Obama's Wind

In an interview with Fox News Channel's Bill Hemmer, Senator Obama responded to a question about his not visiting wounded soldiers in Germany by saying: "It was scheduled, we intended to go, and we got wind that there was some concern that this might be perceived as political because we were using campaign resources." What strikes me are the phrases "we got wind" and "it might be perceived". He based a decision like this merely on "we got wind" or "it might be perceived"? I can maybe understand changing plans if you "got wind" that the enemy was planning some attack, but we're talking here about our own side . . our own troops. Certainly Obama and/or his people could have talked with the appropriate people in the military to get their facts straight, and make arrangements that would satisfy the military wishes. Obama is not the first politician to visit wounded troops in Germany, so this is nothing new. Most politicians who make this kind of visit probably hope that it comes out to their advantage during a campaign, even if the visit was not a media event. To me it seems like a shallow, convenient excuse, designed like every other excuse this guy comes up with. It's designed to make him look like he is always right, always the sensitive one, always on the right side. Has he ever admitted that he was wrong . . on anything? The surge? Reverend Wright? Not visiting the troops? Not holding any committee meetings on Afghanistan? 57 states? Obama is supposed to have great judgement. "We got wind" and "it might be perceived" are two really great criteria for judgement.

Barrack Obama's Obsession With Himself

Just when we thought Bill Clinton was the most self absorbed politician of our time, along comes Barrack Obama, vying for that distinction. Charles Krauthammer has a great overview of Obama's elevated view of himself in this article. Below is a sampling:

"Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself. There's nothing new about narcissism in politics. Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president. Nonetheless, has there ever been a presidential nominee with a wider gap between his estimation of himself and the sum total of his lifetime achievements?

Obama is a three-year senator without a single important legislative achievement to his name, a former Illinois state senator who voted "present" nearly 130 times. As president of the Harvard Law Review, as law professor and as legislator, has he ever produced a single notable piece of scholarship? Written a single memorable article? His most memorable work is a biography of his favorite subject: himself.

It is a subject upon which he can dilate effortlessly. In his victory speech upon winning the nomination, Obama declared it a great turning point in history -- "generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment" -- when, among other wonders, "the rise of the oceans began to slow." As economist Irwin Stelzer noted in his London Daily Telegraph column, "Moses made the waters recede, but he had help." Obama apparently works alone."

Tony Snow & Katie Reider

Over the past few days two very special people lost their battle with cancer. I did not know Tony Snow, but he had always been one of my favorite Washington personalities and commentators. He was straightforward, honest, and decent with the people he interviewed. Just last week I was thinking that, apart from his illness, Tony would have made an interesting pick for Vice President. Katie was my niece's sister-in-law. She was extremely talented, always funny, and just fun to be around. As a musician and performer, Katie career was gaining momentum just when she was struck with her cancer.

Tony and Katie had a lot in common, but the one thing that stands at the top was their infectious love for life. They were always engaged with whatever or whoever was before them. That passion carried over to their battle with cancer. Their strength and their courage was amazing, earning respect from anyone paying attention. Our world, and certainly my world, will be a bit emptier now that they are gone.

LCHS Weddings

So far 2008 has been busy with a number of brides who are Loudoun County High School graduates. It's been great catching up with some other past alumni at these weddings.

Pictured here are Kari Rives, Elsbeth Strum, Ashley Guensch, Kellye Huxta, and Molly Roberts. My blog only allows 5 pictures per post. Prior to these weddings there were also Stefani Kennard and Sally Moffett.

Up Front Politicians

We all want our political leaders to be honest with us. We want them to tell us the truth, be forth right, and to own up to their mistakes. We don't want them to hide things from us, or pretend to be something that they are not. When George Bush was asked by a reporter a few years ago what mistake(s) he had made in recent years, he was branded as arrogant for not answering the question. In reality though I'm convinced that what was going through his mind at that point is how his answer would be used against him by political opponents and by the press. Better to not give them that sound bite.

Senator McCain has been learning that lesson himself. In an interview awhile back McCain mentioned that economics was not his strength. A moment of honesty by a politician, for sure; but that response to a question is now being used by Obama and Democrat pundits to paint McCain as unsuited to lead our nation. Better to not give them that sound bite.

