The Day the Earth stood still

(Rich Galen, Mullings.com) – I was very, very disappointed as I awoke Friday morning. I turned on CNN then Fox, then MSNBC, even Bloomberg looking for some report of a flying saucer having landed on the National Mall near the Washington Monument.

I even practiced saying Klaatu barada nikto in case it missed by a little and ended up in the Potomac River at Alexandria, Virginia and I had to communicate with Gort.

After the dire predictions leading up to (a) the Congressional action on Trade Promotion Authority then the Supreme Court rulings on (b) Obamacare and (c) Freedom to Marry I thought for sure last Friday would be the day the Earth Stood Still.

Turns out it didn’t.

The sun came up and it didn’t even rain for the first time in about a month. There was no change in global warming – up or down – and there didn’t appear to be any significant change in world sea levels.

The continents appear to have remained where they had been the previous week, and there were no reports of locust infestations, outbreaks of boils, no frogs falling from the sky nor any of those other Passover plagues.

I was in favor of the Trade vote mainly because I am generally for anything organized labor is vehemently against. I know that is not a signal of Aristotelian thinking on my part, but it saves a lot of reading. And I am usually proved, upon further review, to have been correct.

Klaatu barada nikto

I thought the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare was probably correct. Remember, I come to my Constitutional scholarship through one three-hour class by Prof. Bob Hill at Marietta College, Marietta Ohio, 45750.

I always thought the language in question was essentially a typo but the more important point as a political hack was that it let the GOP off the hook.

They don’t have to do anything to fix the problem (had the Court ruled it needed fixing) but, instead, can continue to shake its collective fist at the ACA in general without having to actually construct, much less pass, an alternative.

Klaatu barada nikto

On the Freedom-to-Marry issue, in a discussion earlier in the day I thought SCOTUS might have ruled that states could determine whether same-sex marriages could be sanctioned within their borders, but they had to recognize the marriage of any couple married legally in any other state.

I was wrong.

I did point out that the Obama White House was unabashed in showing its irritation at Vice President Biden’s getting way out in front of the President on this issue. On a Meet the Press appearance in 2012 – prior to the re-election campaign – Biden said:

“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men marrying women are entitled to the same exact rights.”

Having thus been backed into a corner by his own Vice President, President Obama quickly ran to jump on board.

Hillary Clinton’s husband, Bill, signed into law the “Defense of Marriage Act” when he was President which, prior to being ruled Unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2013, specifically forbade married same-sex couples from sharing in Federal benefits.

If any reporter can get close enough to ask a question, they might enquire as to why, given her current vehement support, she didn’t stop Bill from signing it.

Klaatu barada nikto

The very best thing that happened over the past week or so came at the service for the very worst thing that had happened.

President Obama was delivering the eulogy at the funeral service for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Rev. Pinckney was one of nine people shot and killed during a Bible study at the church.

In the midst of his remarks, President Obama broke into a rendition of “Amazing Grace.”

And, you know what? For the next one minute and 44 seconds the Earth did stand still.

Mr. Galen is a veteran political strategist and communications consultant.  He blogs at www.Mullings.com.