I always thought Polonius got a bad rap
in addition to a fatal stab from Hamlet
He is the author of some timeless if shaky advice
like to thine own self be true
But I sometimes think of myself as a Polonius-sort
a mixed bag as it were
rather too verbose to be taken seriously
In any case I penned the following in November 2010
You can judge if it was salient
I have rescued it from my Yahoo Voices account
which is currently on its last legs
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We are now in a very delicate situation, Mr. President.
The GOP continues to condone a near-criminal assault on you.
The GOP has not repudiated racism.
The GOP Court has made elections a sale item.
And the country does not seem to care.
Self-interest reigns. The government remains subject to criminal GOP attacks.
So what do you have to do to survive?
The first thing Sir is to smile.
That is how John Wayne would deal with a similar indignity.
But we would know that behind that smile is some raw power.
Smile and exercise raw power Sir.
This is why you have Plouffe at your side.
He can see the fissures and soft spots.
Stop seeing politics as something stupid people do
when they are not serious.
It may be stupid but the GOP does it 24/7 in its sleep.
And we have to politic back.
So get political Sir.
Have Michelle invite Susan Eisenhower to tea. Show up.
Confuse people.
Use your power.
Make nice to the media.
Put yourself out for the next reporter who has an illness in the family.
Start publicizing the two hundred things you have done
from day one
that no one knows about.
Give exclusive interviews to enemy journalists.
Start having fun playing politics.
Rub on some FDR dust.
And remember Sir you are just marking time.
There is light at the end of your tunnel.
That may be optimistic.
But never believe anything optimistic Sir.
Assume the worst.
