Paradise Preoccupied

A victim of my own success, I’ve now got the new blog gig over on the pro blog site I work for, Adoption.com, and am a bit busier than I like to be.

Don’t get me wrong; I like the work and enjoy having such a huge platform from which I can point out the idiocy of idiots and add up the moron quotient in spewed drivel. It does this old heart good to know that I’m doing my bit toward keeping the world somewhat livable … or at least managing to cause some irritating rashes to break out on those who attempt the opposite. It’s not a pleasant thing to pull off scabs and get pus oozing, but that’s often what it takes to eradicate dangerous rot.

But the point of this post has bifurcated prematurely; it’s politics I set out to write about today.

Monday was National Day here in Seychelles, a big deal of an event that marks not much of anything but is celebrated with hoopla nonetheless. It’s one of three public holidays in June and falls between Liberation Day … the day of the coups d’etat that toppled the government of the first president … and Independence Day.

The President’s National Day speech is always eagerly anticipated, as it often gives clues to what’s ahead for the Seychellois. This year we learned there are changes in the wind for tourist-related business, which sounds good, and if they figure out how to get the site right, you can read the whole thing in English here in the Seychelles Nation newspaper. (Don’t count on it, though.)

My editor on the Adoption News blog wants me to gather info on presidential candidates in the US race for 2008 … an assignment that has me realizing how far removed I am and how long I’ve been away from the States.

I mean, really! Who are these people?

Of course, I know about Hillary and Rudy, and Edwards, Biden and McCain have familiar faces even to me, but although I know him now Obama did seem to pop up like a genie from a lamp. And Kucinich? Brownback? Mitt Romney?

Have we ever had a candidate called Mitt before?

That reminds me of the repeated process of learning to live with a new name in the White House. Anyone remember how odd the combination of the words ‘President’ and ‘Clinton’ sounded before Bill moved in?

I clearly recall people saying that ‘Reagan’ could never seriously be attached to the title, and ‘Bush’ just sounding silly.

So a G.W. was no leap, as a Hillary wouldn’t be … we’re all accustomed to the rhythm and cadence of their last names tacked on to leader of the free world … but we’ll get used to making easy reference to whoever ends up in the job.

Well, there are a few names that should never be conjoined with the title … I’m thinking Limbaugh, Liddy and Hilton, off the top of my head.