidential campaign. The candidates, announced or perceived,
were smiling -up-a-storm looking for money and support. Two pictures
are already etched indelibly in our mind from this past weekend.
At a dedication ceremony in San Antonio for The Center For The
Intrepid, a rehabilitation center for wounded U.S. Military
personnel there was Senator John McCain and Senator Hillary Clinton,
seated together, gazing into each other's eyes like two love-lorn
teenagers. We couldn't keep from wondering what they were really
thinking as that picture was snapped.
The second picture, from
the same event, came from a sound-bite where a microphone was in
front of Senator Clinton during the singing of the National Anthem.
We learned Hillary can't sing "on-key" nor did she know all the
words of the Anthem. But she doesn't list singing as one of her
qualifications to become the first female president in U.S. history.
Clinton, Edwards,
McCain, Obama, Giuliani, Romney, and all the other presidential
hopefuls, will be spending more time in Iowa and New Hampshire and
any other place that throws a fund-raiser for them. There will be
side-trips to Iraq, as Senator Clinton recently made, photo-ops by
the dozens...smiling all the while.
People serving in
Congress--those not running for President--will be smiling a lot
too. With the Democrats in control and Republicans working harder
than they have in recent years to establish bi-partisan support,
more smiles and calls to stay the course.
Such is the case of
Senator Chuck Hagel, Republican from Nebraska. Hagel, not smiling,
delivered a blistering attack to his fellow colleagues on the
Foreign Relations Committee. He Said: "Congress has duties in the
case of the war, meeting those duties was not convenient, Congress
did not meet them.
Peggy Noonan, in the
Wall Street Journal, explains perhaps why Mr. Hagel finds it more
difficult to smile as he contemplates tossing his hat into the
Presidential Campaign. Ms. Noonan says: He has shown courage for a
long time. He voted for the war Resolution in 2002, but soon after
began to question how it was being waged. (Not much smiling there
either.) He also stood against the war when that was a lonely place
to be. Senate Democrats (many of them smiling) sat back and watched:
if the war worked, they would change the subject, and if it didn't,
they would hang it on President Bush. Republicans did their version
of inaction, they supported the president until he was unpopular,
and then peeled off. (Changed smiles). It's what politicians do."
But not Chuck Hagel, he had guts and when he smiled it was sincere.
Now if he runs for President he may have to use the normal
politician's format---just smile all the time, whether it's sincere
or not!
While all this political activity builds steam, all those reporters
that cover the White House, according to ABC reports, will make the
judgment again and again and over and over that the Bush Presidency
is effectively over! Democrats will smile more at these reports than
Republicans. And this week the New York Post had a headline that
read: "Bush Hits Iraq Bottom: Among Least Popular Presidents of all
Time As War Takes Toll in Poll."
This weekend will bring SOME sincere smiles. Those cheering for
whomever wins the Super Bowl will be smiling big-time. But, even
those smiles will not be as big as those of that couple in St. Louis
who won 264-Million-Dollars in the Powerball Lottery. The couple, in
their eighties, said they would split their winnings with their four
children.
This is a classic example of why millions of lottery tickets are
sold every day in America. For just one-buck you buy a ticket---AND
DREAM. The odds of winning are not good, but when someone wins, like
the couple in St. Louis, talk about smiling...I mean REAL, SINCERE,
SMILING, enough to last a lifetime
for them.
Meanwhile, back in the
real world, we do hope you keep smiling! Smiles leave fewer wrinkles
than frowns...All Kinds of Smiles!
Murphy Martin
Your thoughts and comments forwarded to my website will be
appreciated.
e-mail
murphy@murphymartin.com
Previous commentaries:
"Humbled, Not
Bowed!"
"Free at Last!"
"Three Vastly
Different Lives"
"America at Her
Best"
"Holiday
Surprises"
"Christmas 2006"
"Is the Fat Lady
Singing?"
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"Make It Merry
Christmas"
"Voices from
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August 18 - "Network News Anchors"
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July 28 - "Television Then and Now"
July 21 - "The Mick"
July 14 - "Forty Years and Counting"
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