Insight From Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson

During an interview with The Telegraph three years ago, the musical wizard Ian Anderson, leader of trailblazing rock ensemble Jethro Tull, made an observation which voters might do well to take to-hand for inspiration as they next step into polls determined to anoint a new leader with the gift of substantial power over their lives.

The somewhat insightful question asked of Anderson by Mark Anstead was, “Now that you are better off, are you happier?” 

He answered, “Yes, of course. The contrary position is something I can’t imagine. But if I hadn’t been a musician I probably would have signed up as a police cadet and I don’t think I would have been any less happy doing that. I would just have been working without the same sense of financial responsibility towards others.” 

The answer tells much of the common sense with which the music legend has lived his life. However, for all those of us desperately job hunting and for all those now rethinking what nature of individual is essential to lead a Nation toiling through economic hardship, the answer holds more pertinence. Anderson has always personally managed all of his and his band’s affairs including its contracts, bookings, and accounting, with his wife of 37 years, Shona. He is a superbly talented musician who resisted the lower-hanging temptations to which celebrity rockers so readily succumb, and at the peak of his more entrepreneurial ventures, Anderson managed over four hundred people. 

Ian Anderson’s observation of the “sense of financial responsibility for others” reveals an introspection which can only be achieved through ‘doing’ it – it being the running of a successful business, large or small, and being singularly responsible for incomes of employees. 

Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur nor would the world function if we were, however, when your responsibility spreads beyond your own familial charge and you become accountable for the sustenance of other individuals, something visceral occurs which can be characterized as a teachable moment. When you have to ensure that there is cash enough to cut that check, you know. You know the stress felt and you know the effort infused in all facets of guiding a business to prosperity, any prosperity. You know everything that comes with not only signing those checks, but with having been responsible for assuring that the checks you sign don’t bounce. Society cannot teach you that in a classroom at MIT or at Harvard. You can only appropriate that knowledge through experience. 

In the next private and intimate voting poll, as you bestow your name in support of a Presidential nominee, satisfy yourself that the would-be leader has felt and learned that very powerful piece of knowledge. Confer your vote on one who has seized that “sense of financial responsibility towards others.”

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U.S. Leadership Void Squanders Influence - China Steps In

During this period in American history when the economy, business, trade and currency have taken pivotal positions in the Nation’s psyche, the country is led by what may well be the most economically uninterested Administration it has ever elected.

Loudly professing to fight for the vast middle class, the Obama Administration’s actions are taking the Nation galloping toward the destruction of middle-class incomes, toward upwardly spiralling middle-class taxes, toward bloated government, and toward overwhelming debt. 

As the expansive middle-class heads off to work at its one or two jobs each day, it has the right to expect its leadership to do the job it gets handsomely rewarded to do. That job includes paying attention to all matters which affect the long term health and stability of the country. 

We were not surprised to discover ineptitude such as the State Department’s decisions in Libya or in Egypt, nor were we astonished at cover-ups attempting to hide the incompetence. However, of more import to the middle-class is the blundering neglect and disregard this Administration has shown to economic matters which will directly impact the long term health of America – both its economic condition and its military strength. 

After four years of the current Administration’s platitudes, but prevailing economic indolence, we are presented with abundance of tell-tale ‘canaries in the coal mine’ evidencing a methane cloud sweeping across the whole country trying hard to drag it into a state of international subordination. 

The EU leadership’s attitude toward Cyprus bank depositors forecasts the future imposition of punishment on Spaniards, Italians, and other profligate governments. Any word from the White House? This act by Brussels is criminal expropriation of personal property, telling of an imperious inclination. But who cares? Surely the EU’s action cannot be a ‘canary in the coal mine’ for the American middle-class. It’s just those funny Europeans who speak strange languages, and anyway, we’re not like Europe and surely our leadership would not want to emulate theirs. So let’s look at ‘telling’ events elsewhere for more suitable ‘canaries’. 

