finally--after years of concerted effort and outrageous cash outlays to no apparent avail--some results! without having to do anything out of the ordinary (for, like, keith richards), i'm increasingly able to forget shit. pragmatist that i am, i'm not at all bothered by the possibility it may be nothing more than post-pre-early-onset senility. whatever works.
thus it was doubly cool seeing former senator bill bradley last night (3/13/07) on bill maher's 'real time'.
an initial moment of annoyance for having damn near totally forgotten bout bill was immediately dispelled by the joy of discovering yet one more thing i've been able to forget.
make that two things cuz i'd also forgotten what a potentially great president bradley could be if he could be persuaded to run for that office and if the american people, at least once in my lifetime, managed to elect someone far better than deserved.
no one currently up for consideration from either party can match his impressive achievements and accomplishments as a star athlete, olympic medalist, rhodes scholar and dedicated public servant.. of much greater importance is the quality of his character. this is a man who left his seat in the senate after 18 years for reasons of personal integrity of which he has an abundance rather than a complete lack (like a whole lotta office holders i could name...but won't).
he's experienced, competent, not too old nor young, never been seen wearing dresses, an environmentalist, a tax code reformer, advocate of children's rights and is literally a man of vision in more ways than one (he has double the average person's peripheral sight). perhaps that's the reason he proposes social programs which meld governmental support with individual responsibility.
last night, bradley demonstrated his ability to articulate the reasons why the debacle in iraq is such a huge foreign policy disaster as well as his forthrightness regarding that subject (he did so well, i'm willing to overlook his early support of reagan's crimes against the people of central america).
i don't mean to suggest he's a saint (unlike whomever ultimately wins the republican nomination after being anointed by the high priests of the carolinas).. with or without the pharisees' approval (not to mention the 150 graduates of pat robertson's law school who've somehow managed to find jobs in the current administration), if there really was a god, both he and i would be doin our best to make bill bradley our next president.