Waiting For Perot

The best thing about the 1992 presidential race may have been the comic relief. Certainly the major party candidates offered their share of laughs, some of which came during the debates, but there was one feature of that campaign that was different than all the others that have come before and since: Perot. The man who is now a punchline in American politics once lead the polls, and for a period of time two decades ago, was only a hop, skip and a few dozen electoral votes from becoming the most powerful man in the world. Okay, maybe a couple of hops and a hundred or so electoral votes, but for a time, America was buying what this billionaire had to sell. And he was laughing all the way to the bank/White House.
We liked him then, how do we like him now? After a much-less ballyhooed run for president in 2000, Ross Perot drifted into the background of the political landscape. The highest profile third-party candidate we have currently is Rosanne Barr, who has no party with which to run since being replaced by Doctor Jill Stein on the Green Party ticket. Say what you will about Rosanne, but she's probably got a little more comedy in her than Doctor Jill. That's why it was nice for Mister Perot to pop back up last week to announce that America is ripe for takeover by foreign invaders. Maybe he's been watching too many previews of the remake of "Red Dawn," or maybe he's just crazy like a fox: "If we are that weak, just think of who wants to come here first and take us over," he asked cryptically in a USA Today interview. Actually, he may have missed the part where we already owe China trillions of dollars, and we've even got a tab running with Brazil these days.
So, maybe the old coot has a point, but maybe if we work things right, and we learn to love soccer, we can swing a deal with our neighbors down south. Just don't ask me to learn how to samba.