Let’s skip to the other side of the world where Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard, head of the labor party, is heading to China to slide Australia further into the Chinese sphere of influence through the signing of an agreement to allow for the direct conversion of Australian dollars into Chinese Yuan. Reducing the need for Australian businesses to convert U.S. Dollars (the greenback is the predominant currency middleman), in trade with China reduces some costs incurred by Australian companies. More importantly, this arrangement provides China a more direct and less expensive access to the raw materials it requires to fuel its own growth and increase its wealth. What of Chinese exporters to Australia? China is promising better prices and better payment terms under this new agreement. How perfect is that seduction? This Australian maneuver could be dismissed as a minor ‘canary,’ representing a trivial event relative to the global daily trade turnover of over $US3 trillion. Such an event is nevertheless an economic and political statement, highlighting the progress in the long term internationalization of the yuan. China is buying up all the mining companies and raw source materials it can in Australia, as it is doing elsewhere. It has done a successful job of hiding the reality that the communist party, which controls China, also controls most entities who ‘acquire’ foreign assets, and it influences any which it does not fully control. Down the road, that centrally manipulated ideological mindset will have massive control over foreign economies. 

Brazil is moving in the same direction with a $30 billion currency swap with China. Such arrangements are expected with other Chinese trading partners including the United Kingdom and Japan. This new and consequential trend is about receding the greenback’s and America’s prominence. 

In Canada, the disdain and the disrespect which the Obama Administration has shown for its leader, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and for its economy, has pushed that country to bend over backwards for China. When the head of CSIS (Canada’s equivalent to the CIA), mentioned that the Chinese government had infiltrated the Federal and Provincial governments at the highest levels, the country’s predominantly liberal media admonished him and shut him down. How dare he talk against a country so busily buying up Canada’s natural resources. How dare he be so politically incorrect? The Canadian MSM actually placed the label ‘racist’ on him. As for Stephen Harper? Since Obama is not only uninterested, but recalcitrant, Harper is determined to forge a trading relationship with China to the point where everything is ‘for sale,’ including the out-of-control indebtedness of Canadians who now on average owe more than the average American. A whole generation of indentured citizens seems apathetic to its plight. China finances construction of hundreds of thousands of pigeon-hole condos, selling them to Canadians who cannot afford them. How is that for a perfect storm? A currency agreement with China such as Australia is entering into, can only be just over the horizon for Canada, further erecting the yuan’s position and sidelining the U.S. dollar. 

As any country’s trade with China increases relative to that country’s other trading partners, China’s ability to dictate trading ‘conditions’ increases. In Europe, the general weakening of the Euro trading block opens the door to sidelining the greenback. China can hardly be accused of being subtle in its efforts toward economic dominance. Here is a statement from a Professor Yu, who was a member of the monetary policy committee of the People’s Bank of China and an economic adviser to the government ”It is a simple case of invoicing and settlement currency, it is not about making the yuan a reserve currency.’’ Of course. 

Australia, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, and, . . . and, . . . and, all depend on America for security. Individuals in much of the world go about their day, conscious that America has for as long as they’ve been alive, been a positive influence on their safety and on their stability, and most importantly on their freedom. The capacity to provide that stability has been financed by the strength of America’s economic engine, the health of its currency and confidence in its ability to lead. Flaccidly standing-by as ‘friendly’ economies become smothered and influenced by a communist government does not augur well for our well-being and our way of life. 

History dictates that maintaining a strong position on the global stage is essential for self-preservation and is imperative for the preservation of freedom and core values. It requires interested, visionary, and inspiring leadership. True leadership cannot be concocted through alchemy, or fashioned on a Hollywood back-lot, or discharged through a teleprompter. It is innate. Before more canaries prognosticate degradation of the Nation’s international stature, America’s taxpayers should make themselves heard, and demand pro-active leadership in Washington.

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• Leadership And The Middle East Crisis

In one generation our world has shrunk immeasurably, yet it has also exploded unrecognizably. The Internet and the social media superimposed on it has claimed responsibility for igniting revolutions and/or demonstrations throughout Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Oman and Bahrain.

Overthrown governments in Tunisia and Egypt are a problem, however, revolutions in countries such as strategically critical Libya and Bahrain present a whole different set of even more troubling uncertainties. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates are implementing measures to snuff out those potential fires of unrest by “buying” segments of their populations before they get out of control.

