Jack & Jill Politics

You may be asking why I haven’t said anything about this here Iraq Study Group report. There’s still an awful lot of chatter about it (BBC). Steve Gilliard writing at FireDogLake has a good assessment of where we are with making decisions in Iraq which would be Stupid Land. Anderson at Large, African-American Political Pundit and Where’s the Outrage among other black blogs have also weighed in.

At times like these, I wonder what one of my ornery old grandpappies would have said about this. Because that’s what black people tend to do when they have a real and sensitive problem on their hands. They go talk to a grandparent — someone older with some life experience behind them. My grandfathers were both bright, self-made men. One had a year or two’s worth of college and taught himself French history and literature for fun. The other had come up from the country and had no more than an eighth grader’s worth of book learning and was otherwise a self-taught and successful businessman. He wore a collared shirt and tie everyday. They both had a rather practical grasp of the world around them and on current affairs.

If my saltier old country granddad were alive and asked him what he thought, he’d probably say something like:

Granddad: Well gal, looks to me like the President’s gotten the nation’s dick right square into a hornet’s nest. Pardon the expression. (Grumble, mumble) Pass me the salt, baby. Anyhow, as I was saying, all this fussin’ and fightin’ over whether to pull out and if we do pull out, do we pull out fast or do we pull out slow-like. G*d-damn! (shakes head with disbelief) And then there’s some — evidently, mind you! — who would have us push up in that hornet’s nest even harder and teach them mad-as-hell hornets who’s boss. Lord have mercy.

Me: Hornets, Granddad?

G: Hornets are a whole lot smarter and better-organized than most people give them credit for. I do declare. Some people refuse to learn anything from history or just to look a situation plain in its face. Anyway, ain’t much I can do ’bout it, personally. ‘Cept hope for the best. And prepare for the worst. Go get them beans off the stove. Time for dinner.