The Fate of the Union Address - 2007

The gambler and his cards

If I confessed to once loving the music of Kenny Rogers, I cannot imagine where the yo-yo of my ‘street-cred’ would rest with readers – as if I do really care.

Now every gambler knows that the secret to surviving

Is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep.

Cause very hands a winner and every hands a loser,

And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep.[1]

As George W. Bush delivers the Fate of the Union Address, he might have at the back of his mind what he has thrown away of opportunity and goodwill as president and what he has kept in what would no doubt be his legacy and an enduring record of history.

We are told we are not to expect any new initiatives with regards to Iraq apart from the well worn mantras of freedom, democracy, liberty and choice. If anyone had worn those statements as shoes, that person would now have the extremities of their legs at the knee.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,

Know when to walk away and know when to run.

You never count your money when you’re sitting at the table.

There’ll be time enough for counting when the dealings done.[1]

The gambler and his debts

The gambling tendencies that George W. Bush has might eventually pay off, but on the eve of his Fate of the Union speech the 2-I-C of Al-Qaeda was back in the media taunting him – We are here, you are there and you can’t get us anywhere.

You can only begin to feel pity for the President and records are getting broken with the number of deaths in Iraq, Iran starts testing its fireworks, China has done some fireworks, Lebanon is on fire, the President of Israel is being charged for a peccadillo – these must be interesting times.

I am of the mind that what the President should get for giving his speech is a copy of The Gambler by Kenny Rogers, because, it seems he has broken every gambling rule; spent all his money and he is still sitting at the table about to gamble away everything and possibly dignity in the hope that he might win something back.

At which point, the best that everyone might hope for when it is all so dire is to die in one’s sleep.

By 2009, when the new president delivers the Condensate of the Union, what would be left for us to scrape of what has been plundered in the last 8 years?

References

[1] The Gambler – Kenny Rogers

The Gambler Returns