Saudi Arabia increased salaries to public employees by 15% and made claims that it will improve education, infrastructure and healthcare through the trickling of $36 billion down through Saudi society – from the top. The Saudi pre-emptive strike is a short-term plug in a leaky dyke holding back unrest it doesn’t understand, and blames on foreign disruptive forces. It’s king and ruling family lack the capacity to ignite the entrepreneurial or creative innovation required to build a country for long term success.

Countries that are currently home to 2/3 of known crude reserves are now unstable, and have escalating conflicts that will further the bloodshed in the streets. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to foresee continuing rises in oil prices which will in turn feed the monster of inflation to affect prices of most products and foods around the world.

Through the sandstorms of all uprisings there are religious forces influencing the fighting, particularly Shiites colliding with Sunnis. We should be particularly concerned with evolving conflicts on the streets of Bahrain, where a Sunni king rules a 70% Shiite population. Bahrain is the banking capital of the Persian Gulf. The U.S. Fifth Fleet, which is responsible for the naval forces in the Persian Gulf and the whole regions, is based on the island. Bahrain’s strategic importance is immeasurable. Shiite Iran which has long funded and armed insurgencies occurring amongst its Muslim neighbors is just a stone’s throw across the pond, while Sunni Saudi Arabia is a walk across the 16 mile causeway, but Saudi Arabia’s Eastern province with a Shiite majority, holds critical oil production facilities.

There are parallels in perspectives that exist between the House of Saud and the Administration in the White House, and should either or both continue to proceed in denial, there are outcomes that will negatively impact the populations of the two countries.

Both the House of Saud and the Obama administration are attempting to purchase support of their respective populations. Such measures are very temporary, stopgap solutions rooted in ignorance. Both ignore reality. King Abdullah heaving bushels of dollars out his palace windows, briefly quieting the simmering discontent he doesn’t understand, and Obama’s stubborn refusal to listen to the message bellowed from America’s streets through the midterm election bullhorns, suggests confusion at the top in both countries.

The current United States leadership appears conflicted between choosing the objective of championing America’s propensity to uphold principles of freedom and democracy, and maintaining stability in the region. Those are not mutually exclusive missions for the Middle East, yet any breakdown of decisive direction and action will provide Iranian leadership an opportunity to expand it footholds from which to spread its religious doctrine of hate and slaughter across the Middle East.

A majority of any population does not want handouts – this truism applies in America, and it applies in Saudi Arabia, as well as Bahrain. As we have witnessed, it also applies in the streets of Teheran. People seek safety, freedom, dignity, transparency, and justice, within which they can actuate the lives they pursue for themselves and their families. A transition to more open governance is inevitable. It will take decisive leadership from the West to ensure that such freedom is provided and maintained in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

We may soon reach a point when America will be forced to draw a line around Bahrain’s sands. American presence must not leave Bahrain’s shores, and Bahrain cannot fall to extremist interests. It certainly cannot be allowed to slide under an Iranian manipulated extremist thumb. Stability in these critical countries across the Middles East will have positive impact on the West, and the Obama White House will have to demonstrate some heretofore obscure measures of resolve.

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• More Erratic Economic Notions From Obama

After almost two years of demonizing corporate America, holding a “boot to its neck,” and doing nothing for small businesses, Obama suddenly pretends to reverse himself with a “corporate tax break.” This is political pandering, and at odds with what is required to set employment trends on an upward path.

In between teleprompter stopovers and golf games, Obama comes up with helter-skelter strategies aboard Air Force One that serve little but confuse the country he was elected to lead. Obama’s new one-year tax relief on capital investment looks like a stroke of genius in his mirror. Does he know that companies, from the local bakery to the coalmine, actually have plans - long term and mid term action plans? Evidently not. Your local dress shop spends more time on “planning” than this President. I also suspect that the owner of that dress shop spends less time holidaying, and more time struggling to keep the business afloat. The “I will not rest until . . .” incantations from the Oval Office not only ring hollow, they are overt lies.

This Administration’s disconnected actions assert that no cohesive economic plan is in the offing. Prolonged uncertainty will continue to limit hiring and minimize commitment to long-term capital expenditures. Only a very few large corporations with plans already on the books to expand capacity will take advantage of this temporarily accelerated tax break. This plan enables an acceleration of depreciation allowances which businesses would deduct over time, as such implementations fit into corporate long-term plans. It should be pointed out to this Administration that all companies develop and implement strategies which include capital expenditures constructed from outlooks on such elements as market expansion, market penetration, competition and product demand. Corporations set budgets that include major spending, years ahead of time.

