I Appreciate the Best

Tonight at nine (DST) will be the first (and only?) debate between the two major parties' vice presidential candidates. I'm hoping in the interests of both good television and my sanity as a viewer, that one of them has more awareness of when the debate actually is in terms of preparation than did his boss and that the other is cognizant that because of his boss' Pinocchio-evoking behavior last week, many more of us are aware of a caustic observation by Sir Winston Churchill than previously believed.

I am familiar with the assessment by a former occupant on the importance of the office and defer to him but only in regards to his time in our history. In my lifetime, two Presidents have been shot (John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan), the former fatally and the latter seriously, so perhaps the preferred attire for any Vice President should be Kevlar. And while the tailors are fashioning the appropriate garments the rest of us can practice being less disagreeable while we disagree with one another.

The Founders envisioned the Vice President's primary job as being as being the President of the Senate. I've watched enough C-SPAN to know I'm not cut out for that gig and if you are, good on ya. I wonder if it wouldn't be more interesting and more educational for all of us as citizens if we had a second Vice President, Veep Squared I'd call the office, on a rotating basis to cover when the Veep One is otherwise off-line.

Let's face it we have a line of succession to the Presidency that, maybe just to me, resembles the Periodic Table of Elements (and why isn't surprise anywhere on that table, by the way?). Why not add a wild card or player to be named later.

Maybe the folks who finish as runner's up in the Publisher's Clearinghouse Sweepstakes would get chosen-or we could do it alphabetically by height or perhaps stage a punt, pass & kick contest on the White House front lawn. That would be a good way to find those leftover Easter eggs, that's for sure. Or we could pick people whose names are similar to those of the President, in this case perhaps a Southie named O'Bama or an Okie named Ronmey. Thisclose to being the guy but still far enough away to be that very item we're still  looking for, the next best thing.
-bill kenny