Were the Mayans on to something?

I’m starting to wonder if the speculation that the world as we know it is scheduled to come to an end just before year’s end has something to it.



Will Barack Obama appear "presidential" enough in handling hurricane relief? Or will we have President-elect Mitt Romney come next week? Photograph provided by White House



It’s this presidential campaign cycle – which had its two significant nominating conventions impacted by Hurricane Isaac (the Republicans had to cut their convention short by a day, while the grand finale of the Democratic convention had to be moved indoors).

NOW, WE HAVE the formerly-Hurricane Sandy taking a serious bite out of the last week of the election cycle.

For all practical purposes, the campaigning is over. Because both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have enough sense to realize how crass they would appear to be, if they were to try to continue to campaign as though nothing out-of-the ordinary were going on.

Early voting centers across the East Coast also are likely to be converted into relief centers. Which could hurt the Obama campaign that seemed to be counting on getting as many people to vote as soon as possible so that by Tuesday, he’d have such a huge lead before Election Day that it would take a herculean effort by Romney to overcome.

And considering how many of the ideologues are more interested in dumping Obama than really doing anything to help Romney, it would make it seem highly unlikely to occur.

IN FACT, IT really puts Mitt Romney in a position where he has to sit back and watch.

For Barack Obama will get to remind us in coming days that he IS the president. He ultimately is going to be the face of the relief efforts.

Which GOP ideologues are desperately hoping will mean that Obama will do something stupid or foolish; thereby giving their party standard-bearer a chance to gain some “undecided” votes.

But that is not a given. Let’s all recall the ’08 election cycle, particularly that moment in September when that year’s GOP nominee, John McCain, suspended his campaign because he said his presence was needed in Washington to put together a $700 billion bailout package for the financial industry.

I SEEM TO recall that McCain came across as rash and giving of knee-jerk reactions that had not been thought out, while Obama presented a calm, cool and rational image. Which may well be why Romney will try to do as little as possible to screw things up for himself!

Of course, if Obama comes across as “presidential” (that vague concept we really can’t define, but we know when we see) in the next few days with his oversight of federal relief efforts, he could wind up clinching the presidential post for the next four years.

Which I’m sure the ideologues would see as the ultimate evidence that the world is ending. Although I suspect that the bulk of us are going to be appalled no matter who wins this election cycle.

Personally, I just can’t get over the fact that the weather has become a major player in the way this election cycle has carried out.

MAYBE MOTHER NATURE is making her thoughts known about not being pleased with the way the candidates are conducting themselves.

Sandy on Saturday. Image provided by NOAA



Some severe weather gusts here and there (including the storm that threatens to impact the bulk of the United States east of the Mississippi River) cause the candidates to alter their tactics for gaining supporters.

It’s too bad she doesn’t like us as much as she does real-tasting butter. Then perhaps she would have arranged for a permanent gag on political people so that they couldn’t say so many stupid things.

Or maybe those Mayans foresaw all these storms coming at a campaign cycle and realized a significance that we have yet to appreciate!

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EXTRA: Raoul pitches in for Haiti relief

State Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, who to the best of my knowledge is the only Chicago politico of Haitian ethnicity, is doing his part to try to bolster the relief efforts in support of Haiti.

Raoul created a website (http://www.raoulrelieffund.org/) this week that tries to make it easier for people who wish to make financial contributions in support of the relief, which is trying to help cope with the earthquake last week and aftershock earlier this week that has left at least 200,000 dead.

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EDITOR'S NOTES: Until now, Kwame Raoul's political claim to fame was that he replaced Barack Obama (http://www.ilga.gov/senate/Senator.asp?MemberID=1496) in the Illinois Senate when the latter went to Washington.

Chicago's Haitian population got a temporary boost this week (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/01/evacuees-from-haiti-to-arrive-at-ohare-tonight.html), while Gov. Pat Quinn appeared to be trying to get the votes of their relatives who are already living here.