Perhaps Obama has also not checked interest rates lately. If a successful company needs money to expand, its interest costs are minimal, and it will be able to deduct its capital expenditures over time. On the other hand if the company is feeling strain it won’t get the credit very easily. Either way, before getting a tax break, companies have to have decided on the expenditures, and acted on them – you have to spend before you can claim. This Obama tax credit will have little real impact on corporate America. When there is uncertainty, companies retrench, and hold tight. Only a fool of a CEO would run out and build a plant that wasn’t in the works just because of the sudden and temporary appearance of an accelerated tax break. Government should not insinuate itself into the efficiency with which corporations allocate their resources.

This stroke of genius will accomplish nothing for Middle America and the unemployment ranks. Evidently no one around this President has managed a large corporation, and he is ignoring any useful advice if he’s getting any. This announcement might be more palatable if it was one minor element in a broader strategy to inject confidence, stimulating businesses to action, particularly smaller businesses. Much like the Clunker For Cash program, this temporary manipulation of the tax code is a desperate political Hail Mary with no regenerative effect. It is also a manipulation that dares Republicans in Congress to react negatively to a “pro-business” pretense.

The President could announce something meaningful like restructuring the corporate tax code to drastically simplify the process for all businesses, thereby reducing their headaches and costs.

Obama’s other sudden stroke of brilliance, the Research Tax Credit, is a non-starter for the simple reason that the American economy will only get going again when small to medium sized businesses start hiring. If this sector of the economy isn’t with you, nothing is happening. As for the large corporations, they will not suddenly spend some “research” money that they aren’t already spending, just because there’s a tax break on the table. If that were true, any CEO making that decision should be fired for incompetence and poor planning. Small to medium sized businesses are the engines of a successful and stable Middle America. Those businesses don’t spend much on research. They find a need and they fill it. This $100 billion tax announcement panders to the education industry, and does little for the business environment where it counts. What it creates is a cash-bag whose contents will be dished out in allotments proportional to the political affiliation of the recipients. What a surprise.

Obama’s $50 billion stimulus package announced this week for roads and runways will be similarly designated in political vote-purchase-bundles which will create temporary employment, but create nothing for the long term. This could be momentarily seen in positive light, if it was capital invested from surplus funds. Such billions created out of intolerable debt is another toxic tin can being kicked down the road for our grandchildren to feed out of. This is not part of a cohesive long-term plan that will increase national productivity. It smells more like a haphazard “throw stuff at the wall,” and “make noise about how many jobs we’ve created,” deficit spending bill looking for Congressional approval. Obama may be deaf to his electorate, but Congress is getting the message, and we can predict this will not get passed even through the back door.

While the President is stomping and performing in the grand and absurd political theatre of the campaign trail, shouting about his opposition “talking about him like a dog,” or making strange comments about “blue skies,” and “fish in the sea,” (what audience does this appeal to?) Obama should ponder the structure of a firm policy statement to immediately table major cuts in government spending.

This, above any other announcement he might make, would inject renewed vigor, and confidence into the National landscape.

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• DEMORALIZING AMERICA

America is shuddering in a struggle to shake off a recession, just as it is told the recession might morph into a depression. The admonishments coming from the daily teleprompter addresses of its President further shake the nation’s confidence, as blame becomes the only strategy dripping from the country’s leadership.

America has ushered in a new age of self admonishment led by a White House and a Congress that are using the widespread economic crisis to reinvent the country. As the administration increases spending, and augments government intrusion into all corners of human endeavor, it rationalizes the trillion dollar budget deficit, and ignores the looming burden of overwhelming debt. The government ignoring the imminent and inevitable monetization of this debt, doesn’t subdue the anxiety felt by entrepreneurial or mid-sized businesses in every corner of the country.

Beside shattering the economic foundation with which America has been endowed, this Administration and this Congress are also doing everything possible to internationalize their own feelings of impotence. Through promotions of head-numbing programs such as those given energy in Copenhagen, or the exaltations on the cap and trade contrivance, there is astonishing evidence that a radical transformation of the country is being attempted.

