October 8, 2004 - Being President of the United States is a thankless job. Sure, it’s a coveted position, being the most powerful person in the world should be. But it’s a fact that on any given day perhaps half the country’s population disagrees with the president, and some do so with hate in their hearts. That cannot be a comforting thought no matter who you are, sans perhaps George Soros. At the same time the president gets to enjoy the trappings of the job (the White House, Air Force One, the limousines, etc.) the threat of death is always just around the corner, thus the necessity for the Secret Service. To borrow a phrase from my jazz musician days, "It’s a great gig if you can get it,” but it has its downsides as well.

One of the downsides of the job is that the president never gets to truly take a vacation. Yes, we hear about presidents spending weekends at Camp David, taking off to a ranch, or a coastal town or just watching a football game and choking on a pretzel (sorry W, I couldn’t pass that up). Not too long ago we even heard of a certain president slipping off into an antechamber of the Oval Office to "roll a fine cigar” (I hope that redeems me in your eyes, W). The point is, but for a very few stolen moments over the course of a presidency, the president is never "not working.” The president is never far from an issue needing his – and perhaps one day after 2012 her - attention. It makes for long days, sleepless nights and many headaches. It’s no wonder they age as fast as they do while in office.

To say the least, the job of president requires first and foremost a stellar work ethic. It would be impossible for the position to be filled by someone with anything less. The daily schedule demands it. This work ethic must also be as devoid of ego as is humanly possible. After all, it is the work of "We the People” that is being done. The laying of groundwork for a legacy must be a by-product of a president’s performance not the other way around.

That being said, President Bush needs to address the issue of work ethic in his second debate with John Kerry. He needs to spotlight John Kerry’s record in the Senate, in particular his attendance record.

John Kerry has the work ethic of a three-toed tree sloth when the work at hand has nothing to do with advancing his career. While Kerry has found himself on important senatorial committees he has seldom satisfied the needs of those committees and has in fact made them less effective in his absence. It is the nature of the narcissist to become bored with subject matter not directly affecting them.

For the eight years Kerry was on the Senate Intelligence Committee he was absent 76% of the time. This committee had everything to do with the intelligence community’s level of performance, a level of performance directly related to September 11th, the War on Terror and the informational breakdown before military action in Iraq. This figure could be higher but closed meeting attendance is not open to the public. Kerry would have to disclose this information himself. To think he would share this information with the voting public is to truly be living in a "fantasyland.” Embracing this fact, it is insulting, disingenuous and deceitful – it is a lie – for anyone to contend that John Kerry supported or even cared about the intelligence community prior to it being advantageous to his political career.

The reality of the matter is that no member of Congress can make every meeting scheduled. But John Kerry has been practically non-existent in the US Senate throughout his career. To date, only eight pieces of legislation bear his name, many being ceremonial in nature. His reasons for this are more about rhetoric than explanation. He missed so many "days of work” that an ethics complaint was filed with the Secretary of the Senate and his home state’s Lt. Governor called for his resignation. To say John Kerry has been AWOL from the Senate would be an accurate statement. To say he collected pay for a job not done would be a correct statement. To say he has defrauded the people of Massachusetts would be an understatement.

While the minions of the Kerry campaign celebrate their alleged victory in the first debate, dancing in the streets like terrorist sympathizers after an attack on anything American, they would be well advised to hold their collective breath and hope the voting public overlooks his record in the Senate. If Kerry’s record is exposed they won’t be able to get him elected dogcatcher.

Sources:

Bush Nails Kerry's Poor Attendance at Intelligence Committee Hearings
http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docid=241

Kerry, Senate Secretary Facing Ethics Complaint
http://www.talonnews.com/news/2004/june/0617_kerry_preempt_ethics.shtml