What should we think of Haiti?

I realize it is the way of political people to try to make themselves appear to be on top of every possible issue.

Yet I got my chuckle the other night when in my e-mail turned up an announcement from Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, informing me and everybody else he felt the need to notify about the county’s relief efforts intended for the people of Haiti.

THAT CARIBBEAN ISLAND nation suffered a severe earthquake earlier this week that you have to be a virtual shut-in to have avoided hearing anything about. Of course, some people are complaining about the degree to which they are hearing things, wishing they could shut themselves off from the suffering taking place there.

But seeing the big bold red typeface telling me Stroger to kick off Cook County Haitian relief effort made me wonder how desperate is Todd for votes if he’s trying to put himself at the head of the pack – since he was the first Chicago-area politico (to my knowledge) to take a public stand on Haiti.

Then again, I’m surprised it took our local political people until Wednesday night before they started issuing statements trying to make themselves appear to be aligned with the needs of Haiti – a nation that many of them usually try to ignore. Life won't be anywhere near this idylic in Port-au-Prince for a long time. Photograph provided by Library of Congress collection.

Now I shouldn’t complain.

IT IS NICE that Cook County government is cooperating with activists and other people in Chicago’s population of Haitian ethnic descent to put together some sort of relief effort to help people who are trying to dig through the rubble for survivors – while also helping those people above-ground to rebuild their lives.

They probably had very little to begin with, and now have managed to lose even that. It is a shame that eventually, another news story will come along to sweep Haiti out of the public eye because it likely will take years for the island nation to rebuild itself.

But locally at this point, I would guess that Stroger is looking for every possible vote source he can find in hopes of putting together the magical “30 percent” level of support that would theoretically enable him to win a four-way primary for county president.

So trying to be on top of the Haitian situation could help in terms of gaining votes from those Haitian people now living here (about 40,000 estimated out of the 2.9-something million population of Chicago as a whole).

IF IT READS like I’m being crass or cynical, perhaps it is just the mood of the candidates these days that is rubbing off on me. Anybody who believes that political people always behave altruistically is being naïve. And I’m not trying to imply that it is just Stroger who can have political motives.

Even President Barack Obama is on top of the Haiti situation now – saying Thursday that their situation ought to be a “top priority” for federal government agencies. Our nation is pledging at least $100 million in aid, with more likely to follow up in the near future.

Former President Bill Clinton, who would like to someday displace Jimmy Carter in the informal title of “Greatest Ex-President ever,” got his name in the news by saying people should make cash donations to relief agencies if they truly want to help. Which is why I took notice of a CNN Headline News report that gave a “voice” to people who were angry about so much attention being paid to Haiti.

It seems like the economic struggles of our nation for the past year have so many people feeling like they have too many problems of their own in order to afford to make any kind of donation.

COULD IT BE that these appeals for aid from political people will wind up causing some resentment that will cost them votes on future Election Days? I can appreciate that some people don’t like to be made to feel guilty about their inability to give.

Or will they just take it out on the so-called “liberal news media” for exaggerating the significance of the situation in Haiti – although I’d argue it is difficult to “exaggerate” the destruction caused by a 7.0 Richter Scale earthquake that may have killed at least 100,000 people.

Unless someone is truly callous enough to think that a crisis in Haiti isn’t worth our attention because it’s only Haiti. I’d like to give our society more credit and that the complaining isn’t due to that kind of reasoning.

But then again, maybe that’s just me being naïve.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: You can find just about every ethnicity in Chicago, although the Haitian community isn’t (http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF2002/Valbrun/Valbrun.html) exactly a dominant part of the (http://cbs2chicago.com/local/haiti.earthquake.chicago.2.1422309.html) Second City’s culture.

People can make a $10 donation to the Red Cross through their cellphones (http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/ha/earthquake/index.htm), although more significant donations can be made (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/impact/) through various groups.