Commentary
As I watched the inauguration of Joseph Biden, as I watched the man who formerly occupied the White House being whisked away, first in Marine One, then in Air Force One, as I saw my “Countdown Clock to Trump’s Last Day” register “0 Days, 0 Hours, 00 Minutes, 00 Seconds, all I could think about was the film, “The Wizard of Oz.”
As the munchkins in my head happily sang “Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead;” as Democrats in Congress began to regain their “courage;” as the incoming cabinet finally, after four years, seemed like it had a “brain;” and as President Biden, in his inaugural address, reminded me that the President of the United States can actually have a “heart;” I thought, what was missing?
And then it hit me. We, like Dorothy, learned something woefully too late…too late to relieve us of four years of agony much sooner than January 20, 2021. For all those dystopian years of Trump, we were terribly misguided. Misguided because we had put our faith into Bob Mueller to help make Trump go away. Misguided because we had relied on a dysfunctional Congress to remove him from office – twice. Misguided because we hoped that a Vice President who Trump threw under the bus, would do the right thing and invoke the 25th Amendment.
None of that happened.
So, where, I thought, was our Glinda when we needed her? And where were the ruby slippers? (OK, maybe for some of us, that’s a shoe too far). But where was Glinda when we needed her to tell us that we could have fixed things whenever we wished? That all we had to do was to close our eyes and tap our heels together three times. And think to ourselves, “There’s no place like America, There’s no place like America.”
But, of course, Glinda was right. If that’s all we had to do to fix things, we wouldn’t have believed her; we had to learn it for ourselves. And so we did learn it for ourselves, on November 3, 2020. (Or, at least many of us did.) And hopefully that learning will grant us many, many years living in a country where truth, justice and the American way return. And never, ever go away again.
Around the Block 
Aye, aye, Ted It’s so nice to not see the animal today
Sent from my iPad
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I celebrated, laughed, and cried today. However, let us not forget the work that still has to be done. We can’t forget the statehouses, governorships, congressional seats, and senate seats that have to be won. This is the lesson that we need to learn. Every vote needs to be counted.
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Amen…I won’t forget. There’s a lot of work left to do. But, if there’s a ray of sunshine it’s this: President Trump has reportedly floated the possibility of starting a new political party as he prepares to leave the White House amid internal struggles within the Republican Party.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Trump has discussed the matter with associates in the last week, suggesting he would call it the “Patriot Party.”
Now if only the Hawley’s, the Cruz’s, the DeSanits’, among others join the “Patriots” they’d never win. But of course, no matter how despicable they are, they’re too smart to take the bait.
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I HAVE ruby red shoes…they only work in the movies,. Glinda was nonetheless correct..
The caveat is You have to be clear about what you want, and then put in the work. We as a country did,. We have to keep working on clarity.
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Yes…with Glinda or without her; with the ruby red shoes or without them…we need to keep on working. This week is only a start; a great start, but just a start.
I just watched an unleashed Fauci at a press briefing. I had forgotten how refreshing it is to hear from an expert who is allowed to say smart things.
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