Actions and policies of this White House are either purposeful or the result of ignorance, but in either instance, the MSM is providing it a pass on the majority of its follies. In some cases the MSM even applauded from the sidelines such as when Obama strengthened the influence of the United Auto Workers over the US auto industry. Americans watched passively as the very unions who destroyed Detroit were provided even greater influence over companies that now flail against advancing forces of extinction. The people who abused their power and the cash of their own membership for most of a century, now dictate the future of the American automobile.

Working Americans, and all those who have lost good paying jobs, will not be lulled into believing in taxpayer funded windmills, but they are being demoralized by Washington politicians who can’t seem to tell truths, or provide direction. The endless releases of nostrums pitched by a floundering President leave little suspense as to his abilities, or capacities to lead the country creatively out of the doldrums. His limitations have further evidenced themselves in those he has surrounded himself with. His most senior advisors and appointments are either reflections or lesser versions of their boss.

There is also failed leadership in the richest corners of corporate America where the most visible captains of industry have not shown themselves to be diligent or effective in administering their fiduciary or managerial duties. Some, such as the CEOs and Directors of City Bank, AIG, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, and Citygroup, have in fact proven to be weak-kneed, and self serving hacks who had to run for cover, begging for taxpayer bailout money when twenty years of easy money, easy growth and easy markets turned against them.

Americans do not appreciate bailout receivers or givers. Americans don’t respond so well to whiners and blamers who depend on committee regurgitations for direction. Americans, like most fellow human beings, respond positively to optimistic visionaries who are clear, confident, and straightforward on goals and strategies.

The current leadership appears incapable of pulling the national consciousness out of its stagnating paralysis. The nation has slowly slid into react mode, with no charisma-with-purpose pulling its attention. The result is a country of demoralized taxpayers staggering to pull the eject lever on incumbents. Unfortunately this negative energy is simply a reaction against the current leadership, rather than a wave of confidence empowering an inspiring champion.

America is once again playing “find a leader.”

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• America Waits For Leadership

How can history be an accurate record when the elusive present is being recorded as wild distortions of reality? The mainstream media’s (MSM) record of the White House, which it reflects onto the American perspective, as well as it’s flaccid ruminations on the Obama Administration, commemorate Napoleon’s, “history is the invention of historians.” Obama is failing in his duty to country, and the MSM refuses to acknowledge the evidence.

The word history comes to us from the Greek word historia, which means knowledge acquired by investigation. The White House press corps is the supreme example of the current Fourth Estate’s inability to analyze, question or investigate as it panders to a President who was given a mandate to affect change in Washington. History is being distorted as it is being written.

The expectations of the taxpayers have not materialized, and anticipations have given way to disappointments, yet the MSM cannot bring itself to raise any serious questions. It’s not as if opportunities to question don’t exist. Obama has given a speech each and every working day of every week of his administration. Research should prove that no President in history will have made as many speeches, yet the Nation is stuck in anticipation of substance.

The latest sampling of this President’s systemic tepid engagement in his job as America’s CEO, came in the form of an unenthusiastic tropical response to the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253. Evidently the managerial capacities required to direct an administration were not part of the Obama tool-set when he moved into the White House. The blight from the dearth of experience, and the entrenched ideology in his Cabinet and czar brigade, has been unveiling endless failings from the outset, and yet, Obama can’t dismiss the likes of incompetents such as Napolitano. Admitting a mistake of posting would be a sign of confidence, rather than one of insecurity.

Political debts of this Administration run deep. The billion dollars Obama raised to win the Presidency expect influence. He lost all objectivity and independence from such influence long before he moved into the White House. Unfortunately, such is the state of politics in Washington. With tingling in its legs, the MSM gives his failures a pass, and in doing so, it forsakes its responsibilities to American taxpayers. The media refuses to demand the most important and reasonable expectation of the population – it refuses to demand Leadership.

Obama has been hiding behind the teleprompter long enough, and should be confronted with the obvious, the first of which is his tiresome blaming of the Bush Administration to deflect all responsibility for the economic and security challenges of America.

