The Amateur Hour

When I was a wee small child growing up in Lowell, Massachusetts, there was a national radio show (this was long before TV) called "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour". It was the "American Idol" of it's day. With today's production standards and celebrity focus, it would be a sad joke. But in WWII USA it was a big deal. Those were the days when dedicated amateurs meant something.

A great deal of the Allied success in WWII belonged to the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA. They were all amateur spies trying to save Europe from the Nazi scourge. The head of the OSS was a Washington lawyer called Wild Bill Donovan. Some of those that worked and sometimes spied for the OSS were famous names like Ralph Bunche, Julia Child, David Niven, and Arthur Schlessinger.  Actually, I think David Niven may have worked for MI6. But it was a real who's who in World War Two.

It was a simpler time and talented amateurs could contribute to the greater good. Time marches on. The world gets more complicated. Skilled, trained, experienced professionals are really needed to balance decisions without personal prejudice.

Look at the state of the country. Look at the state of the world. It is not a time to vent ideological preferences. Just in case no one is paying attention, we have Muslim extremists that want to destroy all that is not them. We have a resurrection of global communism in Russia. We have China, while pretending to be a friend, robbing our secrets blind. Also you have two nations of complete whackadoos, Iran and North Korea, playing with nuclear weapons. It is a time we should stand united. It is not a time we should be driven apart by a megalomaniacal President.

This is a time where we need trained, skilled, and experienced leadership. I will admit that Bill Clinton was not my favorite President. OK, he was a dog. Most guys of my generation just look on and shake their heads in wonderment. But Clinton's comments about Obama are telling. Clinton said about Obama "he's incompetent, he's an amateur, he doesn't understand how the world works". That's painful.

Even more telling, but less believable to some, when the Bush administration gave extensive briefings to Obama and his people. They were really trying to make a seamless transfer of power. Bush walked out of  one of these meetings, shaking his head, looking befuddled, and said to his people, referring to Obama, "this guy is clueless". To Bush's everlasting credit, he never criticized Obama publicly, even when Obama was blaming him for everything up to and including the Korean War.

So, today, we still have the amateurs in charge.  And I cannot remember when our great country has been in worse straits.