What strikes me though is what exactly qualifies Obama as an expert on the economy? What has he done in his past, either through his education, his time as a lawyer, or as a community organizer, or as a councilman that makes him that much more qualified than John McCain? With McCain at least you can say that his foreign policy experience is so strong that, yeah, compared to that his economic experience is weak. But with Obama, his foreign policy experience is next to nothing, so sure, maybe his economic experience is his strength . . but that sure isn't saying too much. And this guy is close to becoming our President?

Some recommended reading

I read two intriguing writings today, one on global warming and the other on Senator Obama. I would encourage you to check out both:

Global Whining vs the Truth

A Messiah In Our Midst

Some down time

I had a free weekend (a rarity this time of year), so I was able to get over to Bethany Beach for a few days. The daytime weather has been great. For entertainment there were some major storms that swept through here both on Saturday and Sunday. Lots of lightening and lots of rain. Fortunately they lasted only about 30 minutes each, but what a wild 30 minutes. Anyhow, I'm just now starting to feel relaxed. Got a couple ambitious weekends of weddings coming up in June, so this has been a welcomed time.

Charlotte & Ernie

I photographed a wedding yesterday. It was a beautiful day and everything seemed to go fine all around. One of the things I particularly appreciated was that Charlotte and Ernie decided they wanted to do as many photos prior to the ceremony, including the ones of the two of them together. My experience has always been that when couples opt to do it this way they are extremely happy with their decision. Not only are they allowing more time to spend with their guests, but they are also much, much more relaxed throughout the day. All the tension of seeing each other is over. Charlotte and Ernie built in a time for when they would first see each other and got to spend several minutes alone (well okay, I was there photographing them, including the image above) before embarking on the photography duties.

I don't push couples either way on when and how their photo session should go, but I do let them know that I am a big fan of doing everything prior to the ceremony. If there is a chance of rain later in the day, it is good to know you got the photography in and over with before that rain comes. If you are concerned about your guests waiting too long after the ceremony, doing all the shots before the ceremony greatly reduces that time.

The day before this wedding I was driving through Leesburg and saw a wedding couple on the sidewalk doing their photos after their ceremony. I knew it was after the ceremony because when I drove by the reception site I saw the guests milling around. I thought to myself that it seems strange to invite all these family and friends to a ceremony and reception, but then you are spending a significant amount of time away from them, doing something that could have been done earlier when the guests were not around. And it seems strange to do these important photos of the couple during a time that is usually rushed and you just want to be with your guests.

I would encourage wedding couples to seriously consider having all their photos done prior to the ceremony. I know it's not traditional to do it this way (I would say about 40% of my weddings do their photos prior to the ceremony), but I'm not quite sure what the point of this tradition is in the first place. You can have that moment of first seeing each other, and I believe that time when you see the bride coming down the aisle will still be magical, simply because of the moment.

Faith: the word

I've been thinking a lot lately about the word "faith". Like the words "tolerance" and "change", I think people casually throw them around assuming that everyone is in agreement as to what is meant by the word. Most everyone wants change to take place, but not everyone is in agreement as to what that change should look like. So to just toss out that word "change"may sound great, but it doesn't really tell us anything until it is defined in detail so people can either say yes or no to it. Once that is done the consensus call for change becomes much less than consensus as people say "I want change, but I don't want your brand of change". The same is true with faith.

Politicians are great for throwing out the word "faith", especially when it comes to campaigning. People in general talk about how important faith is in their life. But oftentimes the farthest they go in a speech or in their day to day talking is to just say the word "faith" and assume everyone knows what they are talking about. But faith means different things to different people, and the object of their faith may be very different than what you might presume. Faith must have an object. For many people that would be God, for others it might be a person or a group, it could even be an idea or a tree. I just wish people would identify the object of their faith whenever they use that word. In other words for me I would generally speak of my faith in God. I might at times speak of my faith in the American people, but I would never want to confuse my faith in God with my faith in the American people. And so to speak of my "faith" and just my "faith", really doesn't tell anyone anything. They might assume I'm speaking of God when I am speaking of the American people, or of a friend, or of myself.

I hope to spend more time on this blog speaking about faith, specifically faith in God. Please check back.