The television is still talking about the recent British royal wedding, which is not of much interest to me personally, but then I’ve never been known as a romantic person. That probably comes from my simple upbringing in a more traditional blue collar family. As children we were reminded that there was only one God and royalty were humans that had not managed to walk on water. Their only claim to fame was being born into a different circumstance than “commoners.” So, other than the wedding being a diversion for the news media to deviate from politics and the economy, I personally wish the young couple a happy marriage and I can get on with more immediate concerns - like theheavy rains and gusty winds we have been dealing with. The focus of all the news should be on the victims of the tornadoes that ravaged the states along the path from Arkansas to the east coast. Our prayers go out to those families who lost members of their family and to everyone whose life has been affected by this incredibly destructive several days.
In spite of other events, the political scene will not be forgotten for long, no matter what else goes on in the world as long as we have the likes of Donald Trump to provoke the media. Watching him on television is an interesting source of entertainment and far outweighs rerun movies on cable television. Whether he is a meaningful Republican presidential candidate remains to be seen, but the talk show hosts and other media outlets certainly give him a great deal of attention since he is a means of boosting their shows’ ratings. Who else would boast they spent $2 million sending private investigators on a search for President Obama’s actual birth certificate? If nothing else, it did prompt the president to provide for the whole world to see, his actual birth certificate - not just a “record of live birth.”
One thing Donald Trump has going forhim is name recognition. That may be good or bad depending on how you view his reputation as a businessman. Owning a lot of real estate doesn’t particularly impress me but that, like the royal wedding, is a personal thing. Mr. Trump always seems to have an extremely attractive lady with him and they frequently look more like they should be his daughter which one of them is - Ivanka Trump. His personal data, as found on the Internet, gives a birth date of June 14, 1946, making him almost 65 and almost eligible for Social Security - as if he needed it. His personal wealth is estimated at $2.7 billion by Forbes, so he might not need Medicare either. If the qualifications for the oval office included being a national celebrity, he would easily qualify. His television program, The Apprentice, may have been a serious attempt to educate the man-on-the-street about what pressure at the top is really like, but it looked more like a tongue in cheek joke to me. It did, however, get him in front of the news media and increased the name recognition beyond that of just a successful real estate developer, and owner of casinos and hotels. The Internet also gives him credit for providing Mrs.
Trump number three with a $200,000 wedding gown. How can he conceivably understand the plight of the unemployed or the family about to lose their home in default?
We have a long way to go before a serious run for the Republican presidential nomination begins, but the media buzz will keep us abreast ofthe wanna-bes on a daily basis. And, who would ever have expected a governor from Arkansas to become a media celebrity and have his name thrown out as a viable candidate for the highest office in our nation.
We can truly say “you’ve come a long way baby,” when we read about his 10,000 square foot house on the Florida coast.
There are several other potential candidates making the news. Some sound a bit more serious than others and some are in the news again after failing to get nominated to oppose President Obama in the last election. Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, is still available. Newt Gingrich’s name comes up occasionally and we have some newcomers sounding like potentialcandidates. And, most encouraging to me is the fact that Dr. Ron Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas, is serious about getting involved again. He was my choice two years ago. Whoever the Republicans nominate, a sitting President is hard to upset.
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Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Opinion, Pages 4 on 05/04/2011