John Nance Garner, 32nd Vice President of the United States from 1933 to 1941, said the vice presidency wasn’t worth a warm bucket of piss¹. It would appear many agree, and few, if any, are concerned with who our next vice-president will be, presumably because of the relative unimportance of the post (Dick Cheney’s Bush-push out of political mediocrity notwithstanding).
My concerns have been met with much historical recounting - none of it relevant because never before in the history of the United States has a candidate of color been this close to closing in on the Oval Office, nor has a man of 72 years of age ever been elected President.
All things being equal, Barack Obama and John McCain run the same risks of injury or death when stepping out onto the street, driving around town, or eating a spinach and jalapeño salad - but all things are not equal. I’ve run into no shortage of naysayers whose most frequent defense of their apathy is “Elephant? What elephant?²”
While every president runs the risk of assassination, there is good reason to believe Obama could be met with the same kind of resistance met by John F. Kennedy - whose support of the Civil Rights movement did not go unnoticed by those who were not in agreement with our nation’s youngest and only Catholic president.
Many an elder laments the suggestion that McCain’s age alone should be an issue and chooses to ignore the likelihood that an age-related health issue could interfere with his ability to fulfill a presidential term. Then there are those who, thinking they've spoken in confidence, do secretly hold that it would be no skin off their nose if Obama met an early demise.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
I'm not cavalier. I plan to vote primarily based on running mate. I'm not sure there's anyone Obama could pick who would win me over, but McCain could get me to vote for him instead of Bob Barr if he made the right choice, or drive me away with a bad choice.
I think the real reason why the VP choices are so important this time is that the two candidates are so remarkably uninspiring, not because they might die.
Dave
2 - Joanne Huspek
Interesting ideas. I don't usually look at the running mates, but like Dave above, I think I might have to this go round.
I don't know if it was intended, but your footnotes were particularly humorous to me. I take it there are some people who need a detailed road map to discourse. :-)
3 - Diana Hartman
I don't know if it was intended, but your footnotes were particularly humorous to me. I take it there are some people who need a detailed road map to discourse. :-)
I submit my family to readings of articles before I publish. My teenage daughter's friends were in the room at the time - and didn't understand the references. On the off chance the article draws unknowing readers, I threw in the footnotes - another concept my daughter's friends didn't understand. I'm thinking of opening up my own summer school.
4 - Christopher Rose
Why is an elephant in the room either taboo or embarrassing? Dangerous I could understand...
5 - Clavos
Perhaps it's deliberate, but you're thinking too linearly, Chris. It's an elephant because they are hard to ignore, particularly in an enclosed room.
It's all about size.
6 - Baritone
The problem I see with having an elephant in the room is, how the hell do you get it out? And the carpeting, oh my goodness, the carpeting!
Diana,
I, too, appreciated your footnotes. Actually, I think far more extensive use of footnotes, and say, various appendecies including perhaps even a gazetteer, might be helpful to some.
(Is it possible that some might be scrambling to a dictionary or Wikipedia to see what the hell a gazetteer is?)
B
7 - Christopher Rose
Clavos, I wasn't the one that described the elephant...
Baritone, the same way you got it in.
Or, as the old joke has it:-
How do you get 4 elephants in a Mini?
Two in the front and two in the back.
8 - Clavos
Clavos, I wasn't the one that described the elephant...
...But you are the one who took the description literally...
9 - Diana Hartman
as a picture-book child still, i'm all about the gazetteer...if i can't see it (touch it, feel it, smell it, crinkle it up and smooth it out again), i won't understand it...
10 - Dr Dreadful
Chris, is the expression 'the elephant in the room' not courant in Britain?
I can't remember ever hearing it there, so perhaps that's the reason for your apparent obtuseness.
11 - Christopher Rose
Sorry, Clavos, I'm not used to your world where people describe things but we're supposed to imagine what they really meant. Personally I'd be a tad peeved if I people did that.
However, on that basis, I'm 6'3", blond and a multi-millionaire...
12 - Clavos
However, on that basis, I'm 6'3", blond and a multi-millionaire...
...meaning you're really a 4'2" bald, hunchbacked midget with acne and a wooden leg who lives in a council flat.
See how easy it is, Chris?
13 - Jet
Was this elephant a Republican?
14 - Jet
To clarify, an "elephant in the room" is comperable to an unavoidable subject that no one wants to address. The elephant in the room is obviously there, but no one wants to admit that they can see it, so everyone becomes uncomfortable trying to pretend it's not really there, though everyone knows it is...
I think
It's like your wife having a huge runner in her stocking, everyone can see it but her, and she's oblivious, therefore there's an elephant in the room, because no one wants to embarrass her by mentioning it.
15 - Baritone
Just as with the elephant, it's usually best to just say, Hey, toots, ya got a big run in yer stockin'. Looks like hell.
Clav - But, don't fail to mention that the wooden leg is of a finely finished mahogany.
B
16 - Baronius
See, when I read the article, I first thought that the elephant was some Republican reference that I was missing. I've heard the expression before, but I'm more used to "the 800 pound gorilla". There's also a great quote from, I believe, a prime minister of Canada to the effect that running a nation so close to the US is like falling asleep with a bear nearby. No matter how well things are going, you have to keep your eye on the bear.
17 - Clavos
LOL, Baronius.
The Mexicans have a saying that goes:
"Poor Mexico. So far from God, and so near to the United States."
18 - Dr Dreadful
@ #11 and #12:
Just for the record, I've seen one or two photos of Chris (not that scary one he insists on having up on his profile), and I can assure you that he is neither of those extremes.
He actually looks a bit like an escaped Rolling Stone.
19 - Dr Dreadful
The band, not the magazine.
20 - Clavos
Too bad.
I had envisioned a magazine with arms and legs, hunched over a desk with a giant eraser in its hand.
21 - Dr Dreadful
Clav, I think you missed your calling as a cartoonist.
22 - Clavos
Ah, Doc, you're too kind.
By way of contrast, my wife alleges that I have a bizarre (and sometimes creepy) imagination.
23 - Jordan Richardson
There's also a great quote from, I believe, a prime minister of Canada to the effect that running a nation so close to the US is like falling asleep with a bear nearby.
It was Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the quote is:
"Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."
24 - Dr Dreadful
I concur with your wife, Clav.
In your fleeting movie career, did you ever run into Terry Gilliam? I think you and he would probably hit it off rather well...
25 - Baronius
Jordan - Thanks.