Guess Who's Coming to Town
No, it's not the Guess Who nor is it Santa Claus, for at least a couple more months.
No, in this case, President Bush is visiting to plug for one of our local Republican incumbents.
Normally, I couldn't give two cents where the President decides to plug his partisan agenda, though it's galling that he does it on taxpayer money. It's not like I'll get to meet him. Congressman Reichert isn't even in my district. This shouldn't affect me, right?
The problem, though, is that local authorities like to do things like shut down freeways when important people are in town. For security reasons, our Eminent Figurehead can't be allowed to travel in traffic with the rest of us plebeians. Instead, thousands of mere peasants must adjust their schedules and wait while the smiling nobility drives past.
I got to see this process first-hand the last time Dick Cheney visited the area. In what would have been an amazing and unexpected display of governmental efficiency (if it hadn't been so irritating), law enforcement agencies from state, county, and seven cities cooperated to shut down all lanes of I-405 as well as all of the streets that crossed over the freeway. So efficient were they that not a car was moving 25 minutes before the VP's passing. As awesome as it was to behold, I also ended up more than a half hour late for an appointment, all in the name of security.
Such is the price of democracy, I suppose. The thing I have to wonder about is if a passing dignitary can cause such paralysis here, how does anybody ever get from place to place in that other Washington?