http://www.tehachapinews.com/home/Blog/samheath/23527 What happened to the old cartoon strips showing people painting themselves into a corner? I suppose most folks can no longer relate to varnishing or painting floors. But alas, it certainly comes to my mind considering the situation Obama has found himself in; he has in fact painted himself into a corner. We can hope McCain will choose a VP people can have some confidence in, many of us realizing the Senator’s geriatric side is too much in evidence to expect him to carry the whole load. But as I was recently sharing with a friend, the Democrats are in such disarray one wonders how McCain can possibly lose no matter who he chooses as his running mate. As extreme as that sounds, it’s the way I see it. Politicians are not noted for being artists, so I don’t wonder Obama has painted himself into a corner and wants to slide concerning his relationship with his mentor and spiritual advisor Wright and some others, that he wants a pass demanding Imus be fired while his own hypocrisy like that of Jackson and Sharpton be overlooked by voters. But this is not going to be overlooked by voters, and the more the MSM tries to spin in favor of Obama the more convinced voters are going to be he is a racist demanding his own double standard of Affirmative Action be applied in his favor. And should he win the Democrat nomination, which I very much doubt, things are going to become increasingly ugly. The more charitable might think of the expression “Please be patient; God isn’t finished with me yet.” In this way some people have expressed the idea they are a work in progress and perfection should not be expected of them, that on the contrary mistakes are going to be made along the way as God attempts to smooth out the rough spots in people, the potter fashioning the clay. But the threats we are facing as a nation do not allow of much patience; the threats are real and real specifics addressing them, real action is demanded to be taken in the face of these growing threats. But it may be our species is a “work in progress” by God and this would indicate he (she, or they) has a great deal of patience. The great works of sculpture like those of Michelangelo evidence not only the artistic genius, but the enormous patience of the artist. So if the universe is the work of God, as I believe, a work of Intelligent Design, it seems reasonable to me to suppose it began in the mind of the artist and each part of it requires not only the genius of the artist but extraordinary patience and an extraordinary amount of attention to detail. At that, even the greatest works of art upon close examination are going to show some imperfections. It is because of these imperfections real artists never believe they have done the best of which they are capable. And perhaps it is this way with God as well. The Old Testament does grant the possibility of errors on the part of God, and there is the recurring theme of certain individuals being a disappointment to him, failing of his expectations of them. How very like family, these failings are; no perfect parents or children, aunts, uncles, and so on. All may be said to be works in progress ongoing to the time of their death, and in most cases a great deal of patience is required all along the way, both on the part of the persons for themselves as well as toward others. When I was involved with the gun business a fellow brought me a new Browning semi-auto in .30-06 caliber. It was a beautiful rifle, but he wanted to trade it in for another gun. When I asked why he wanted to trade it he pointed to an infinitesimal scratch on the top of the receiver. He explained that while attempting to mount a scope he slipped with a screwdriver and made the scratch. This fellow was such a perfectionist that despite this being easily covered by bluing he would always know it was there, and this ruined the rifle for him. True story. While inconceivable to most people, this fellow had what some might call a “fetish” concerning his demand for perfection; at least when it came to guns. I didn’t bother pointing out to him that if he looked closely enough he would find tool and machining marks in the finest gun ever made; that no gun existed that would fail to show such things upon close examination. But I did understand his explanation concerning the imperfection resulting from his own carelessness, and while some might call this a nearly psychotic reaction it is something to be found among many people about various things; it is even reflected in the story of the Deluge and God’s intention to destroy all of humankind. My novel “Donnie and Jean, an angel’s story” is largely autobiographical. In the book I write about a stepfather that was a master machinist, and one of the things he could do was construct model airplane engines from the casting of the parts to the final machining of them. He especially loved to build model airplanes, and one that I recall was a beautiful model of a Piper Cub, so complete it had a joystick that would actually operate the control surfaces exactly like the real plane. We lived at the time in a second story apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. When my stepfather had finished the model, he took it out to the back porch with me following. I thought he might try sailing it from the porch to the backyard as I had seen him do with some others. But no; to my utter consternation he set fire to the beautiful model and then tossed it from this upstairs porch! Why do people do such things? Maybe the stepfather demanded such perfection of his work he had to destroy the model because somewhere along the line it hadn’t measured up to his standard? I have read of similar incidents with artists and in a way this stepfather was such an artist. America could do with an artist, and while we don’t really expect one as our next president and none are being offered neither would we want one so temperamental as to demand the kind of perfection exhibited by that stepfather or some “Hitler” that would destroy the nation because it failed to meet his standards. For the most part we Americans are pretty practical people; what we want is someone capable of doing the job. The job doesn’t have to be “perfect” by the standards of an artist, but it does have to be practical; and while we may appreciate artists we need someone practical.   What happened to the old cartoon strips showing people painting themselves into a corner? I suppose most folks can no longer relate to varnishing or painting floors. But alas, it certainly comes to my mind considering the situation Obama has found himself in; he has in fact painted himself into a corner. We can hope McCain will choose a VP people can have some confidence in, many of us realizing the Senator’s geriatric side is too much in evidence to expect him to carry the whole load. But as I was recently sharing with a friend, the Democrats are in such disarray one wonders how McCain can possibly lose no matter who he chooses as his running mate. As extreme as that sounds, it’s the way I see it. Politicians are not noted for being artists, so I don’t wonder Obama has painted himself into a corner and wants to slide concerning his relationship with his mentor and spiritual advisor Wright and some others, that he wants a pass demanding Imus be fired while his own hypocrisy like that of Jackson and Sharpton be overlooked by voters. But this is not going to be overlooked by voters, and the more the MSM tries to spin in favor of Obama the more convinced voters are going to be he is a racist demanding his own double standard of Affirmative Action be applied in his favor. And should he win the Democrat nomination, which I very much doubt, things are going to become increasingly ugly. The more charitable might think of the expression “Please be patient; God isn’t finished with me yet.” In this way some people have expressed the idea they are a work in progress and perfection should not be expected of them, that on the contrary mistakes are going to be made along the way as God attempts to smooth out the rough spots in people, the potter fashioning the clay. But the threats we are facing as a nation do not allow of much patience; the threats are real and real specifics addressing them, real action is demanded to be taken in the face of these growing threats. But it may be our species is a “work in progress” by God and this would indicate he (she, or they) has a great deal of patience. The great works of sculpture like those of Michelangelo evidence not only the artistic genius, but the enormous patience of the artist. So if the universe is the work of God, as I believe, a work of Intelligent Design, it seems reasonable to me to suppose it began in the mind of the artist and each part of it requires not only the genius of the artist but extraordinary patience and an extraordinary amount of attention to detail. At that, even the greatest works of art upon close examination are going to show some imperfections. It is because of these imperfections real artists never believe they have done the best of which they are capable. And perhaps it is this way with God as well. The Old Testament does grant the possibility of errors on the part of God, and there is the recurring theme of certain individuals being a disappointment to him, failing of his expectations of them. How very like family, these failings are; no perfect parents or children, aunts, uncles, and so on. All may be said to be works in progress ongoing to the time of their death, and in most cases a great deal of patience is required all along the way, both on the part of the persons for themselves as well as toward others. When I was involved with the gun business a fellow brought me a new Browning semi-auto in .30-06 caliber. It was a beautiful rifle, but he wanted to trade it in for another gun. When I asked why he wanted to trade it he pointed to an infinitesimal scratch on the top of the receiver. He explained that while attempting to mount a scope he slipped with a screwdriver and made the scratch. This fellow was such a perfectionist that despite this being easily covered by bluing he would always know it was there, and this ruined the rifle for him. True story. While inconceivable to most people, this fellow had what some might call a “fetish” concerning his demand for perfection; at least when it came to guns. I didn’t bother pointing out to him that if he looked closely enough he would find tool and machining marks in the finest gun ever made; that no gun existed that would fail to show such things upon close examination. But I did understand his explanation concerning the imperfection resulting from his own carelessness, and while some might call this a nearly psychotic reaction it is something to be found among many people about various things; it is even reflected in the story of the Deluge and God’s intention to destroy all of humankind. My novel “Donnie and Jean, an angel’s story” is largely autobiographical. In the book I write about a stepfather that was a master machinist, and one of the things he could do was construct model airplane engines from the casting of the parts to the final machining of them. He especially loved to build model airplanes, and one that I recall was a beautiful model of a Piper Cub, so complete it had a joystick that would actually operate the control surfaces exactly like the real plane. We lived at the time in a second story apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. When my stepfather had finished the model, he took it out to the back porch with me following. I thought he might try sailing it from the porch to the backyard as I had seen him do with some others. But no; to my utter consternation he set fire to the beautiful model and then tossed it from this upstairs porch! Why do people do such things? Maybe the stepfather demanded such perfection of his work he had to destroy the model because somewhere along the line it hadn’t measured up to his standard? I have read of similar incidents with artists and in a way this stepfather was such an artist. America could do with an artist, and while we don’t really expect one as our next president and none are being offered neither would we want one so temperamental as to demand the kind of perfection exhibited by that stepfather or some “Hitler” that would destroy the nation because it failed to meet his standards. For the most part we Americans are pretty practical people; what we want is someone capable of doing the job. The job doesn’t have to be “perfect” by the standards of an artist, but it does have to be practical; and while we may appreciate artists we need someone practical.   en-us