Obama and the current Congress are responsible for the accelerated government growth and spending of the past year. They are intimately and directly responsible for disastrous and ill advised programs such as Cash for Clunkers, bailouts for the Too-Big-To-Fails, dishonest promotions of a two thousand page health care bill, inept indulgence of Wall Street, bold pandering to special interests, and the explosion of unemployment to over 17%.

This Administration appears to be ensconced in the belief that a broad and rapid expansion of government, and its insinuation into all walks of American life, is the answer to economic problems facing the Nation. To be allowed his ramp-up of government, Obama validated in Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and their Wall Street friends, a right to abuse taxpayers through a confoundingly complex cash grab, and a purchase of unknown toxic assets. The Administration further succumbed to special interests by obliterating any calls for the return of Glass-Steagall. This White House is completely void of any understanding of the key drivers of the American way of life - the small to mid-sized businesses. It is also flailingly uninterested in genuinely furthering its own education on the subject. It has become evident that this President has no interest in fostering the encouragement and stimulation of the entrepreneurial spirit in America.

Obama also seems confused on the international front, having administered one misstep after another with perpetual miscues in his actions, and in the perceptions he leaves in his wake. The vexing list is rather embarrassingly extensive, and it includes everything from Obama’s extravagant bowing to a dictator, then to his doubling over to a king. At the other end of the perplexing-Obama-acts record is the snubbing slight of the Prime Minister of America’s biggest trading partner, Canada’s Stephen Harper. Harper was shown to a back door of the White House, and was received by an administrative minion since Obama was too “busy.”

More substantively, Obama extracted nothing from Russia when he reversed the proposed installation of a European missile defense system. Now Iran runs amok, with ample time to hide its nuclear fuel and uranium enrichment facilities. Hard sanctions on Iran? That would be a “hard” decision, very much in opposition to the appeasement strategy employed to date. Have we so soon forgotten the Administration’s condemnation of the constitutional removal of Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran, America hating, Hugo-Chavez supported despot? Given the MSM’s refusal to confront this President, we have also no doubt forgotten Obama’s appeasement, and offers of some engaging “rapprochement,” to the murderous Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan and his homicidal regime.

There was broadly felt consternation with Obama’s response to the Fort Hood massacre, and dismay with the languid nature of his address to the cadets as he announced that he was sending 30,000 young men and women into Afghanistan. We have yet to hear a rationalization from the most powerful lawyer in America on the decision that may unravel his Presidency - enabling terrorist to Lawyer-Up. No matter how much earnestness the President now pretends to convey in his prepared addresses, he long ago lost any appearance of authenticity, and the authoritative was reduced to an eerily natural self-righteousness. The capping may have been the weak-minded, insecure and vain B+ self grading.

Some have accused Obama of dithering, particularly on concerns of international affairs and national security. “Dithering,” is a colorful term, but is inappropriate here. Obama is simply incapable and unqualified. He was given ample room to demonstrate the claims of his intelligence. Wasn’t he a professor with a law degree, after all? Didn’t he rouse audiences with a couple of lofty speeches that bordered on sermons during the campaign? Yes he did. And, . . . well, that’s it.

His detachment, and apparent lack of passion, was initially rationalized as “well, he’s listening and he’s thinking.” Now this insensibility surprises, even befuddles, a majority of the electorate that launched him into office. Whether or not he actually lacks passionate disposition toward his country is no longer relevant. Smart or not, is also irrelevant. He is not a leader, and that, he cannot, and will not change.

America still waits for promises of speeches, given during the most expensive Presidential campaign in history, to materialize into actions that will be positive for a Nation facing unprecedented debt, deficits and unemployment. Though it yearns for leadership, America now knows better than to anticipate it from this President, and knows that such misplaced hope is too disheartening.

While the MSM continues its fawning ways, America will look to the next Presidential election to find a strong and willful leader. America doesn’t want or expect to support all of its President’s policies, or decisions, or compromises, or appeasements, however, America wants to know it has a leader of integrity who is never in doubt, and who makes it proud. America wants a leader who takes decisive actions nationally and internationally. America wants, and deserves a leader who says, “I will not rest until, . . .” and then doesn’t jump onto Airforce One, heading off on another golfing trip, or other holiday, or other speech in another zip code.

One good piece of news: The vacuous promises of Hope and Change will be decidedly wiped from the lexicon of Presidential campaigns for at least one generation.

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