Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Where Are You Now, Ross, When We Need You

JammieWearingFool has recently posted a compilation of Ross Perot's commercials from his presidential run in 1992.

I worked with Perot's company (EDS) back in the 1980's and was extremely impressed with the competency and professionalism of his firm and its employees. I also watched with interest the interaction between EDS and GM during their 'merger' (GM saw it as an acquisition. So did EDS, although the two firms vehemently disagreed on who was acquiring who (whom?) )  Perot was so obviously on the side of the blue-collar working guy, without going overboard into liberal-land, that it was hard not to be on his side.

I figured anyone who could build a world-class company like that from the ground up would be a huge upgrade from the career politicians then running our government. And he had such a firm grasp on macroeconomics. He was, IMO, without a doubt the right person at the right time.

Unfortunately, Perot didn't win. Furthermore, he drew enough votes to swing the election from Bush the Elder to Bill Clinton. While I'm not a big Clinton fan, I will reluctantly agree that he didn't screw things up as bad as he could have (with the exception of Monica, but that's beside the point).

The reason I bring this up now is that Donald Trump is making noises about running for president. In my world he gets points for being a successful businessman, and for not being a professional politician/ Washington insider. However, he loses points for his prickly personality (look how he responded to criticism from Bill Cosby) and what, IMO, is his propensity to demand everything be his way or the highway.  

FWIW, I agree with Trump that obama owes the nation a resolution to the birther debate. (I'm not a birther, but I am starting to wonder - "methinks he doth protest too much.") However, I'd hate to see a rerun of the 1992 election in which Trump siphons off enough votes to let obama be reelected.

We as a country could survive eight years of Bill Clinton. There is no way on God's green earth that we could survive eight years of obama.

No comments: