IT'S ALWAYS OPENING DAY in AMERICA

THE KISS OF SOLITUDE

I knew it. There WERE the usual oh so serious commentary this morning conflating OPENING DAY with the presidential primaries - two grand AMERICAN  seasonal traditions- except on this Sunday morning it seemed almost sacrilegious to mention

 them in the same breath as it bestowed SANCTION and  LEGITIMACY on the latter at the risk of denigrating the former and to add the always recurring INSULT it brought to mind the always beer-chasing CONTENTION of how long the major league BASEBALL SEASON is at least in the northern climes, how long the games have now become - thanks to the ENDLESS discussion of pitch counts and relief pitchers and tender elbows and CODDLED egos, not to mention all those

ERECTILE disfunction commercials; not to mention the number of visits to the mound by COACHES and MANAGERS and PLAYERS - strategy codes and base coverage and wedding presents(?)- they're even officially "timing" these meetings to keep the game rolling along as each visitation is given a 30 second LIMIT from the time a TIME-OUT is called to the time the coach leaves the discussion which rather humorously will give some TEAMS an advantage as some pitching coaches and some managers are now far beyond their more svelt INNINGS and carry a heavier burden which makes for a very hard encounter to watch when say a coach who now is about 40 and more pounds over his younger self is forced to actually run back and forth between the DUGOUT and the mound - he has barely enough time to catch his breath before he has to turn around and run back -

AND I HAVEN'T MENTIONED THE UMP-
Jogging out to the mound to break
up the secret meeting

 and this "time discussion" continues with the time afforded between pitches- the fidgeting habits of each batter; adjusting this batting glove and the other one (Mays never WORE a batting glove, not WILLIAMS nor AARON, SHOELESS JOE  and MANTLE),  and re-positioning their elbow pads and tightening their shin and ankle guards and all this AFTER each pitch. And still in all the length and seemingly timeless baseball season with all its posturings and nuance and chatter and pitch counts does not hold a long-wicked candle to the NEVER ending and  now PERMANENT campaign season. This presidential campaign started the day after President Obama was elected almost 8 YEARS ago. You can circle the date. AND the campaign before that and before that. The Obama years have been particularly more intense as they have shown in a stark relief just how racist and obstructionist the "LOYAL" opposition is - in a way it has made us at least talk more about our racist underpinnings and misunderstandings but I wonder what happens to that CONVERSATION when Obama splits the scene- we have hit upon some these themes in other posts under other titles- but for now it is enough to bemoan this condition of a permanent campaign- an endless campaign commercial for the hearts and minds of the always discriminating American viewer fed by our TV News

 in what can only be described as an ongoing loop of speculation and polling numbers. Much ado about...

It is almost a sort of self-cannilbalism- is that even a thing?- eventually Chuck Todd devours the very salad bowl he uses to trim his hair every Sunday morning. I know I'm getting into ad hominem which some of my Twitter admirers have- and rightfully so- accuse me of but Chuck is just our trope for the main news in general- Chuck, "get in there and pitch the 2020 elections; "Chuck, baby, the latest NBC/Highlights Poll for Chelsea Clinton's chances in 2028" you get the idea. A feeding frenzy of  limitless nonsense and eventuality. Lets see what the Republicans (and Democrats) have to say about abortion; immigration? guns? election after election the trigger words, buzzwords, polling-words- minimum wage, medicaid, social security- the national debt ( do a majority of their viewers even know what that is?) The same responses year after year, election after election. Obama in trying to work with the obstructionist Republicans for all these years has garnered a fairly decent record of accomplishment but lets face it the country would have been much better served had the Republicans been at least willing to talk and compromise and work things out for the betterment of all the American people; Chuck and the News, however, would always talk in terms of the "American people's ANGER at Washington" seeming to put much of the blame for what little success has filtered through since the GREAT REPRESSION on Obama and never faulting the Republicans for failing to meet their political and moral obligations. They have no idea on how to handle a loose cannon like Trump. They know he's THEIR creature too. They haven't figured out to just shut off their cameras to him. Cameras are his oxygen. But then again ask the failed TV actor and now head of CBS, Les Moonves, about that. Trump is money in the bank for them.

 It's undoubtably the start - or the middle - of what can be called THE GREAT REACTION. The Republicans are hoping for what they could consider the RESTORATION- Either title and America is set back 60 years. Question for final- What is a MODERATE Republican? For extra credit- why are so-called conservatives republicans? What are they conservative about? If conservatives are PRO status-quo, what's their problem? If they espouse "smaller" government- why then don't they like Obama's? Compare his administration with Bush's. Discuss.

Sunday morning in America and the first thing I must check is my trusty cable guide that will tell me which one of the networks my gal, PEGGY NOONAN, will grace with her presence today.

 AH, yes, she'll return to CBS' Face the Nation with that seemingly sympathetic young man who looks a little like the grown up Doogie Howser.