Back in the 1900’s we were just learning to be politically correct. It seem like every few weeks there was a new word or phrase that became taboo overnight. Society was like an aging road with potholes appearing at an alarming pace. To patch these political potholes an industry was born, created to teach us to navigate the ever increasing hazards of political correctness.
I remember attending one such course which as I recall was designed to improve communication in the workplace and ease tension and stress between co-workers. The theme of the course was how to avoid saving “Red Stamps”. Red stamps were all those little annoyances that pop up in everyday living. We were told that each should be spent as soon as they are received to prevent over pressurization and explosion. So, if an fellow employee cut me off on the way to the coffee pot I should just mention it then and there and not save it until I had enough stamps built up to really lay into them.
It seemed to me at the time, as it does today, that sometimes these red stamps would fade to pink and then just evaporate if you didn’t spend them immediately. Of course there were those that grew a brighter deeper red with time.
Driving to work today this course came to mind as I listened to the news regarding the recently released breast exam recommendations and the decision to try Kalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York. It seemed to me that these two items were red stamps for certain people regardless of political affiliation. This thought lead to a question. At what point do Obama supporters over pressurize and what are the issue that will cause such a reaction.
Disappointment begets a wary forgiveness, betrayal begets revenge. The left feels betrayed with each centrist stance taken on by the administration. Women wonder if their health is now a dollars and cents issue. New Yorkers and many other Americans question the motives for giving terrorists civil rights afforded to American citizens. And, the military and military families cannot understand why the administration can’t seem to put together a cohesive and responsive policy to a war they cited as the most important theater of operations. I wonder if there will be a tipping point and what that tipping point might be. Certainly it will be a combination of things, of these so called “red stamps”. My intuition tells me that it will be jobs but there are so many possibilities looming on the horizon.
There is another undertone emerging, one that was alluded to by Obama himself. As the red stamps mount up, so may the pressure to not run for a second term. As unlikely as it may seem, there is a scenario that supports it. Rather than facing the possibility of an overwhelming defeat, he may be urged not to run to save the significance of his election. Those whose common sense remains clouded by their idealism may scoff at this suggestion. Time will tell.
I think the red stamps are piling up pretty quickly. Just look at Obama’s approval ratings. I doubt he won’t run again, but we can always hope!
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